Safe and efficient flight operations depend on effective air traffic management and the decision-making skills of air traffic control officers (ATCOs). However, managing air traffic in terminal control areas (TMAs), especially in approach control units, is challenging due to the complexity of the airspace. This is particularly evident in metroplex airspaces like the Istanbul TMA, which features multiple civil and military airports, diverse approach systems, and heavy traffic volumes, all contributing to an exceptionally complex operational environment. This study examines how experienced ATCOs perceive airspace complexity, focusing on approach control units within TMAs. Using Istanbul TMA as a case study, the research combines qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the factors contributing to complexity. In the first phase, the Content Validity Method (CVM) is used to identify and confirm the key factors influencing airspace complexity. In the second phase, the Best-Worst Method (BWM) is applied to measure the importance of these factors. The study involves two groups of ATCOs: 40 in the first group and 20 in the second. The results reveal that ‘conflicts’ are the most critical factor affecting airspace complexity, highlighting the importance of conflict resolution in air traffic control. Other significant factors include rules and procedures, airspace design and traffic density. This study provides clear insights into the challenges of managing TMA, especially in metroplex airspace. Identifying and analysing the key factors offers valuable guidance for improving air traffic management and supporting ATCOs in making better decisions.

With developing technology, the usage areas of aircraft are constantly expanded. In aircraft designed for different missions, it is an important issue to evaluate many design possibilities and make optimum designs by taking into account many parameters that are not directly connected to each other with equal importance. In this context, issues such as safety and performance come to the fore in aircraft designs. One of the critical situations affecting flight safety is the takeoff and landing phases of the aircraft. The speed changes that occur in these stages are an important issue. In this study, takeoff speed was predicted with different machine learning algorithms using takeoff speed data of the Boeing B-737-300 type aircraft. Linear regression, support vector regression, classification and regression trees, random forest regression, Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithms were selected from machine learning algorithms for takeoff speed prediction. Base models were created with these selected algorithms and the takeoff speed was predicted by training the data. Considering the obtained results, feature engineered was applied to minimise the error values of the proposed base models. In models developed by applying feature engineered, error values were reduced and better performance was observed in takeoff speed prediction. Takeoff speed values obtained with the developed models and actual flight speed values are presented comparatively for the first time in the literature. The simulation results emphasise that the developed models can be used as an effective and alternative method for takeoff speed prediction.

To address the challenges of high-manoeuver targets and limited line-of-sight from the interceptor’s side window, this paper proposes a three-dimensional target manoeuver compensation control (TMCC) guidance law based on compensation function observe (CFO) and a method for studying the terminal guidance handover region. First, a relative model of the missile-target engagement is established. Secondly, the CFO is used to estimate the target manoeuver state, and the estimated information is fed back to the controller of the orbit control engine to make the interception more accurate. Considering the limited line of sight of the side window, the body line of sight angle is constrained by controlling the attitude control engine. Then, the problem description for solving the handover area and the definition of the terminal guidance handover area were provided, and the algorithm design for the handover area was conducted, simplifying the solving process through the concept of area substitution. Simulation results indicate that the proposed terminal guidance law offers higher interception accuracy compared to traditional proportional guidance, and effectively validates the accuracy of the handover region calculation.

For binary plug nozzle, the plug cone is exposed to high-temperature mainstream flow, making it one of the nozzle’s high-temperature components. This paper uses the Realizable k-ε turbulence model and the reverse Monte Carlo method to numerically investigate the aerodynamic and infrared radiation characteristics of the plug nozzle. Various slot cooling configurations were adopted to study the nozzle’s infrared radiation in detail. Results indicate that compared to the baseline nozzle, the plug nozzle’s performance is slightly reduced due to the decrease in effective area of flow over the plug cone. Introducing slot cooling at the rear edge provides significant infrared suppression benefits at low detection angles and notably reduces infrared radiation discrepancy with baseline nozzle at high detection angles. The cooling air from slots causes the nozzle jet to exhibit a ‘thermal layered’ feature. With the same total coolant mass flow, the ‘leading edge + trailing edge’ cooling configuration can lower the area-averaged wall temperature of the plug cone by 5.5% – 12.3%. However, its infrared radiation intensity at each detection angle on the pitch detection plane is higher than that of the ‘trailing edge’ configuration. The significance of leading-edge cooling is focused more on thermal protection for the plug. Thus, it is essential to balance coolant mass flow distribution between infrared radiation suppression and thermal protection.

