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Pie de imp. tomado del colofón de la segunda parte en 2Z5

Analysis of the geometric altimetry to support aircraft optimal profiles within future 4D trajectory management

The use of barometric altimetry is to some extent a limiting factor on safety, predictability and efficiency of aircraft operations, and reduces the potential of the trajectory based operations capabilities. However, geometric altimetry could be used to improve all of these aspects. Nowadays aircraft altitude is estimated by applying the International Standard Atmosphere which differs from real altitude. At different temperatures for an assigned barometric altitude, aerodynamic forces are different and this has a direct relationship with time, fuel consumption and range of the flight. The study explores the feasibility of using sensors providing geometric reference altitude, in particular, to supply capabilities for the optimization of vertical profiles and also, their impact on the vertical Air Traffic Management separation assurance processes. One of the aims of the thesis is to assess if geometric altitude fulfils the aeronautical requirements through existing sensors. Also the thesis will elaborate on the advantages of geometric altitude over the barometric altitude in terms of efficiency for vertical navigation. The evidence that geometric altitude is the best choice to improve the efficiency in vertical profile and aircraft capacity by reducing vertical uncertainties will also be shown. In this paper, an atmospheric study is presented, as well as the impact of temperature deviation from International Standard Atmosphere model is analyzed in order to obtain relationship between geometric and barometric altitude. Furthermore, an aircraft model to study aircraft vertical profile is provided to analyse trajectories based on geometric altitudes.

Sum Insured Determination for Cereal, Citrus and Vineyards in the Spanish Agricultural Insurance System.

In general, insurance is a form of risk management used to hedge against a contingent loss. The conventional definition is the equitable transfer of a risk of loss from one entity to another in exchange for a premium or a guaranteed and quantifiable small loss to prevent a large and possibly devastating loss being agricultural insurance a special line of property insurance. Agriculture insurance, as actually are designed in the Spanish scenario, were established in 1978. At the macroeconomic insurance studies scale, it is necessary to know a basic element for the insurance actuarial components: sum insured. When a new risk assessment has to be evaluated in the insurance framework, it is essential to determinate venture capital in the total Spanish agriculture. In this study, three different crops (cereal, citrus and vineyards) cases are showed to determinate sum insured as they are representative of the cases found in the Spanish agriculture. Crop sum insured is calculated by the product of crop surface, unit surface production and crop price insured. In the cereal case, winter as spring cereal sowing, represents the highest Spanish crop surface, above to 6 millions of hectares (ha). Meanwhile, the four citrus species (oranges, mandarins, lemons and grapefruits) occupied an extension just over 275.000 ha. On the other hand, vineyard target to wine process shows almost one million of ha in Spain.

A Case Study of Geometric Modelling via 3-D Point Interpolation for the Bathymetry of the Rabasa Lakes (Alicante, Spain)

The interpolation of points by means of Information Technology programs appears as a technical tool of some relevancy in the hydrogeology in general and in the study of the humid zones in particular. Our approach has been the determination of the 3-D geometry of the humid zones of major depth of the Rabasa Lakes. To estimate the topography of the lake bed, we proceed to acquire information in the field by means of sonar and GPS equipment. A total of 335 points were measured both on the perimeter and in the lake bed. In a second stage, this information was used in a kriging program to obtain the bathymetry of the wetland. This methodology is demonstrated as one of the most reliable and cost-efficient for the 3-D analysis of this type of water masses. The bathymetric study of the zone allows us to characterize the mid- and long-term hydrological evolution of the lakes by means of depth-area-volume curves.

