Feasibility Study on Constrained Optimal Trajectory Application in the Japanese Airspace

摘要

Efficient measures are required in overcoming challenges and meeting demands in a future air traffic management system. The 'CARATS' roadmap established by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau emphasizes the significance of applying the 4D Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) concept into the Japanese airspace. This paper provides a framework to review the feasibility of such system in the Japanese airspace. A Dynamic Programming method based trajectory optimizer tool developed by the authors is used to investigate the potential benefits (mainly fuel consumption and flight time) and its dispersion according to various operational constraints based on a series of radar surveillance data, publicly distributed as 'CARATS Open Data'. Effects of weather conditions and aircraft performance model data on the aircraft behavior are reviewed by considering numerical weather prediction model data from the Japan Meteorological Agency and BADA Family 4 aircraft performance model data from the EUROCONTROL in performance estimations. Obtained results indicate that meteorological forecast data and BADA Family 4 data are sufficiently plausible to estimate conventional and optimal aircraft performance. Results also denote that seasonal weather conditions have a significant impact on trajectory optimization and the proposed trajectory optimizer is capable of generating optimal trajectories with arrival time and airspace constraints through strategic tradeoffs between the performance indexes. Quantitative evaluations indicate that 4D TBO operations with strategic operational constraints would be a potential solution to meet the future challenges in the Japanese air transportation system.