Sydney Uni - Qantas -New Partnership means smarter flying.
 

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New partnership with Qantas will mean smarter flying


25 September 2012

http://sydney.edu.au/images/content/...ter_flying.jpg This system will help pave the way for optimised flight routes that will improve operational efficiency and support greener commercial aviation, says Professor Salah Sukkarieh.
The University of Sydney and Qantas have entered into a four-year partnership to develop a flight planning system that will help the airline fly optimised routes, reduce fuel consumption and improve operational effectiveness.
The Qantas Future Flight Planning Project (QFFPP) follows closely on the tail of a successful pilot program that targeted the development and demonstration of a prototype commercial aviation flight-planning system.
Professor Salah Sukkarieh, the Australian Centre for Field Robotics' (ACFR) Director of Research and Innovation, says the commencement of the QFFPP punctuated a decade of research in the area of flight planning and control, and multi-vehicle coordination and optimisation.
"Our initial work looked at how aerodynamics, flight mechanics, large-scale optimisation and machine learning algorithms can be used to design better flight planning routines and fuel prediction models.
"We believe this will help pave the way for optimised flight routes that will improve operational efficiency for Qantas - complementing its existing focus on new navigation technology - and support greener commercial aviation," says Professor Sukkarieh.
The agreement with the University will look at further developing the system as well as conduct new research into operational factors such as weather avoidance and traffic flow. The project will support six research fellows and up to 10 PhD students.
Professor Sukkarieh says overall the system is the first of its kind in the world, offering Qantas a suite of algorithms that are custom made to Qantas' operation and that will support its future needs.
Qantas' Head of Operations Support, Peter Broschofsky, said the partnership would help Qantas build on its strong record of innovation through technology deployment in flight operations.
"We are delighted to be working with the University of Sydney on a project that is at the cutting-edge of aviation technology research," Mr Broschofsky said. "We expect the QFFPP will replace our current flight planning systems in around four years and, coupled with new aircraft and ground technology, bring about significant improvements in Qantas' operational efficiency.
"More efficient flying is an operational priority for Qantas - it will help us improve our performance for our customers and reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions. The system being developed by Professor Sukkarieh is in keeping with Qantas' longstanding commitment to smarter technologies such as Required Navigation Performance, where we are an industry leader."
The prototype system was based on the latest research in stochastic optimisation and planning and implemented in software using data supplied by Qantas. The system combined all the relevant aerodynamic, route profile and aircraft performance into the optimisation algorithms that were based on Dynamic Programming principles, and demonstrated greater accuracy and provided enhanced operational effectiveness.
The ACFR is based in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies at the University of Sydney and is dedicated to the scientific advancement of robotics and intelligent systems. Professor Salah Sukkarieh is a former mechatronic engineering student at the University of Sydney. He completed his PhD in avionic systems and his research has been dedicated to the development of innovative algorithms and software solutions to bring about intelligent aerospace platforms and systems.


Courtesy Of Sydney University . Link here :


News | The University of Sydney

Or if you really want to save fuel you could buy some 777s.

Interesting...I know when Joycey was CEO of Jetstar he got the Uni of Melbourne to develop a similar optimizing system for them...problem???...Joycey took the pilot they developed and got another cheaper company to implement it. The Uni of Melbourne now has Joycey blacklisted, which is a shame for QF cos some of these lads are the smartest in the room.

Anyone in the know explain what they are trying to achieve here? Given QF will have any routing they desire from OZ to the USA and the UAE, how much more optimised can you actually be? I would have thought that a decent flight planning computer and accurate weather forecasting would have done the job in this day and age. What more are all these blokes actually going to tell us.

Crosscutter,

It seems to be not uncommon in aviation; to pick someones brains and then pass off the ideas to someone else who says they can do it more cheaply, or do it internally with employees whose egos exceed their abilities. Part of the "short-term advantage; stuff the long-term consequences" philosophy that seems to pervade the system.

Seabreeze

University Courses
 

Corporate Governance,Managing People, Change Management and Aviation Management are courses that should be mandatory for QF Exco and the board.It would improve the operation of the business by %1000

F.A.N.S
 

Wasnt FANS supposed to do all that ?
Or was that another clusterfark?

Within 3 years of introducing "FANS", the separation between two equipped aircraft would be 15NM with the goal being 5NM a few years later. We've now go more than 15 years experience with the system and we're still stuck with 30NM separation.

So, let me guess.

All of a sudden there will be a course relating to flight planning in the Aviation courses at Syd Uni.
All the good ideas will get funneled to QF to help THEM build a new planning system.
Who pays for all these great ideas on how to save money for the RAT?

YOU DO!!! Thats right, YOU pay for the honour of helping QF save money.

Corporate Australia at its best.

Would that be because they made all the knowledgable and capable people redundant?

That's pretty much how the Yankee Corporations fund the Yank Universities to do research...throw some corporate money for research to the uni's and reap any benefits.

Why should we argue with the tried and proven methods?

Apart from the fact that this instance involves the questionable management of QF, in general, it would be a very good thing for more Australian Corporations to fund research at uni's.

Joyce had better be careful. Sydney Uni is pretty good at protecting its intellectual property.

"it would be a very good thing for more Australian Corporations to fund research at uni's."


If that were true i'd agree except that the student is paying.

What would be good is if the Corporation employed the students to come up with these ideas. Or a variation on that.

Lots of corporations fund research at Australian universities - graduate students are sometimes involved, undergraduates? Hardly ever.

The biggest issue is that universities hemorrhage intellectual property that is publily funded and rarely get paid fair value for it.

This tie-up has occurred because Qantas spent many millions of $ trying to get a Lufthansa based system called LIDO to provide the fuel savings that they are after - it didn't work so they are clutching at straws trying to reduce their massive fuel bill. They simply should have bought B777's.

In the end the science of flight planning is like measuring with a micrometer then cutting with an axe. You get stuck at the holding point or delayed start, don't get your levels etc. QF will no doubt use the flex tracks to DXB that EK get published daily. V OZ use them out of AUH, even with little traffic on these routes you don't always get your levels or speed. All sounds good in theory....