Aena

The main function of an airport is to provide access to air transport both for passengers and cargo. The number of air operations over the past 20 years has increased rapidly, and this has led to a rise in the energy needs of airports to satisfy this demand. As a consequence, the cost of energy supply for airport managers has escalated. At the same time, global energy consumption has soared due to the needs of emerging countries like China and India, with the consequent environmental impact. This complex scenario of environmental and economic factors has made airport managers become aware of the need to reduce energy consumption as well as a more efficient use of it. The aim of this article is to analyze the main behaviors and energy trends at airports in more recent research, starting with the description of the main energy sources and consumers, the application of energy conservation and energy efficiency measures, the establishment of energy indicators and benchmarking between airports, as well as energy modeling and simulation.

We formulate fuel-optimal conflict-free aircraft trajectory planning as a hybrid optimal control problem. The discrete modes of the hybrid system capture the air traffic procedures for conflict resolution, e.g., speed and turn advisories. To solve problems of realistic dimensions arising from air traffic sector planning, we formulate a numerically tractable approach to solve the hybrid optimal control problem. The approach is based on introducing binary functions for each mode, relaxing the binary functions and including a penalty term on the relaxation. The transformed and discretized problem is a nonlinear program. We use the approach on a realistic case study with seven aircraft within an air traffic control sector, in which we find minimum-fuel conflict-free trajectories.

GRAIL-2 is the evolution of the GRAIL project (GNSS introduction in the RAIL Sector), a project funded by the GSA (GNSS Supervisor Authority) with the aim of facilitating the introduction of GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) in the Rail sector. GRAIL-2 takes over it predecessor focusing on the development of a GNSS based Enhanced Odometer with high integrity and safety level in a context of High Speed Lines (HSL). The purpose of a GNSS based odometer is to integrate and/or replace the traditional odometric systems currently used in the ETCS environment (tachometers, INS, Doppler radar etc.). GRAIL-2 inherits the know-how acquired by GRAIL improving the accuracy of the computed Position-Velocity-Acceleration solution by means of an advanced data fusion algorithm. The safety level is guaranteed introducing RAIM and Protection Level computation algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to describe the results obtained analyzing the preliminary data captured on the train.

Airport operations are particularly susceptible to unauthorized drone intrusions and an increasing of the awareness is required in regard to this phenomenon. This work describes a quantitative assessment of the historical features of drone intrusions in airports, by using different public databases with reports about real sightings. The available features are modelled in terms of probability distributions. Also, a risk classification model is proposed by means of supervised machine learning. Lastly, a preliminary analysis is provided for the definition of an Airport Vulnerability Index with respect to drone intrusions.

Desde la década de los noventa, se han desarrollado diversos procesos –liberalización del transporte aéreo, globalización, irrupción de las compañías aéreas de bajo coste- que han tenido implicaciones relevantes sobre el sistema aeroportuario español. Este artículo estudia los cambios acaecidos en la productividad y eficiencia técnica de los aeropuertos españoles entre 1992 y 2012. Para ello se aplica la metodología denominada Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA) que permite la estimación de índices Malmquist de productividad y su posterior descomposición en indicadores de eficiencia técnica y cambio tecnológico. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los aeropuertos españoles han experimentado durante el periodo analizado un moderado incremento de la productividad total de los factores que es imputable prácticamente en exclusiva al crecimiento de la eficiencia técnica.

This study aims to demonstrate the meaning of indigenous names of aerodromes of Brazil. The aerodromes were classified in the Taxonomy of Nature Physics Dick (Concepts of Dick). We collected and selected 270 toponyms whose meanings contribute to visual cues in navigation, thus making them a participatory element to promote safety during take-off and landing periods. The study intends to increase the navigator view in relation to the landforms references classified in a Taxonomy and Toponymic chart. Toponymy, in this regard, plays a relevant role as a precious element in flight planning and navigation.

Este artículo describe un proyecto de investigación dirigido por Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea, siendo una reelaboración del texto final completo con algunos comentarios adicionales. El artículo describe la metodología de análisis comparativo, "benchmarking", de los costes directos aeroportuarios y otros costes relacionados con estos - asistencia en tierra y combustible principalmente - para catorce aeropuertos europeos seleccionados. La conclusión principal señala unos costes directos en los aeropuertos españoles más baratos que en los otros europeos seleccionados. Por el contrario, otros servicios en los aeropuertos españoles, prestados por compañías diferentes a la administración aeroportuaria, presentan precios superiores a los otros seleccionados.