Procesos configurativos: de la trama a la noción de campo en los "mat buildings"

La presente tesis aborda el estudio sobre los llamados mat buildings, que surgen entre los años cincuenta y sesenta del pasado siglo. Los mat buildings, también llamados “edificios esteras” o “edificios alfombras”, nacen en gran parte como consecuencia de los desacuerdos e insatisfacciones de los CIAM con el reduccionismo funcionalista y los principios de compartimentación funcional. Estos nuevos modelos remplazan el modelo de ciudad entendido como una colección de edificios individuales por una concepción de un patrón urbano. No es la suma de la longitud, la altura y el ancho sino más bien una densa alfombra bi-dimensional, con una configuración de formas que ofrece al mismo tiempo un orden repetitivo y una infinita diversidad de secuencias con infinitas posibilidades de adaptación donde el hombre vive y se desplaza. Estas características que irán apareciendo en la obras de muchos de los arquitectos que forman parte del grupo Team X son los que Alison Smithson empieza a revelar en su artículo, con la ambición de manifestar una nueva sensibilidad y una nueva forma de entender y ver la arquitectura. Los mat buildings y los cluster serán los códigos utilizados por diferentes miembros del Team X para pensar una arquitectura y un urbanismo alternativo al propuesto por los CIAM. Mediante ellos encuentran el camino para una nueva estética de la conexión con un desplazamiento desde una concepción determinista de la forma arquitectónica (una forma cerrada y en general definida a priori) hacia una actitud más libre, más abierta, fundamentada no tanto en la entereza de la forma global sino en cuanto a la intensidad de sus redes internas y de sus diferentes niveles de asociación. La tesis tiene como propósito final cuestionar si esta tipología de edificios, cuyo principio de base es siempre una matriz geométrica abierta (trama, retícula, malla), con crecimiento ilimitado, puede redefinir la frontera entre ciudad y edificio y, por tanto, entre público y privado, individual y colectivo, estructural e infraestructural, permanente y variable. Por ello, se presenta un estudio histórico y crítico en profundidad sobre los mat buildings, analizando detenidamente y por orden cronológico cinco de sus obras más paradigmáticas: el Orfanato en Ámsterdam de Aldo Van Eyck, la Universidad Libre en Berlín de Candilis, Josic y Woods, el Hospital de Venecia de Le Corbusier y Guillermo Jullián de la Fuente, el edificio administrativo de la Centraal Beheer en Apeldoorn de Herman Hertzberger, y por último el MUSAC en León, realizado por Mansilla y Tuñon. Las cuatro primeras obras pertenecen al periodo Team X y son precursoras de muchos otros proyectos que aparecerán a posteriori. La última obra analizada, el MUSAC, es estudiada conjuntamente con algunas obras del arquitecto japonés Sou Fujimoto y otros casos contemporáneos con la intención de manifestar cómo arquitectos de horizontes muy diferentes vuelven a recurrir a estos modelos de crecimientos ilimitados. Mediante el estudio de varios ejemplos contemporáneos se examinan las repercusiones, transformaciones y evoluciones que estos modelos han tenido. La exploración contrastada permite apreciar adecuadamente la pertinencia de estos modelos y los cambios de modalidades y de procesos que advienen con la aparición en el panorama contemporáneo de la noción de campo y los cambios de paradigma que conlleva. Estos nuevos modelos abren nuevos procesos y forma de abordar la arquitectura basada en las relaciones, flujos, movimientos y asociaciones que son caracterizados por diferentes patrones que vienen a alimentar todo el proceso del proyecto arquitectónico. El estudio de estos nuevos modelos nos indica las cualidades que puede ofrecer la revisión de estos métodos para empezar a tratar nuevas cuestiones que hoy en día parecen ser, permanentemente, parte de la condición urbana. XII ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the study of the so-called mat buildings which emerged between the fifties and sixties of the last century. Mat, or carpet, buildings appeared largely as a result of the CIAM’s disagreement and dissatisfaction with functionalist reductionism and the principles of functional compartmentalisation. These new models replaced the model of the city, seen as a collection of individual buildings, with the concept of an urban pattern. It is not the sum of the length, height and width but rather a dense, two- dimensional mat with a configuration of forms offering both a repetitive order and an infinite diversity of sequences with endless possibilities for adaptation, where man lives and circulates. These characteristics, which appeared in the works of many of the architects who formed part of Team X, are those that Alison Smithson started to reveal in her article with the aim of manifesting a new sensibility and a new way of understanding and seeing architecture. Mat buildings and clusters were the codes used by different members of Team X to plan an alternative architecture and urbanism to that proposed by the CIAM. With them, they found the path for a new aesthetic of connection, with a shift from a deterministic concept of the architectural form (closed and generally defined a priori) towards a more free, more open attitude based not so much on the integrity of the overall form but on the intensity of its internal networks and different levels of association. The end purpose of this thesis is to question whether this type of building, the basic principle of which is always an open geometric matrix (grid, recticle, network) with unlimited growth, can redefine the boundary between city and building and, thus, between public and private, individual and collective, structural and infrastructural, and permanent and variable. To this end, an in-depth historical and critical study of mat buildings is presented, analysing carefully and in chronological order five of the most paradigmatic works of this style: the Orphanage in Amsterdam, by Aldo Van Eyck; the Free University of Berlin, by Candilis, Josic and Woods; Venice Hospital, by Le Corbusier and Guillermo Jullián de la Fuente; the Centraal Beheer administration building in Apeldoorn, by Herman Hertzberger; and lastly, the MUSAC (Contemporary Art Museum) in León, designed by Mansilla and Tuñon. The first four works are from the Team X period and were the precursors to many other projects that would appear later. The last work analysed, the MUSAC, is studied together with some works by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto and other contemporary cases to show how architects with very different perspectives revert to these models of limitless growth. Through the study of several contemporary examples we examine the repercussions, transformations and evolutions these models have had. The contrasted research XIII allows us to properly appreciate the importance of these models and the changes in forms and processes that came with the emergence of the idea of field in the contemporary arena and the paradigm shifts it entailed. These new models opened up new processes and a way of approaching architecture based on relationships, flows, movements and associations characterised by different patterns that feed the entire process of the architectural project. The study of these new models shows us the benefits that a review of these methods can contribute to addressing new issues that today appear to be a permanent part of the urban condition.

