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Atlanta, GA | Posted: July 18, 2014
AE associate professor John-Paul Clarke and his former graduate student Clayton Tino, Ph.D. AE '13, have been awarded two patents for an algorithm they developed that will both improve the precision of aircraft arrival time computations and reduce aircraft fuel consumption.
Funded by a grant from General Electric (GE), the duo developed a Required Time of Arrival (RTA) algorithm that will allow pilots to compute the optimal speed to fly so that they will arrive at a given point at a specified time in the future while at the same time minimizing the amount of fuel that is consumed while getting there.
According to Clarke, “The fuel efficiency of the required time of arrival [RTA] algorithm is particularly important, given the reliance of the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] on four-dimensional trajectories [4DT] as the basis for all future traffic management functions, and the fact that 4DT will ultimately be achieved via the RTA mode of the Flight Management System [FMS] that controls the trajectory of the aircraft.”
| Dr. Clayton Tino, AE '13 |
The algorithm employs a two-stage stochastic framework and a computationally efficient algorithm to solve fuel burn optimization and RTA adherence sub-problems, which functions as follows. Given forecasted winds along a specified route and a required time of arrival at a metering waypoint, a quadratic searching algorithm is utilized to solve both RTA and fuel burn sub-problems.
The process balances RTA adherence goals with a minimum expected fuel burn objective.
“This algorithm is specifically valuable as it is computationally tractable in on-board systems with demonstrably repeatable results, and there is no indication of a major shift in controls or FMS hardware available on board future commercial carrier platforms," said Tino, who currently works as a resource management architect for Virtustream, Inc.
In recognition of this achievement, GE has exercised its option to seek licenses for the underlying model and the algorithm, and has paid for all costs associated with the two patent applications.
