Videos by JOSÉ ALEXANDRE T . G . FREGNANI
Videos presenting the latest developments of my PhD research.
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Papers by JOSÉ ALEXANDRE T . G . FREGNANI
EP 4 614 479 A2, 2025
The present disclosure provides a method of
monitoring for an unstable approach of an aircraft d... more The present disclosure provides a method of
monitoring for an unstable approach of an aircraft during
flight in one aspect, the method including: determining,
using values of a ground speed and a height of the aircraft
derived from measurements acquired during the flight, a
specific energy of the aircraft during an approach phase
of the flight. The method further includes determining a
reference specific energy of the aircraft, defining an energy range relative to the reference specific energy, and
visually displaying, using a first flight instrument of the
aircraft, an indicator of the specific energy relative to the
energy range.
USPTO Patent application US20250277676 A1, 2025
The present disclosure provides a method of monitoring for an unstable approach of an aircraft du... more The present disclosure provides a method of monitoring for an unstable approach of an aircraft during flight in one aspect, the method including: determining, using values of a ground speed and a height of the aircraft derived from measurements acquired during the flight, a specific energy of the aircraft during an approach phase of the flight. The method further includes determining a reference specific energy of the aircraft, defining an energy range relative to the reference specific energy, and visually displaying, using a first flight instrument of the aircraft, an indicator of the specific energy relative to the energy range.
MP-Safety/ITA
Professional Master´s presentation
Research Square, 2023
This study explores the relationship between airspace constraints and fuel consumption in aircraf... more This study explores the relationship between airspace constraints and fuel consumption in aircraft design, and its impact on economics, performance, and the environment. To understand the impact of inefficiencies in air transportation and the effect of fuel efficiency, the study employs a coupled aircraft and network optimization algorithm based on the system-of-systems approach. The mission profile is characterized through the utilization of transponder data from ten of the busiest European airports and machine learning techniques. This information is used to derive the mission profile for each leg and incorporate it into the aircraft performance evaluation looking to provide a more realistic scenario. The optimization of the system-of-systems is solved through a combination of genetic and linear programming optimization algorithms, which consider crucial factors such as aircraft sizing, mission performance evaluation, and network flow optimization. The results of the study indicate that the integration of a realistic mission profile into the optimization process results in more conservative estimations of profit and direct operating costs.
USPTO Pubished Patent Application, 2025
A system and a method include a control unit configured to determine drag factors and fuel flow f... more A system and a method include a control unit configured to determine drag factors and fuel flow factors for different phases of one or more prior flights of an aircraft, and determine a fuel level for one or more upcoming flights of the aircraft based on the drag factors and the fuel flow factors for the different phases of the one or more prior flights of the aircraft.
International civil aviation strives to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ... more International civil aviation strives to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) is an alternative for such purpose. However, for an alternative fuel to be considered SAF, some conditions must be met, and production must be certified for sustainability. This paper presents an assessment of the necessary conditions for the sustainable production of these biofuels in Brazil. It is based on a geospatial publicly available database (SAFmaps) that was built with the aim of providing information to stakeholders who would be interested in the production of SAF. The geographic scope corresponds to an area that is about half of the country. The case studies reported in this paper are related to four crop-based feedstocks (eucalyptus, soybean, sugarcane, and corn), which could be used for SAF production, according to three certified routes (FT, HEFA, and ATJ) (Fischer-Tropsch, Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids and Alcohol to Jet); in total, six potential production sites were assessed. For each crop, the detailed assessment is based on estimates of suitability for biomass production, yields, and costs. The assumptions made allowed us to explicitly analyse the risk of deforestation (production could only occur with displacement of pastures) and the necessary preservation of sensitive biomes and of legally protected areas, in addition to observing the restrictive conditions imposed by CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). To reduce GHG emissions, transporting biomass over long distances was assumed to be only by rail or pipeline. In addition, we address alternatives to minimise the risks associated with induced land-use change (iLUC) and to reduce impacts on the landscape. The results show that the production of SAF through the ATJ route, using ethanol produced from sugarcane and corn, requires less land. Economic assessment was outside the scope of this paper.
