http://hdl.handle.net/2117/1276 2013-05-21T13:57:19Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18909 Title: Effect of wind on operating cost based cruise speed reduction for delay absorption Authors: Delgado Muñoz, Luis; Prats Menéndez, Xavier Abstract: En route speed reduction can be used for air traffic flow management (ATFM), e.g., delaying aircraft while airborne or realizing metering at an arrival fix. In previous publications, the authors identified the flight conditions that maximize the airborne delay without incurring extra fuel consumption with respect to the nominal (not delayed) flight. In this paper, the effect of wind on this strategy is studied, and the sensitivity to wind forecast errors is also assessed. A case study done in Chicago O’Hare airport (ORD) is presented, showing that wind has a significant effect on the airborne delay that can be realized and that, in some cases, even tailwinds might lead to an increase in the maximum amount of airborne delay. The values of airborne delay are representative enough to suggest that this speed reduction technique might be useful in a real operational scenario. Moreover, the speed reduction strategy is more robust than nominal operations against fuel consumption in the presence of wind forecast uncertainties. 2013-04-22T08:53:55Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18501 Title: C3 in UAS as a means for secondary navigation Authors: Ramírez Alcántara, Jorge; Salazar Hernández, Dagoberto José; Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Barrado Muxí, Cristina Abstract: Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) navigate using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), but GNSS vulnerability precludes its use as the only means of navigation and requires a secondary means of navigation. A differentiating characteristic of UAS is their periodic communications with the ground station. This paper analyses the adequacy of employing UAS Command, Control and Communications (C3) as a secondary means of navigation. With no additional infrastructure, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to process C3 messages and to obtain the positions of the UAS. Navigation accuracy and integrity are calculated in a scenario with three UAS. The obtained results meet the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) requirements. 2013-03-22T13:25:04Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16558 Title: An environmental assessment of air traffic speed constraints in the departure phase of flight: A case study at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport, Sweden Authors: Mitchell, Deborah; Ekstrand, Henrik; Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Grönstedt, Tomas 2012-09-25T10:18:25Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16458 Title: Requirements, issues, and challenges for sense and avoid in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Authors: Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Delgado Muñoz, Luis; Ramírez Alcántara, Jorge; Royo Chic, Pablo; Pastor Llorens, Enric Abstract: The sense and avoid capability is one of the greatest challenges that has to be addressed to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems into civil and nonsegregated airspace. This paper gives a review of existing regulations, recommended practices, and standards in sense and avoid for unmanned aircraft systems. Gaps and issues are identified, as are the different factors that are likely to affect actual sense and avoid requirements. It is found that the operational environment (flight altitude, meteorological conditions, and class of airspace) plays an important role when determining the type of flying hazards that the unmanned aircraft system might encounter. In addition, the automation level and the data-link architecture of the unmanned aircraft system are key factors that will definitely determine the sense and avoid system requirements. Tactical unmanned aircraft, performing similar missions to general aviation, are found to be the most challenging systems from an sense and avoid point of view, and further research and development efforts are still needed before their seamless integration into nonsegregated airspace. 2012-09-10T10:50:11Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16282 Title: Flight plan specification and management for unmanned aircraft systems Authors: Santamaria Barnadas, Eduard; Pastor Llorens, Enric; Barrado Muxí, Cristina; Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Royo Chic, Pablo; Pérez Batlle, Marcos Abstract: This paper presents a new concept for specifying Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flight operations that aims at improving the waypoint based approach, found in most autopilot systems, by providing higher level fligh plan specification primitives. The proposed method borrows the leg and path terminator concepts used in Area Navigation1 (RNAV). Several RNAV leg types are adopted and extended with new ones for a better adaptation to UAS requirements. Extensions include the addition of control constructs that enable repetitive and conditional behavior, and also parametric legs that can be used to generate complex paths from a reduced number of parameters. The paper also covers the