The current emphasis in aerospace component development is on creating safe, reliable and cost-effective technologies. However, the intricate design of stage separation systems renders component reliability a critical factor in determining mission success or failure. One of the technical challenges involves the development of various aerospace mechanisms, such as payload separation, heavy propulsion system separation, ejection of auxiliary components and detachment of rigid components. These stage separation mechanisms commonly employ pyrotechnic devices, which, by their operational nature, impart shock to the spacecraft, potentially causing damage or adverse effects on flight instruments. Therefore, it is imperative to explore multiple viable concepts aimed at reducing shock and experimentally ascertain the impact of shock using diverse shock attenuation techniques. While existing literature primarily addresses shock attenuation with distance from the shock source, limited attention has been given to diminishing shock at the location of the shock-generating element. This study employed various shock-attenuating devices, including dampers, metallic foam structures, viscous materials and dampeners, to assess the effectiveness of shock reduction. Furthermore, the study investigated shock reduction resulting from the elimination of rigid connections, such as bolted joints, from pyro-actuated mechanisms. Through a series of experiments, a conclusive analysis was conducted to determine the approach for achieving a substantial reduction in pyro shock.

In this study, measurements and numerical analyses of the temperature distribution of exhaust gas passing through two types of mixers using a micro turbojet engine were performed to investigate the flow mixing performance based on the shape of the mixer, which mixes the bypass air and core air in a gas turbine turbofan engine. To study the mixing characteristics of the mixer, compressed air was supplied through an external duct mounted on a micro turbojet engine to simulate bypass flow, and a system in which hot gas and compressed air were mixed and ejected into the atmosphere was fabricated. A confluent-type mixer and a mixer with 8-lobed mixer channels in the form of a sine wave were used for the experiment. The exhaust gas temperature was measured based on the distance from the nozzle outlet at bypass ratios of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.4. The results showed that the lobed mixer is more effective than the confluent mixer in lowering the exhaust gas temperature as the bypass ratio increased. Numerical analysis results indicated that, in the case of the confluent mixer, flow mixing is primarily performed by shear flow owing to the velocity difference between the core gas and the bypass air. In contrast, in the case of a lobed mixer, flow mixing is achieved through rotational motion and transverse flow. In addition, when the number of lobe channels increased from 8 to 12, the rotational motion increased and the mixing performance improved. Furthermore, infrared signal calculation results confirmed that, as the number of lobe channels increased, improved flow mixing effectively reduced the infrared signal. We conclude that this study helps understand the mixing characteristics of the flow according to the shape of the mixer at various bypass ratios and determine their effect on the characteristics of the infrared signal.

Aiming to address the issue of low accuracy in model predictions obtained from fitting frequency domain response curves for small unmanned helicopters during the process of modeling their flight dynamics, this study proposes a system identification algorithm based on the combination of weighted least squares and improved grey wolf optimisation algorithm. The algorithm utilises the weighted least squares method to obtain the initial model structure, optimises the initial model parameters using the improved grey wolf optimisation algorithm, and enhances the local search and global optimisation ability of the grey wolf optimisation algorithm by introducing an improved grey wolf subgrouping rule, nonlinear convergence factor and dynamic cooperative rule. Ultimately, this approach establishes a dynamic model for small, unmanned helicopters. The identified model is validated using flight test data, with findings demonstrating that this method achieves higher accuracy in model identification and better fits to frequency domain response curves, thus providing a more accurate reflection of the flight dynamics of small unmanned helicopters.

This paper presents a study of the effects of the durability and level of energy storage technology on energy management strategies and the performance of hybrid electric turboprops. The results highlight the key role of battery energy density on the durability of the battery pack and the viability of the concept of hybrid electric aircraft. Additionally, the trade-off between zero-day environmental compatibility and battery lifetime is identified, caused by the size of the pack. The effective energy density would decrease with the aging of the cells, leaving a significant inert mass and increasing fuel consumption. Optimal energy management strategies are suggested in light of this new information. Higher specific energy of the pack would mitigate this aspect, along with a reduction in fuel consumption and ${\rm{N}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{x}}}$ emissions. Indeed, the improvement of environmental compatibility was found to be nonlinear with a positive rate, suggesting high returns in investing in great improvements in energy density over a gradual increase. This result relates to the results of the statistical technological forecast presented in this study, which, without an increase in funding, predicts the availability of the specific energy required to match the fuel-only baseline in the 2040–2050 decade.