Modelo de desempenho bada e estimativa de massa de aeronave com aplicação em tráfego aéreo
No contexto de gerenciamento de tráfego aéreo, entre várias questões e assuntos, a massa de uma a... more No contexto de gerenciamento de tráfego aéreo, entre várias questões e assuntos, a massa de uma aeronave é um parâmetro crucial para o desempenho de aeronaves e possuir forte impacto no controle desses veículos. Entretanto, devido às estratégias de empresas aéreas, a massa decolagem e subida é considerada como um dado sensível e, portanto, é mantido em segredo pelas companhias. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho se propõe desenvolver uma metodologia capaz de estimar a massa de uma aeronave em segmentos coletados de subida, fornecidos pela fonte de monitoramento e detecção automática. O modelo de desempenho desenvolvido e utilizado neste trabalho é o BADA, distribuído gratuitamente pela organização Eurocontrol. A partir dessa metodologia, três métodos de estimativa de massa são construídos. O primeiro método se baseia em identificar parâmetros relacionados ao conceito de operações de voo e utilizá-los na simulação das trajetórias. O segundo e terceiro método se consistem em calcular parâmetros de voo a partir dos dados gerados pela fonte de monitoramento e detecção e introduzi-los no modelo dinâmico do BADA para a realização das simulações das trajetórias. Todos os Métodos de estimativa de massa apresentados visam calcular o erro gerado pelos dados simulados de altitude geopotencial de pressão com os dados de altitude geopotencial capturados pelas fontes de monitoramento. Dessa forma, a massa da aeronave estimada, determinada pelo uso do algoritmo genético que visa minimizar o erro gerado pela diferença de altitudes geopotenciais, é aquela que executa o voo mais próximo ao voo capturado pelos dados de monitoramento enviados. Os métodos de estimativa de massa são também desenvolvidos por uma análise expandida do modelo BADA a um modelo que leva em conta os gradientes do vento e a um modelo que leva em conta o ajuste da manete de tração variado pela altitude. Os resultados dos métodos são comparados entre si e com os resultados reais de massa em um ponto da subida, de forma a escolher-se o melhor método que estima a massa, de acordo com cada voo estudado. Vale a pena destacar que para os voos analisados neste trabalho, feitos com a aeronave AirbusA330, os erros obtidos pelas diferenças relativas de massa, são inferiores a 6%.
An Example of Genetic Algorithms Applied to Multidisciplinary Design Optimization: The 3D Payload-Range-Doc Envelope
This study investigates the use of Genetic Algorithms (GA) algorithms (NSGA and MOGA-II) as main ... more This study investigates the use of Genetic Algorithms (GA) algorithms (NSGA and MOGA-II) as main optimization tools in a Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO) framework considering three disciplines (aerodynamics, propulsion and aircraft performance) for a given set of aircraft parameters (airframe and engines geometries), inserted in each operational scenario. The mission analysis is evaluated into a 3D payload-range-DOC envelope generated through the integration of the aircraft into the operational framework. A MDO framework is stated for a given aircraft geometry (engines and airframe) and operational conditions the main objective is to determine the optimum mission flight path (optimum flight speeds and altitudes), minimizing the Direct Operational Cost (DOC, in US$/nm) and maximizing Zero Fuel Weight (in kg) for a range interval. As output the optimum flight profile may be selected to satisfy airlines requirements for a given set of aircraft design parameters.
