Flight Path to Sustainability: Control and Optimization Strategies for Climate-Conscious Aviation
Event details
| Date | 26.04.2024 |
| Hour | 11:00 › 12:00 |
| Speaker | Professor Manuel Soler, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract
Bio
Manuel Soler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), where he serves as the Director of the Doctoral Program in Aerospace Engineering. He also leads the UC3M Aeronautical Operations Laboratory, focusing on research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and optimal control techniques applied to aeronautical meteorology, air traffic management, and climate change mitigation.
Dr. Soler's expertise has been honed through international experiences as a visiting scholar at ETH Zürich and U.C. Berkeley, as well as a visiting Professor at MIT. Since joining UC3M, he has spearheaded numerous research projects, securing funding for 17 competitive projects, including nine European initiatives, three of which he coordinated. His research output includes over 40 JCR articles, three book chapters, and more than 50 conference proceedings, many of which are the result of international collaborations.
In recognition of his scientific contributions, Dr. Soler has been awarded the SESAR Young Scientist Award in 2013 and the Luis Azcarraga Award in 2023. He is deeply committed to knowledge dissemination and technology transfer, evidenced by his involvement in initiatives such as the open ClimaCCF library, developed within the framework of FlyATM4E and ALARM SESAR projects, and the creation of Spin-Off AI-Methods.
Dr. Soler's dedication to communication and outreach is underscored by his engagement in activities like Researchers’ Night and Science Week, as well as his efforts in disseminating the results of projects like ALARM, START, and E-CONTRAIL SESAR, through various media channels including videos, radio interviews, and multilingual press releases.
https://aircraftoperationslab.com/Aviation, a cornerstone of the global economy, faces increasing scrutiny for its significant contribution to climate change. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of climate-friendly flight planning strategies to mitigate aviation's climate impact.
At the trajectory scale, we explore the feasibility and potential of climate-optimized routing to reduce aviation's climate footprint. By exploring various methodological approaches, including direct and indirect optimal control methods and metaheuristics, we demonstrate the effectiveness of climate-optimized routing in mitigating both CO2 emissions and non-CO2 species, such as NOx-induced ozone and methane concentrations, and persistent contrail formation, including its inherent uncertainty. Key scenarios, termed "big-hit" events, are identified, offering substantial climate impact mitigation while considering operational feasibility, costs, and robustness.
At the traffic scale, optimizing flight trajectories presents a viable strategy to mitigate non-CO2 climate impacts. However, integrating individually optimized trajectories into the air traffic management system poses challenges. To address these challenges, we propose a novel decision-making framework based on multi-agent deep reinforcement learning. Leveraging advanced algorithms, our approach ensures comprehensive situational awareness and scalability for managing climate-optimal trajectories within the airspace. Extensive testing over European airspace validates the effectiveness of our framework, contributing to the development of robust strategies for climate-friendly flight planning in aviation.
At the trajectory scale, we explore the feasibility and potential of climate-optimized routing to reduce aviation's climate footprint. By exploring various methodological approaches, including direct and indirect optimal control methods and metaheuristics, we demonstrate the effectiveness of climate-optimized routing in mitigating both CO2 emissions and non-CO2 species, such as NOx-induced ozone and methane concentrations, and persistent contrail formation, including its inherent uncertainty. Key scenarios, termed "big-hit" events, are identified, offering substantial climate impact mitigation while considering operational feasibility, costs, and robustness.
At the traffic scale, optimizing flight trajectories presents a viable strategy to mitigate non-CO2 climate impacts. However, integrating individually optimized trajectories into the air traffic management system poses challenges. To address these challenges, we propose a novel decision-making framework based on multi-agent deep reinforcement learning. Leveraging advanced algorithms, our approach ensures comprehensive situational awareness and scalability for managing climate-optimal trajectories within the airspace. Extensive testing over European airspace validates the effectiveness of our framework, contributing to the development of robust strategies for climate-friendly flight planning in aviation.
Bio
Manuel Soler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), where he serves as the Director of the Doctoral Program in Aerospace Engineering. He also leads the UC3M Aeronautical Operations Laboratory, focusing on research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and optimal control techniques applied to aeronautical meteorology, air traffic management, and climate change mitigation.
Dr. Soler's expertise has been honed through international experiences as a visiting scholar at ETH Zürich and U.C. Berkeley, as well as a visiting Professor at MIT. Since joining UC3M, he has spearheaded numerous research projects, securing funding for 17 competitive projects, including nine European initiatives, three of which he coordinated. His research output includes over 40 JCR articles, three book chapters, and more than 50 conference proceedings, many of which are the result of international collaborations.
In recognition of his scientific contributions, Dr. Soler has been awarded the SESAR Young Scientist Award in 2013 and the Luis Azcarraga Award in 2023. He is deeply committed to knowledge dissemination and technology transfer, evidenced by his involvement in initiatives such as the open ClimaCCF library, developed within the framework of FlyATM4E and ALARM SESAR projects, and the creation of Spin-Off AI-Methods.
Dr. Soler's dedication to communication and outreach is underscored by his engagement in activities like Researchers’ Night and Science Week, as well as his efforts in disseminating the results of projects like ALARM, START, and E-CONTRAIL SESAR, through various media channels including videos, radio interviews, and multilingual press releases.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Professor Maryam Kamgarpour