The enhancement of jet engine components may result in the expansion of the established design space. In particular, the trend towards short and therefore highly aggressive inter compressor ducts (ICD) extends the traditional design space. The potential for fuel savings resulting from a reduction in engine weight is in contrast to the emergence of a more complex flow field. Many studies consider the secondary flow system of highly aggressive ICDs at the design point, but there is a lack of off-design considerations. To fill this gap, the present study investigates in detail the off-design performance of the new German Aerospace Center (DLR) test case. Firstly, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of different typical operating points allow detailed considerations of the flow field under off-design conditions. Secondly, a variation of the inlet conditions describes the sensitivity of highly aggressive ICDs to different low-pressure compressor operating points. Finally, the comparison of the CFD stagnation pressure loss with the loss predicted by a preliminary off-design method validates the use of traditional off-design prediction during the preliminary design of highly aggressive ICDs.

In this article, we delve into the optimal scheduling challenge for many-to-many on-orbit services, taking into account variations in target accessibility. The scenario assumes that each servicing satellite is equipped with singular or multiple service capabilities, tasked with providing on-orbit services to multiple targets, each characterised by distinct service requirements. The mission’s primary objective is to determine the optimal service sequence, orbital transfer duration and on-orbit service time for each servicing satellite, with the ultimate goal of minimising the overall cost. We frame the optimal scheduling dilemma as a time-related colored travelling salesman problem (TRCTSP) and propose an enhanced firefly algorithm (EFA) to address it. Finally, experimental results across various scenarios validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm. The principal contribution of this work lies in the modeling and resolution of the many-to-many on-orbit service challenge, considering accessibility variations — a domain that has, until now, remained unexplored.

Thrust changes near walls and the ground plane are influenced by the rotor’s position in indoor flight environments. This study evaluates variations in rotor thrust near a corner, which includes one wall and the ground plane, as well as a vertex, which involves two walls and the ground plane; these phenomena are referred to as the corner and vertex effects, respectively. Additionally, the rotor wake in the vertex effect was visualised using the laser sheet method, and wake velocity was measured with a hot-wire probe. The thrust change in the corner effect on the ground side was minimal, primarily depending on the ground effect. In the vertex effect, thrust decreased to 93% of the thrust outside the vertex effect when the rotor height above ground was 2.5 times the rotor radius, and the rotor was distanced from the two walls by 1.5 times the rotor radius. Flow visualisation and hot-wire velocimetry results suggest that the thrust decrease was caused by the flow recirculation structure between the fountain flow developed along the vertical corner and rotor inflow. The thrust decreases under conditions where the circulation structure appears, and fountain flow velocity accelerates the recirculation. These findings aid in planning the flight path of small multirotors in indoor flight conditions by providing guidance on distances that do not alter rotor thrust near corners and vertices.

The presented research investigates the impact of interference on the performance of aircraft Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers with a specific focus on the behaviour of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) position quality indicators. Several experiments were performed with different aircraft types, such as Airbus, Boeing, Beechcraft King Air B350 or Tecnam, and using various intensities of GNSS jamming. The behaviour of various quality indicators, such as the Navigation Integrity Category, Navigation Accuracy Category, Source Integrity Level and System Design Assurance transmitted in different types of ADS-B messages, is analysed. We investigate not only situations where the quality indicators drop to zero, but also the complete evolution of the changes in the indicators as a function of the increasing power of the jamming signal. Based on the analysis of changes in the ADS-B quality indicators, the estimation of the most likely interference signal power required to discontinue the tracking of an already acquired GPS L1 Coarse/Acquisition signal is made. Additionally, the interference signal power to prevent re-acquisition is also estimated. The findings improve the understanding of interference effects and can support the development of robust interference mitigation techniques in aviation applications.