European Patent Database, 2024
The present disclosure relates to flightpath optimization, and more specifically, to optimizing t... more The present disclosure relates to flightpath optimization, and more specifically, to optimizing the altitude and the speed of an aircraft at various sections of the flightpath to account for various parameters by which the efficiency of the aircraft is measured. A flightpath includes a trajectory, which indicates the altitude and the speed of the aircraft over the course of the flightpath. As will be appreciated, the altitude and speed of an aircraft may vary over the course of a journey from takeoff to landing, but aircraft generally climb/descend to a specified altitude and maintain a specified speed on a specified heading for an extended period of time. Changes in altitude or speed may affect how quickly an aircraft reaches the destination, an amount of fuel consumed, a level of noise produced (in the cabin or the environment), which weather patterns the aircraft interacts with, and a level of wear-and-tear on components of the aircraft, among other effects. Different operators may prioritize increasing or decreasing the values of various parameters relative to one another when setting a flightpath, however, generating a flightpath optimized according to an operator’s preferences from the available options can be a time and processor-resource intensive operation.
Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (TCC) - PE/Safety ITA, 2024
Os processos de certificação aeronáutica envolvem uma série de etapas complexas, com requisitos r... more Os processos de certificação aeronáutica envolvem uma série de etapas complexas, com requisitos rigorosos de segurança e conformidade regulatória. A integração da Inteligência Artificial (IA) pode trazer benefícios como a redução da carga de trabalho dos pilotos, maior consciência situacional e auxílio mais rápido e preciso na tomada de decisões em situações de emergência, melhorando a precisão e a confiabilidade das análises. No entanto, a implementação da IA em Sistemas de Alerta de Excursão de Pista (SAEP) enfrenta desafios técnicos, como a interpretação e validação de modelos de IA, a garantia de transparência e explicabilidade dos resultados e a adaptação dos métodos tradicionais de certificação para acomodar novas tecnologias. Questões éticas e de segurança também devem ser consideradas, incluindo a proteção de dados sensíveis, a prevenção de viés algorítmico e a garantia de que os sistemas de IA atendam aos mais altos padrões de segurança cibernética. Para superar esses desafios, é essencial uma abordagem colaborativa entre reguladores, fabricantes de aeronaves e especialistas em IA, com foco contínuo na garantia da segurança e confiabilidade dos sistemas aeronáuticos.
INPI, 2024
Método para exibir informação a um piloto, e, sistemas aviônico e de gerenciamento de voo. sistem... more Método para exibir informação a um piloto, e, sistemas aviônico e de gerenciamento de voo. sistemas e métodos para aprimorar o desempenho de decolagem, exibindo simbologia representando um alvo de ângulo de arfagem inicial que otimiza a quantidade de carga útil que pode ser carregada por um avião. isso é realizado determinando um ângulo de arfagem inicial ideal em rotação durante a decolagem que é associado com uma razão ideal de velocidade de segurança na decolagem para a velocidade de estol que satisfaça um conjunto específico de restrições de subida/obstáculo. alvejar esse ângulo de arfagem inicial ideal permite que o peso bruto de decolagem máximo que corresponde à razão ideal de velocidade de segurança na decolagem/velocidade de estol seja selecionado.
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Há muitos artigos e ensaios versando sobre os efeitos da deregulamentação de aviação civil em 197... more Há muitos artigos e ensaios versando sobre os efeitos da deregulamentação de aviação civil em 1978, mas quase nenhum deles aborda os impactos na indústria aeronáutica e as ondas de imigração que ocorreram devido às passagens aéreas mais baratas. O presente trabalho propõe uma metodologia inovadora, baseada na teoria da entropia estatística, para analisar o impacto da deregulamentação de 1978 no projeto de aronaves de transporte à jato. O banco de dados usado para esta tarefa é composto por 121 aeronaves desde a década de 1950, evidenciando o efeito da deregulação sobre a diversidade de projetos logo após sua entrada em serviço. Além disso, a aplicação da distância euclidiana para o cálculo dos índices de difusão e convergência e seu resultado é analisado neste trabalho. Uma análise especial do setor regional do transporte regular de passageiros também é realizado aqui.
