Advanced Aircraft Performance Modeling for ATM: BADA 4.0 Results

A more predictable air traffic management (ATM) based on automation requires a precise trajectory computation infrastructure (TCI). The predicted trajectories are not only the result of its trajectory integration capabilities, but also depend on the input obtained from the associated aircraft performance model (APM), the operational instructions defining each trajectory, and the weather data. The APM is the core of the trajectory computation process and as such plays a critical role in the resulting capabilities of any future ATM system. EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre (EEC) conducts a number of activities in the domain of APMs, which are performed within the scope of base of aircraft data (BADA). EEC is supported by Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in the definition, development, implementation, and evaluation of an advanced three degrees of freedom APM suitable for the stringent requirements of future trajectory prediction tools. This new APM becomes version 4.0 of BADA, released and maintained by EEC. BADA 4.0 provides expressions for aircraft drag, thrust, and fuel consumption. It represents a significant improvement over current APMs for its high accuracy, its applicability to all types of power plants (jets, turboprops, and piston engines), its validity in the entire flight envelope, and the inclusion of non clean aerodynamic configurations. Additional features include the accurate modeling of the different power plant ratings, the existence of a limitations model to guarantee a proper usage within the flight envelope, the use of a precise atmospheric model that includes possible temperature and pressure differentials over the international standard atmosphere (ISA), and its modern architecture that results in reasonable complexity, maintainability, and computing requirements. This paper describes the different elements involved in the trajectory computation process, with emphasis in the APM as the essential component. It contains an overview of the BADA 4.0 APM, describing its different modules, and provides examples of the achieved results, both in terms of the error with respect to the reference data, as well as the shape of the identified models. A new trajectory engine (TE) capable of exploiting all the BADA 4.0 features is currently being developed. Preliminary results showing some of its capabilities are presented