Airport capacity has become a constraint in the air transportation networks, due to the growth of air traffic demand and the lack of resources able to accommodate this demand. This paper presents the algorithmic implementations of a decision support system for making a more efficient use of the airspace and ground capacity. The system would be able to provide support for air traffic controllers in handling large amount of flights while reducing to a minimum the potential conflicts. In this framework, airspace together with ground airport operations are considered. Conflicts are defined as separation minima violation between aircraft for what concerns airspace and runways, and as capacity overloads for taxiway network and terminals. The methodology proposed in this work consists of an iterative approach that couples optimization and simulation to find solutions that are resilient to perturbations due to the uncertainty present in different phases of the arrival and departure process. An optimization model was employed to find a (sub)optimal solution while a discrete event-based simulation model evaluated the objective function. By coupling simulation with optimization, we generate more robust solutions resilient to variability in the operations, this is supported by a case study of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Sleep quality and maintenance of the optimal cognitive functioning is of crucial importance for aviation safety. Fatigue Risk Management (FRM) enables the operator to achieve the objectives set in their safety and FRM policies. As in any other risk management cycle, the FRM value can be realized by deploying suitable tools that aid robust decision-making. For the purposes of our article, we focus on fatigue hazard identification to explore the possible developments forward through the enhancement of objective tools in air transport operators. To this end we compare subjective and objective tools that could be employed by an FRM system. Specifically, we focus on an exploratory survey on 120 pilots and the analysis of 250 fatigue reports that are compared with objective fatigue assessment based on the polysomnographic (PSG) and neurocognitive assessment of three experimental cases. We highlight the significance of predictive objective tools that should be deployed by contemporary FRM models. We also report the need for utilization of scientific-based tools for predictive FRM, in which objective sleep quality and neurocognitive assessment should be the core aspect. We note the period of restructuring ahead as an opportunity for operators to rethink and restructure their FRM.
Recently KLM has revealed the plan to downsize the full-freight cargo fleet in Schiphol Airport, for that reason it is important for the company and the airport to explore the consequences of moving the cargo transported by the full freighters into the bellies of the passenger flights. The consequences of this action in terms of capacity and requirements are still unknown for the stakeholders. The current study illustrates that once the freighters are phased out, the commercial traffic needs to adjust mainly their load factors in order to absorb the cargo that was previously transported by the full freighters. The current model is a version that includes the airside operation of the airport and also the vehicle movement which allows addressing the uncertainties of the operation as well as the limitations and potential problems of the phasing-out action.
Since March 2013, Paul Peeters is a member of the ICAO/CAEP Working Group 3, which is responsible for setting a new fuel efficiency standard for of civil aviation. He does so for the International Coalition for Sustainable Aviation (ICSA). ICSA was established in 1998 by a group of national and international environmental NGOs as official observers. Since its inception, ICSA has contributed to CAEP’s work on technical means to reduce emissions and noise, the role of market-based measures, supporting economic and environmental analysis, modelling and forecasting, and ICAO’s carbon calculator. It has also been invited to present its views at ICAO workshops on carbon markets and bio-fuels, and has presented to the high-level Group on Internation Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC). ICSA uses the expertise within its NGO membership to formulate its co-ordinated positions. To gain the broadest level of understanding and input from environmental NGOs, ICSA communicates with, and invites comment from, other NGO networks and bodies working in related areas. ICSA’s participation in ICAO and CAEP meetings is currently provided by the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT) and Transport and Environment (T&E). See http://www.icsa-aviation.org
Today, embedded devices such as banking/transportation cards, car keys, and mobile phones use cryptographic techniques to protect personal information and communication. Such devices are increasingly becoming the targets of attacks trying to capture the underlying secret information, e.g., cryptographic keys. Attacks not targeting the cryptographic algorithm but its implementation are especially devastating and the best-known examples are so-called side-channel and fault injection attacks. Such attacks, often jointly coined as physical (implementation) attacks, are difficult to preclude and if the key (or other data) is recovered the device is useless. To mitigate such attacks, security evaluators use the same techniques as attackers and look for possible weaknesses in order to “fix” them before deployment. Unfortunately, the attackers’ resourcefulness on the one hand and usually a short amount of time the security evaluators have (and human errors factor) on the other hand, makes this not a fair race. Consequently, researchers are looking into possible ways of making security evaluations more reliable and faster. To that end, machine learning techniques showed to be a viable candidate although the challenge is far from solved. Our project aims at the development of automatic frameworks able to assess various potential side-channel and fault injection threats coming from diverse sources. Such systems will enable security evaluators, and above all companies producing chips for security applications, an option to find the potential weaknesses early and to assess the trade-off between making the product more secure versus making the product more implementation-friendly. To this end, we plan to use machine learning techniques coupled with novel techniques not explored before for side-channel and fault analysis. In addition, we will design new techniques specially tailored to improve the performance of this evaluation process. Our research fills the gap between what is known in academia on physical attacks and what is needed in the industry to prevent such attacks. In the end, once our frameworks become operational, they could be also a useful tool for mitigating other types of threats like ransomware or rootkits.
Client: Blue Plan regional activity centre (UNEP/MAP), subcontracted through TEC Conseille, Marseille As part of a regional workshop organized by the Blue Plan in July 2008, one of the conclusions of the Group "Tourism and Climate Change” was the need for saving energy in tourism transportation and particularly of air transport, as air transport is responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions caused by tourism. In the period 1998-2005, the share of international arrivals by air in the Mediterranean area rose from 23% to 40%, respectively, or in numbers, from 47 to 122 million tourists. Some countries, particularly islands, almost entirely depend on air transport for their international tourism. For example in 2005 air transport is used by 87%, 78%, 73%, 64% and 51% of international tourists arriving in, respectively, Israel, Egypt, Spain, Tunisia and Morocco. According to Plan Bleu forecasts on international arrivals, assuming that the share of air transport remains the same, the number of tourists travelling by plane will reach over 158 million by 2025. Given the role of aviation in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), such a development is clearly not sustainable in the light of the necessary reduction of emissions to avoid dangerous climate change. The overall aim of the study is to inform policy makers and entrepreneurs in both destination and in origin countries, on possible options to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from air travel, while at the same time not impairing the economic development of tourism. To do this, CSTT has developed a tourism scenario model for all countries with Mediterranean coasts describing inbound and outbound international tourism and domestic tourism by all available transport modes and giving both contributions to GDP and total GHG emissions. This model responses to global mitigation policies (increasing the cost of carbon emissions) as well as national policies (taxes, subsidies and changes in transport quality per transport mode). Using the model both global and national policies can be assessed as well as the risks of global mitigation policies for specific countries.