Course Graduation Dissertation , 1993
Final Dissertation - BSc Mechanical Engineering (University fo São Paulo)
Boeing Innovation Quaterly , 2016
Incorporating checklists in high-hazard environments can enhance safetywhether it is procedural, ... more Incorporating checklists in high-hazard environments can enhance safetywhether it is procedural, for preparation, or to solve problems. This paper examines the use of checklists in various environments, as well as human-factors studies that form the foundation for the use of checklists to improve safety.
Boeing Innovation Quaterly, 2017
To simulate the acoustic environment generated at liftoff by four main engines and two solid rock... more To simulate the acoustic environment generated at liftoff by four main engines and two solid rocket boosters, engineers set up towers of subwoofers and amplifiers to create 142 decibels of sound, testing the structure of the Space Launch System. 10 | Being herself, being an engineer She was the only woman left in her engineering school graduating class. But like many women working in Boeing STEM careers today, Julie Perkins persevered, and is bringing a valuable diversity of thought and innovation to aerospace. 18 | Deep space thinking Boeing researchers continually investigate opportunities to unlock human potential through the science of aerospace. A Technical Fellow recently completed a concept study on autonomous operations in deep space, just one of many aspects to explore about the future. Technical Papers 28 | Aviation Initiatives and the Relative Impact of Electric Road Vehicles on CO2 Emissions More than 1,600 flights have been operated using blends of biofuels and conventional kerosene, demonstrating that alternative fuels are safe and technically sound, and can reduce overall carbon footprint by an average of 60-80 percent over its full lifecycle, depending on the pathway and feedstock used. The aviation industry will continue to pursue a range of opportunities in new technology, such as new aircraft design and biofuels to meet emission reduction targets. 32 | Telesupervised Co-Robotic Systems for Remote Confined/Hazardous Space Operations Telerobotic technologies deploy human technicians remotely into confined or otherwise hazardous spaces by bringing the humans' skills to tasks but not to the dangers. This will result in the elimination of musculoskeletal disorders; removal from exposure to harmful atmospheres; and reduced cognitive workload. Recognizing the limits of autonomy that preclude direct leaps from the majority of human-accomplished tasks to fully-automated tasks, we take a tractable approach to selectively integrate augmentation of human sensory and cognitive capabilities.
Negotiation Approach by Reinforcement Learning for Takeoff Sequencing Decision in Airports
2019 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC), 2019
Air traffic flow Management aims to control route network flow on regions in which the service is... more Air traffic flow Management aims to control route network flow on regions in which the service is provided. One important challenge is to guarantee that aircraft are able to departure and land safely, with minimum delay. To satisfy this requirement, several restrictive measures are employed, such as: ground delay programs, en-route deceleration, holding patterns at intermediate altitudes (descent and approach phases), and diversions to less congested airports. The problem becomes how to better distribute these measures among the involved entities. In this paper, a new model is proposed to tackle this problem, named RELEASE, which utilizes reinforcement learning techniques to train agents to better negotiate their delays with other aircraft. To do so, the negotiation process was modeled as a Markov Decision Process. The aircraft is considered as agent and then trained to negotiate its position in the environment with other aircraft through time offers with an associated reward. The learning behavior was compared to a reference model. In the case studies, the agents were able to achieve similar results as the reference model, and even getting better results for agents with greater operational costs than their predecessors.
Big data management and processing in the context of the system wide information management
2017 IEEE 20th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2017
The 4D trajectory management program will require a major shift in infrastructure and operational... more The 4D trajectory management program will require a major shift in infrastructure and operational management processes to deliver accurate and reliable information to trajectory management team. As a result, air traffic management operation will demand Network Enabled Operations (NEO) concepts such as the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) framework to ensure that the decisions are made with the correction information at the right time. SWIM provides standards, infrastructure, and governance practices to allow information exchanging through interoperable services. Consequently, SWIM must provide methods to (a) integrate a large variety of data; (b) filter information in a way that only the relevant ones are retained to explain the results; (c) enable National Airspace System (NAS) operators, pilots, controllers, and traffic flow specialists to extract value of air traffic systems in real-time; and (d) to seek and explore complex and evolving data's relationships. However,...