If an aircraft’s initial mass, the variation of true airspeed, true rate of climb, wind speed and wind direction with time and the relationship between barometric altitude and local temperature are known, the performance along the entire flight path can be determined. Previously published work has provided the building blocks for a simple, fast, open-source and transparent method to estimate the instantaneous fuel flow rate and the engine overall efficiency, plus several other performance characteristics for turbofan powered, civil transport aircraft. The flight phases of primary interest are the climb, cruise, descent and holding, when the flaps and undercarriage are fully retracted and the engine is providing significant, positive thrust. However, for completeness, an approximate relation is provided for the engine’s ‘flight idle’ condition, together with simple estimates for fuel use during take-off and landing, plus a factor to allow for in-service deterioration. Detailed consideration is also given to the operating limits and relations are developed for the estimation of their location in Mach number and flight level space. To apply the method, a series of characteristic coefficients and constants must be known. Estimates for these quantities have been progressively improved and extended over time. Initially, results were published for 53 aircraft types and variants. The data base has now been extended to 67 entries and this is given in tabular form. Finally, to demonstrate the method’s accuracy, estimates of fuel flow rate are compared with flight data recorder values for 20 complete flights of six different aircraft types.

This paper considers the guidance issue for attackers against aircraft with active defense in a two-on-two engagement, which includes an attacker, a protector, a defender and a target. A cooperative line-of-sight guidance scheme with prescribed performance and input saturation is proposed utilising the sliding mode control and line-of-sight guidance theories, which guarantees that the attacker is able to capture the target with the assistance of the protector remaining on the line-of-sight between the defender and the attacker in order to intercept the defender. A fixed-time prescribed performance function and first-order anti-saturation auxiliary variable are designed in the game guidance strategy to constrain the overshoot of the guidance variable and satisfy the requirement of an overload manoeuver. The proposed guidance strategy alleviates the influence of external disturbance by implementing a fixed-time observer and the chattering phenomenon caused by the sign function. Finally, nonlinear numerical simulations verify the cooperative guidance strategies.

Actuator faults in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can have significant and potentially adverse effects on their safety and performance, highlighting the critical importance of fault diagnosis in UAV design. Ensuring the reliability of these systems in various applications often requires the use of advanced diagnostic algorithms. Artificial intelligence methods, such as deep learning and machine learning techniques, enable fault diagnosis through sample-based learning without the need for prior knowledge of fault mechanisms or physics-based models. However, UAV fault datasets are typically small due to stringent safety standards, which presents challenges for achieving high-performance fault diagnosis. To address this, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms offer a unique advantage by combining deep learning’s automatic feature extraction with reinforcement learning’s interactive learning approach, improving both learning capabilities and robustness. In this study, we propose and evaluate two DRL-based fault diagnosis models, which demonstrate remarkable accuracy in fault diagnosis, consistently exceeding $99{\rm{\% }}$. Notably, under small sample scenarios, the proposed models significantly outperform traditional classifiers such as decision trees, support vector machines, and multilayer perceptron neural networks. These findings suggest that the integration of DRL enhances fault diagnosis performance, particularly in data-limited environments.

Low-flying aircraft are susceptible to attacks by ground-launched infrared (IR)-guided man portable air defence system (MANPADS) and surface-to-air missiles (SAM). When seen from direct below, a dual band sensor can lock on to either exhaust plume or aircraft surfaces. Based on the magnitude of the IR signature, the missile can use any one source for the terminal guidance. In this study, the IR signature of the aircraft surface and potential plume core is analysed and compared from direct bottom view in different IR bands. In the Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) band, the surface emission is higher and in the Medium Wave Infrared (MWIR) band the plume emission is higher. The plume (MWIR) emission is higher than the surface (LWIR) emission for low Mach numbers, but as the Mach number increases the plume (MWIR) to surface (LWIR) emission ratio decreases, and at supersonic Mach numbers the surface LWIR signature is higher than the plume MWIR signature. The plume MWIR to surface LWIR ratio further depends on the engine power, altitude of operation and the emissivity of the aircraft surface. In the reheat mode, plume MWIR emission is always higher than the surface LWIR emission. The dual band IR detector can be a combination of short wave infrared (SWIR)-MWIR, SWIR-LWIR, and the MWIR-LWIR band. The MWIR-LWIR dual band combination is the best suited combination of IR windows for a dual band IR sensor/detector for aircraft application.

The dynamic behaviour of helicopter during water impact, considering variations in initial downward velocity and pitching angle, have been investigated numerically and theoretically in the present study. The air-water two-phase flows are simulated by solving unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations enclosed by standard $k - \omega $ turbulence model. A treatment for computational domain in combination with a global dynamic mesh technique is applied to deal with the relative motion between the helicopter and water. Results indicate that the initial downward velocity of helicopter exhibits behaviour similar to that of a V-shaped body impacting on water, as does the initial pitching angle. To extend the theoretical approach for predicting the kinematic parameters during helicopter ditching, a shape factor capturing the combined effect of various attributes and an average deadrise angle for asymmetric wedges are also introduced.

