Trajectory optimization for arrival aircraft using a hybrid IPSO-SQP algorithm

This paper introduces an algorithm for solving the problem of arrival aircraft trajectory optimization. Under the constraints of terminal status and aircraft performance, the algorithm aims to find the best input (including thrust and load factor) to generate a vertical flight profile with the required time of arrival (RTA). The paper first identifies aircraft aerodynamic and fuel consumption models based on an open-source database called Base of Aircraft Data (BADA). The hybrid IPSO-SQP method which based on combining an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) with successive quadratic programming (SQP) is then used for trajectory optimization. During this process, IPSO is used to obtain a near optimum solution and then switch to SQP to accelerate the process and find an accurate solution. Finally, to validate the performance of the IPSO-SQP method, it is compared with standard PSO. Results show that the hybrid IPSO-SQP is an effective method for trajectory optimization problem.