Trajectory Optimization for vertical navigation using the Harmony Search algorithm

Global warming has become a major concern, and several solutions have been proposed to reduce CO2 emissions. Aircraft are responsible of 2% of the global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and the aerospace industry has committed to reduce by 2050 its carbon footprint to 50% of the emissions recorded in 2005. Among the many studies to achieve this goal, flight trajectory optimization seems to be a very promising solution. The main objective of this paper is to propose an optimization algorithm based on the Harmony Search algorithm to optimize the vertical profile (VNAV) of a flight (climb and cruise) without step climb to reduce fuel consumption. The algorithm was developed in Matlab and results compared to an exhaustive search which computes all the possible candidates and finds the optimal one. It has been tested on a commercial plane for three destinations and three different weights.