In the past few decades, substantial work has been directed towards the design of aircraft structures that maximise fuel efficiency, improve performance and curtail emissions. Aeroelastic optimisation offers an effective way to devise lightweight and fuel efficient structures, with structural stability constraints often driving the design. To date, the aeroelastic optimisation community has relied mostly on linear buckling predictions for the evaluation of structural stability constraints, mainly because of their conservativeness, computational efficiency and simplicity of implementation. This approach typically leads to overly conservative buckling margins, and this over-conservativeness places a glass ceiling over the load carrying capacity of wing structures, consequently restricting the exploration of regions within the design space where considerable weight savings could be achieved.

By contrast to previous works that predominantly rely on linear buckling constraints, the present paper introduces a method to incorporate nonlinear structural stability analysis into aeroelastic optimisations of wingbox-like structures. The method relies on the evaluation of the positive-definiteness of the tangent stiffness matrix, which is an indicator of structural stability. The sign of the stiffness eigenvalues is monitored while tracing the load-displacement equilibrium paths by means of the arc-length method, thus pinpointing the onset of instability. The proposed constraint is tested in a proof of concept structural optimisation of an idealised version of the CRM wingbox. This optimisation shows a $10.9{\rm{\% }} $ reduction in mass with respect to a baseline design that is optimal with a linear buckling approach, promising great potential for application to more realistic aeroelastic optimisations.

Rapid and comprehensive fighter optimisation is an important part of modern combat decision-making. However, due to the numerous influencing factors, it is difficult for decision-makers to consider comprehensively and specify the optimal decision, and it is highly subjective, which leads to different decision conclusions from person to person. Therefore, to solve the above deficiencies in fighter selection, this paper proposes a sequential decision-making framework that comprehensively considers the effectiveness, maintenance, support capability and health status of the fighter aircraft. Based on the multi-dimensional state, it provides comprehensive and credible auxiliary support for commanders. The sequential decision-making framework (called GRA-VIKOR-IFNs) uses the combination of equation and fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (FMCDM) to evaluate the effectiveness, support capability and health in turn, to complete the step-by-step selection of fighter models, troops and sorties. The evaluation equation is for the effectiveness evaluation and a hybrid method using the extended grey correlation analysis (GRA) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method based on intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs) is for the support capability and health evaluation. The proposed strategy is in line with the logic and demand of actual combat and training decision-making and takes into account the influence of uncertain factors. Finally, a comparison with some classical methods is carried out, such as the full consistency method (FUCOM), the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and so on. The GRA-VIKOR-IFNs method is consistent with the results of other methods and the result sort resolution is 0.0619 and at least 40% higher than other methods, which can lead the commanders to a more reliable and clear decision.

The aeronautical telecommunication network (ATN) aims to provide reliable end-to-end communications even for those including the air-to-ground segment and in particular for data link applications. The existing ATN, known as ATN/OSI, is based on OSI protocols since its first deployment. The OSI model implementation in ATN communicating entities causes great complexity in network management, particularly in terms of Internet network interoperability. Therefore, since 2010, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) proposed a migration to ATN over Internet protocol suite (IPS), called ATN/IPS. Thus, this research work focuses on specifying the reliability mechanisms required for air ground data link applications in future ATN/IPS. To achieve this, the transport protocols performance is assessed based on simulations using an ATN model developed considering the ICAO standards. The modeled legacy application enables to generate traffic based on real controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) log files from French area control centre (ACC). The air-to-ground subnetworks are characterised using time series delay induced from previously modeled VDL Mode 2 data link analysis. As proof-of-concept, CPDLC messages exchange from aircraft to controller and future applications that transmits heavier files from ground-to-board are simulated. Transport protocols performance are evaluated with respect to the most constraining requirements. The simulation results highlighted the limitations of both connection-oriented transport protocol class 4 (COTP4) and TCP. This enabled to provide a preliminary overview of a new QUIC-like reliable protocol that should meet the heterogeneous requirements of the legacy and the eventual future ATN/IPS applications.