Improvement of traffic flow efficiency

Efficient air traffic controller (ATCO) task via reinforcement learning

ATCO tasks are highly specialized, requiring the safe and efficient management of a high-density airspace. This work aims to leverage reinfocement learning to develop an autonomous system capablie of surpassing human controllers in both safety and operational efficiency.

Fuel saving by climb thrust control

Aircraft typically climb at maximum thrust, which is often suboptimal for fuel efficiency. This research seeks to determine an optimal thrust profile and its practical implementation, accounting for aircraft performance constraints and pilot workload through flight simulation and real-world flight campaigns.

Optimization of aircraft departure/taxiing process

Major international airports frequently face significant ground congestion. Since fuel consumption during taxiing is substantial, optimizing runway scheduling yields considerable savings. Potential solutions include taxi route optimization, slot allocation, and pushback time management. This study formulates these as an optimization problem and investigates effective solution methodologies.

Data-driven wind estimation method

Wind conditions siginificantly influence aircraft/vessel operations, and the accuracy of wind estimation directly impacts operational efficiency. In addition to numerical weather forecasts, a machine learning-based method for real-time wind estimation has been developed. Furthermore, research is currently underway to quantify the relationship between estimation accuracy and operaitional efficiency.

Improvement of traffic safety

Speech recognition of air traffic control communication

ATCOs and pilots still rely on voice communication, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. Miscommunication between ATCOs and pilots could can result in fatal accidents.To mitigate this risk, we propose a framework for detecting miscommunication by using voice recognition technology.

Mathematical modeling to determine safety separation

Safety is the top priority in aviation, and maintaining large spatial separation between aircraft enhances it. However, excessive spearation reduces operational efficiency, so determining the minimum safe separation distance is crucial. To achieve this, mathematical modeling is used to calculate the collision probability under specific conditions. These results are incorporated into international regulations by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and Japanese aviation safety standards.

New operational safety standard for drones and urban air mobility (UAM)

Although drones and UAM have recently begun operations, safety standards - particularly traffic regulations - have not been fully established. New operational rules will be devloped by leveraging expertise from the traditional manned aviation industry.

Gaining knowledge from operational data

Traffic volume has increased across all transportation sectors, generating vast amounts of data. This data contains valuable indicators for improving efficiency and safety; extracting these insights is the primary objective of this research. Currently, we are collecting operational data from aircraft operatos in Japan to derive meaning safety insights.

Relaxation of obstacle construction rules

The height of obstacles, such as buildings and trees, is restricted near airports to ensure flight safety. These regulations were established a long time ago, and have remained unchanged until now. A new obstacle assessment method has been proposed, which may lead to revisions in the current regulations.

Human factors and others

Development of a pilot manual control model

There is a recognized shortage of pilots for aircraft and vessels. However, acquiring the necessary proficiency requires significant time. To address this, we propose accelerating skill acquisition by developing a control model based on operational control data. The parameters derived from this model will serve as metrics for evaluating pilot skills.

Development of an automatic procedure design tool

Aircraft must adhere to flight procedures that encompass route structures and flight restrictions. These flight procedures are currently designed manually in accordance with established design rules. An automatic design tool is being developed through a collaboration with Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) and Electronic Navigation Research Institute (ENRI). This initiative aims to reduce the workload of procedure designers while enhancing flight efficiency.