Identification of the Actual Mission Profiles and Their Impact on the Integrated Aircraft and Airline Network Optimization
AIAA AVIATION 2021 FORUM, 2021
The traditional aircraft design techniques implemented by the industry and academy focus on the e... more The traditional aircraft design techniques implemented by the industry and academy focus on the evaluation of several disciplines envisioning the optimization of a given objective function. During this process, the aircraft mission is selected in accordance with the OEM's and Airlines requirements and represented as a predefined mission in the aircraft design algorithms. Information on the actual mission's that the designed aircraft will perform is not considered at a realistic level in an environment where the major efforts are applied in the dis-cipline's evaluation. In this paper, the impact of the real mission profile is evaluated inside the integrated aircraft and airline network simultaneous optimization process, considering ATM constraints. The actual mission profile is introduced using information from automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). A database from FR24 is used to obtain information of 6 months of flights between ten of the principal destinations of the European Union network. An unsupervised machine learning algorithm (DBSCAN) performs a two-step (horizontal and then vertical) clusterization of the principal routes given an O-D pair. The pre-processing and post-processing blocks of the machine learning framework use a flight phase identification algorithm, 1. to simplify the distance evaluation between routes (input for DBSCAN algorithm) and, 2. to obtain data for the definition of the final route missions used in the aircraft evaluation framework. The integrated airline fleet and network optimization are performed by a framework architecture that embeds (inside the aircraft optimization framework) a linear programming algorithm responsible for obtaining the potential optimal networks considering the demand (bidirectional) and capacity constraints. An heuristic based genetic algorithm is used to solve the system of systems optimization. In this work, the airline network allows direct routing (i.e. no hub is forced). The aircraft framework is composed of several disciplines (e.g. Aerodynamics, Performance, etc.) adapted to the Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Scheme (CPACS), used as a data exchange format to enhance the interaction between them. I. Nomenclature ADS-B = automatic dependent surveillance broadcast ATM = air traffic management BFL = balanced field length, [m] CAD = computer aided design CFD = computational fluid dynamics d = actual distance of route (i,k), [nm] DBSCAN = density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise DOC = direct operational cost, [USD] DOF = degrees of freedom g = vector of equality constraints GCD = great circle distance, [nm]
Modeling the swarm optimization to build effective Continuous Descent Arrival sequences
2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2016
The main goal in Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) operations is the management of flight trajecto... more The main goal in Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) operations is the management of flight trajectories in order to optimize the operating capability of the aircraft in Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA), reducing fuel burn and emissions during the descent/approach phase. At the same time the maximization of airspace efficiency/capacity needs to be addressed considering local airspace requirements and constraints. The arrival coordination task can be viewed as a scenario in which several aircraft approach at a common merging point within optimum time windows, ensured by ATC in order to eliminate en-route conflicts with an adequate sequencing of the arrivals. It is proposed a 4D-compliant framework that integrates the individual performance preferences of the landing aircraft and the ATC arrival management procedures. The ATC agent should use a particle swarm optimization algorithm in order to build valid, safe arrival sequencing that decreases and distributes the overall operational costs among the aircraft in a fair and efficient manner. Using actual data from Brasilia International Airport (SBBR) to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling, a case study shows that 77% of the flights are able to accomplish their desired time window flying a CDA procedure.
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Videos by JOSÉ ALEXANDRE T . G . FREGNANI
Papers by JOSÉ ALEXANDRE T . G . FREGNANI
of the flight. The method further includes determining a reference specific energy of the aircraft, defining an energy range relative to the reference specific energy, and visually displaying, using a first flight instrument of the aircraft, an indicator of the specific energy relative to the energy range.