design and implementation of a software component that manages execution of the flight plan. To take advantage of current off-the-shelf flight control systems the constructs included in the flight plan are translated to waypoint navigation commands. In this way, the advanced capabilities provided by the flight plan specification language are implemented as a new layer on top of existing technologies. The benefits and the feasibility of the proposed approach for UAS flight plan management are demonstrated by means of a simulated mission that performs the flight inspection of Radio Navigation Aids. 2012-07-17T17:41:52Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/11647 Title: Follow-up and feedback processes in the EHEA Authors: Valero García, Miguel; Santamaria Barnadas, Eduard; Salamí San Juan, Esther; Canto Rodrigo, Pablo del; Gallego Fernández, María Isabel; López Canalda, José Manuel; Medina, Esunly; Mochón Duro, Francisco; Mora Serrano, Javier; Reyes Muñoz, María Angélica; Rodríguez Luna, Eva Abstract: In the present paper, we describe the work being carried out by a group of professors so as to implement the follow-up and feedback processes of the activities students do throughout the first academic years in their Engineering studies. Not to mention, this project is within the EHEA (European Higher Education Area) framework. Our results show that these processes are key to enhance students learning, they can also have an impact in their academic performance and can be optimized in such a way that professors can assume the time it requires. 2011-03-03T15:50:58Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/11190 Title: Equitable aircraft noise abatement departure procedures Authors: Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Puig Cayuela, Vicenç; Quevedo Casín, Joseba Jokin Abstract: This paper deals with the optimization of aircraft noise-abatement departure procedures. A multicriteria optimization strategy is presented, where the fairness of the optimal trajectories is assessed vis-à-vis the different noise-sensitive locations around the airport of study. This equitable optimization is formulated as the minimization of the maximum noise-annoyance deviation regarding all considered locations. This strategy is complemented with an iterative lexicographic optimization algorithm which, in turn, guarantees the Pareto efficiency condition of the final solution. Aircraft operating costs are also considered by neglecting the marginal benefits of noise reduction below a certain threshold value. An application example is shown (as an illustrative case) based on a departure of runway 02 at Girona airport in Catalonia, Spain. The results show the feasibility of this technique, which is intended to be used by procedure designers or airport authorities. 2011-01-25T11:30:30Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/11063 Title: Optimal symbol alignment distance: a new distance for sequences of symbols Authors: Herranz Sotoca, Javier; Nin Guerrero, Jordi; Solé Simó, Marc Abstract: Comparison functions for sequences (of symbols) are important components of many applications, for example clustering, data cleansing and integration. For years, many efforts have been made to improve the performance of such comparison functions. Improvements have been done either at the cost of reducing the accuracy of the comparison, or by compromising certain basic characteristics of the functions, such as the triangular inequality. In this paper, we propose a new distance for sequences of symbols (or strings) called Optimal Symbol Alignment distance (OSA distance, for short). This distance has a very low cost in practice, which makes it a suitable candidate for computing distances in applications with large amounts of (very long) sequences. After providing a mathematical proof that the OSA distance is a real distance, we present some experiments for different scenarios (DNA sequences, record linkage, ...), showing that the proposed distance outperforms, in terms of execution time and/or accuracy, other well-known comparison functions such as the Edit or Jaro-Winkler distances. 2011-01-17T11:44:43Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9194 Title: Multi-objective optimization strategy for designing aircraft noise abatement procedures. Case study at Girona airport Authors: Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Puig Cayuela, Vicenç; Quevedo Casín, Joseba Jokin Abstract: The optimization of aircraft noise abatement procedures involves several conflicting factors, including location specific noise sensitivity and aircraft operating costs. This paper presents a multi-objective optimization strategy that employs goal, lexicographic-egalitarian and hierarchical optimization techniques. The presented methodology aims at better assessing the design of site-specific noise abatement procedures that take into account the actual populated areas, their type and distribution, the hour of the day where the trajectory is supposed to be flown and the aircraft type. An illustrative example is given with the design of the East departures at Girona airport, Catalonia. Results point out how the noise annoyance impact of current operational procedures can be significantly reduced by the optimized trajectories