Evaluation of in-flight trajectory optimisation with time constraints in a moving base flight simulator

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Prats ◽  
Frank Bussink ◽  
Ronald Verhoeven ◽  
Adri Marsman
Keyword(s):  
Time Constraints ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Flight Trajectory ◽  
Moving Base ◽  
Trajectory Optimisation

New flight plan optimisation method utilising a set of alternative final point arrival time targets (RTA constraints)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
R.I. Dancila ◽  
R.M. Botez
Keyword(s):  
Global Optimum ◽  
Time Constraint ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Time Of Arrival ◽  
Flight Trajectory ◽  
Final Point ◽  
Flight Plan ◽  
Fuel Burn ◽  
Trajectory Optimisation

Abstract This study investigates a new aircraft flight trajectory optimisation method, derived from the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II method used for multi-objective optimisations. The new method determines, in parallel, a set of optimal flight plan solutions for a flight. Each solution is optimal (requires minimum fuel) for a Required Time of Arrival constraint from a set of candidate time constraints selected for the final waypoint of the flight section under optimisation. The set of candidate time constraints is chosen so that their bounds are contiguous, i.e. they completely cover a selected time domain. The proposed flight trajectory optimisation method may be applied in future operational paradigms, such as Trajectory-Based Operations/free flight, where aircraft do not need to follow predetermined routes. The intended application of the proposed method is to support Decision Makers in the planning phase when there is a time constraint or a preferred crossing time at the final point of the flight section under optimisation. The Decision Makers can select, from the set of optimal flight plans, the one that best fits their criteria (minimum fuel burn or observes a selected time constraint). If the Air Traffic Management system rejects the flight plan, then they can choose the next best solution from the set without having to perform another optimisation. The method applies for optimisations performed on lateral and/or vertical flight plan components. Seven proposed method variants were evaluated, and ten test runs were performed for each variant. For five variants, the worst results yielded a fuel burn less than 90kg (0.14%) over the ‘global’ optimum. The worst variant yielded a maximum of 321kg (0.56%) over the ‘global’ optimum.

New flight trajectory optimisation method using genetic algorithms

2021 ◽  
Vol 125 (1286) ◽  
pp. 618-671
Author(s):  
R.I. Dancila ◽  
R.M. Botez
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithms ◽  
Flight Trajectory ◽  
Step Size ◽  
Cost Index ◽  
Local Optima ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Flight Plan ◽  
Flight Envelope ◽  
Flight Profile ◽  
Trajectory Optimisation

AbstractThis paper presents a new flight trajectory optimisation method, based on genetic algorithms, where the selected optimisation criterion is the minimisation of the total cost. The candidate flight trajectories evaluated in the optimisation process are defined as flight plans with two components: a lateral flight plan (the set of geographic points that define the flight trajectory track segments) and a vertical flight plan (the set of data that define the altitude and speed profiles, as well as the points where the altitude and/or speed changes occur). The lateral components of the candidate flight plans are constructed by selecting a set of adjacent nodes from a routing grid. The routing grid nodes are generated based on the orthodromic route between the flight trajectory’s initial and final points, a selected maximum lateral deviation from the orthodromic route and a selected grid node step size along and across the orthodromic route. Two strategies are investigated to handle invalid flight plans (relative to the aircraft’s flight envelope) and to compute their flight performance parameters. A first strategy is to assign a large penalty total cost to invalid flight profiles. The second strategy is to adjust the invalid flight plan parameters (altitude and/or speed) to the nearest limit of the flight envelope, with priority being given to maintaining the planned altitude. The tests performed in this study show that the second strategy is computationally expensive (requiring more than twice the execution time relative to the first strategy) and yields less optimal solutions. The performance of the optimal profiles identified by the proposed optimisation method, using the two strategies regarding invalid flight profile performance evaluation, were compared with the performance data of a reference flight profile, using identical input data: initial aircraft weight, initial and final aircraft geographic positions, altitudes and speed, cost index, and atmospheric data. The initial and final aircraft geographic positions, and the reference flight profile data, were retrieved from the FlightAware web site. This data corresponds to a real flight performed with the aircraft model used in this study. Tests were performed for six Cost Index values. Given the randomness of the genetic algorithms, the convergence to a global optimal solution is not guaranteed (the solution may be non-optimal or a local optima). For a better evaluation of the performance of the proposed method, ten test runs were performed for each Cost Index value. The total cost reduction for the optimal flight plans obtained using the proposed method, relative to the reference flight plan, was between 0.822% and 3.042% for the cases when the invalid flight profiles were corrected, and between 1.598% and 3.97% for the cases where the invalid profiles were assigned a penalty total cost.

A Study on Online Flight Trajectory Search and its Flight Simulator Testing

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Yonezawa ◽  
Masahiro Miwa ◽  
Takeshi Tsuchiya ◽  
Shinji Suzuki ◽  
Nobuhiro Yokoyama
Keyword(s):  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Flight Trajectory ◽  
Trajectory Search

The Effect of Spurious Angular Accelerations on Tracking in Dynamic Simulation

1974 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Simulation ◽  
Laboratory Study ◽  
Vehicle Dynamics ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Control Performance ◽  
Airline Pilots ◽  
Moving Base ◽  
Dynamic Simulator

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the effect of spurious simulator yaw motions on a pilot's control performance. A second objective was to compare the efficiency of static and dynamic simulator tracking in previously unexamined vehicle dynamics. Twelve airline pilots served as subjects in a moving-base flight simulator under congruent-motion, spurious-motion, and no-motion conditions. The results indicated a significant increase in the amount of error with increasing levels of spurious motion during the initially administered series of trials. The influence of spurious motion, however, was absent in a second series of trials. The data suggest that the pilots learned to compensate in their performance for the spurious inputs. It was also found that congruent visual and rotational cueing produced superior performance to that of tracking with visual information alone.

Gender Differences in the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) Are Not Due to Task Complexity

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Titze ◽  
Martin Heil ◽  
Petra Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Medium Effects ◽  
Performance Factors ◽  
Mental Rotations ◽  
Sufficient Power ◽  
Forced Choice Tasks ◽  
Choice Tasks

Gender differences are one of the main topics in mental rotation research. This paper focuses on the influence of the performance factor task complexity by using two versions of the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). Some 300 participants completed the test without time constraints, either in the regular version or with a complexity reducing template creating successive two-alternative forced-choice tasks. Results showed that the complexity manipulation did not affect the gender differences at all. These results were supported by a sufficient power to detect medium effects. Although performance factors seem to play a role in solving mental rotation problems, we conclude that the variation of task complexity as realized in the present study did not.

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