| Environmental Impact of Air Transport | <img alt="" src="http://webtest.cira.it/PublishingImages/IATA_SOTA%20FIGURA%201.jpg" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | https://www.cira.it/en/competences/environmental-impact-of-air-transport/Environmental Impact of Air Transport | Environmental Impact of Air Transport | <p style="text-align:justify;">The mission of the research unit is to develop innovative methodologies and technologies for the efficiency improvement of air transport, with reference to its environmental, economic and social sustainability taking into account the waited increment of traffic volumes in the next decades and the growing adoption of novel types of vehicles.</p> | <p>Research activities of unit accept directions from international organizations such as ACARE, SESAR, CleanSky and Horizon 2020 as well as recommendations by European Committee concerning the sustainable air traffic topic thus its objectives aim to achieve:</p><ul><li><p>The reduction of perceived noise;</p></li><li><p>The reduction of fuel consumption and consequently of pollutants emission;</p></li><li><p>The increment of airspace density while guaranteeing adequate safety levels;</p></li><li><p>The increment of efficiency in air traffic management and control;</p></li><li><p>The increment of cost efficiency related to airport operations.</p></li></ul><p>The research unit cooperates with several universities, research centers and national and international companies, by means of many joint participations to research projects, internships offerings in CIRA, dissemination activities of know-how achieved and also joining international organizations such as IFAR, GARTEUR, ATAG e CEAS.</p><p><br></p> | <p>The main research topics of the unit include the numerical and experimental characterization of air vehicles as noise sources, the study of phenomena related to sound propagation to the ground and vibrational acoustics issues, the pollutants emission analysis of air and space vehicles by means of standard and advanced diagnostic instruments, the design of innovative trajectory planning algorithms to improve air traffic management for separation keeping and collision avoidance, the design of innovative algorithms for the autonomous and optimal air traffic operation both in cruise and terminal area. Those research topics cover several practical applications, including fixed wings as well as rotating wings in aeronautics, or considering them in different scenarios of both conventional and non-conventional air traffic, for instance the case of remoted piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) integration. The research unit is provided with numerical tools and software, both commercial and self-developed, for the vibro-acoustics analysis due to structural (FEM) and fluid dynamic (CFD RANS) fields, for noise propagation analysis (semi-analytic and numerical tools FW-H, BEM and FEM), for plume characterization of aerial and space engines, for air traffic surveillance based on ADS-B sensors, for detection and resolution of conflict and collision conditions, for the collection and elaboration of data to synthetize the air traffic picture, for the trajectory generation with techniques of continuous descent or curved approach.</p><p>The research unit is in charge to manage an experimental laboratory for the environmental acoustics and air quality measurements, called ACAM. The ACAM lab, thanks to its crew experience built during a long cooperation with Italian Navy and Air Force, can provide the following services:</p><ul><li><p>Evaluation of environmental impact due to aircrafts, both in terms of noise produced and pollutants emitted;</p></li><li><p>Acoustics zoning of airport surrounding area and evaluation of maps for pollutants concentration and distribution;</p></li><li><p>Development of environmental monitoring systems and restoration planning for environmental issues management;</p></li><li><p>Noise data acquisition in take-off, landing and overflight for data-base definition to be adopted for optimal flight trajectories study.</p></li></ul><p>The research unit is also involved in the environmental impact evaluation related to the space propulsion facilities realization, inside CIRA, and consequent design of solutions for its mitigation.</p> | |