and show, as well, an important dependency on the type of aircraft and the hour of the day 2010-09-30T09:24:08Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9143 Title: Multi-objective optimisation for aircraft departure trajectories minimising noise annoyance Authors: Prats Menéndez, Xavier; Puig Cayuela, Vicenç; Quevedo Casín, Joseba Jokin; Nejjari Akhi-Elarab, Fatiha 2010-09-29T08:43:03Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9117 Title: La evaluación en el contexto del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Authors: Valero García, Miguel; Santamaria Barnadas, Eduard; Canto Rodrigo, Pablo del; Gallego Fernández, María Isabel; López Canalda, José Manuel; Mochón Duro, Francisco; Mora Serrano, Javier; Reyes Muñoz, María Angélica; Rodríguez Luna, Eva; Sanjeevan, Kanapathipillai Abstract: La evaluación es un elemento que preocupa siempre a todos los implicados en el proceso educativo (profesores, alumnos, responsables académicos, etc.). Sin embargo, la evaluación es un concepto muy amplio y no todas sus facetas preocupan de igual manera ni reciben la misma atención. Evaluar, desde luego, es asignar una calificación que refleje el nivel de aprendizaje. Pero evaluar es también identificar lo que debe mejorarse de cara al curso siguiente. En nuestro artículo, partiendo del modelo de Donald Kirkpatrick sobre los diferentes enfoques de la evaluación, describimos las estrategias y técnicas que utilizamos en la actualidad para desplegar un sistema de evaluación de amplio alcance, en el contexto del proceso de adaptación de nuestras asignaturas de primeros cursos de ingeniería a los requerimientos del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES). Precisamente en el contexto del EEES algunos enfoques de la evaluación a los que normalmente se presta poca atención, como es el caso de la evaluación del seguimiento de la actividad del alumno, adquieren una relevancia muy importante. 2010-09-27T17:31:19Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/8916 Title: Cómo usamos Moodle en nuestras asignaturas adaptadas al EEES Authors: Valero García, Miguel; Canto Rodrigo, Pablo del; Gallego Fernández, María Isabel; López Canalda, José Manuel; Mora Serrano, Javier; Reyes Muñoz, María Angélica; Rodríguez Luna, Eva; Sanjeevan, Kanapathipillai; Santamaria Barnadas, Eduard Abstract: This paper describes how do we use our digital campus based on Moodle as a key tool in our subjects. These subjects belong to a first course in an engineering degree and have been adapted to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area in accordance with an educational model whose essential elements are the detailed planning of student work, both in class and out of class, and the evaluation of student work with frequent feedback. Our experience indicates that the digital campus has become an essential tool that allows us to be very productive in implementing the educational model, in a scenario with several groups of class and several teachers teaching the same program. This paper describes our educational model and how few resources our Moodle based digital campus are used to support key elements of this model. 2010-09-16T13:38:36Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/8883 Title: L’aprenentatge basat en projectes en els ensenyaments tècnics Authors: Valero García, Miguel 2010-09-15T15:27:16Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/8863 Title: Formación pedagógica del profesor universitario: programas de acción del ICE de la UPC Authors: Valero García, Miguel; Almajano Pablos, María Pilar Abstract: En este artículo se describe el concepto de programa de acción como un complemento a los talleres para la formación pedagógica del profesor universitario. Se trata de que los profesores introduzcan cambios en su propia actividad, reflexionen sobre la experiencia, compartan las conclusiones con compañeros e identifiquen direcciones de mejora. El artículo describe en detalle tres de los programas de acción que actualmente se están llevando a cabo en el ICE de la UPC, cuya evolución es el resultado de las aportaciones de los participantes y del seguimiento realizado por los coordinadores. El objetivo del artículo es que nuestra experiencia pueda ser de ayuda para aquellas personas responsables del diseño e implementación de programas para la formación del profesor universitario. 2010-09-14T17:19:43Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/8862 Title: ¿Cómo nos ayuda el Tour de Francia en el diseño de programas docentes centrados en el aprendizaje? Authors: Valero García, Miguel Abstract: En este artículo se propone un conjunto de principios que pueden inspirarnos en el diseño de programas docentes centrados en el aprendizaje del alumno, en contraposición a los programas centrados en la enseñanza del profesor. Los principios se inspiran en la forma en que está organizado el Tour de Francia. La cuestión es de gran relevancia y actualidad, puesto que el proyecto de construcción del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, y en particular, el sistema europeo de créditos, nos plantea cambios muy profundos en el paradigma docente, que pueden (deben) cambiar radicalmente el papel que juegan los profesores y los alumnos dentro y fuera de clase. 2010-09-14T16:03:16Z