Geometric characteristics of conics in Bézier form

Synthetic derivation of closed formulae of the geometric characteristic of a conic given in Bézier form in terms of its control polygon, (P; Q; R) and weights, (1; w; 1g)

Geometric diagnostics of complex patterns: Spiral defect chaos

Motivated by the observation of spiral patterns in a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological systems, we present an automated approach that aims at characterizing quantitatively spiral-like elements in complex stripelike patterns. The approach provides the location of the spiral tip and the size of the spiral arms in terms of their arc length and their winding number. In addition, it yields the number of pattern components (Betti number of order 1), as well as their size and certain aspects of their shape. We apply the method to spiral defect chaos in thermally driven Rayleigh- Bénard convection and find that the arc length of spirals decreases monotonically with decreasing Prandtl number of the fluid and increasing heating. By contrast, the winding number of the spirals is nonmonotonic in the heating. The distribution function for the number of spirals is significantly narrower than a Poisson distribution. The distribution function for the winding number shows approximately an exponential decay. It depends only weakly on the heating, but strongly on the Prandtl number. Large spirals arise only for larger Prandtl numbers. In this regime the joint distribution for the spiral length and the winding number exhibits a three-peak structure, indicating the dominance of Archimedean spirals of opposite sign and relatively straight sections. For small Prandtl numbers the distribution function reveals a large number of small compact pattern components.

Optimización de la Exactitud Geométrica al Integrar Diversas Fuentes de Datos en Proyectos de Inventario Forestal Basados en Escaneo Laser Aerotransportado=Optimizing Geometric Accuracy in Data Source Integration for Airborne Laser Scanning-based Forest Inventory Projects

La mayoría de las aplicaciones forestales del escaneo laser aerotransportado (ALS, del inglés airborne laser scanning) requieren la integración y uso simultaneo de diversas fuentes de datos, con el propósito de conseguir diversos objetivos. Los proyectos basados en sensores remotos normalmente consisten en aumentar la escala de estudio progresivamente a lo largo de varias fases de fusión de datos: desde la información más detallada obtenida sobre un área limitada (la parcela de campo), hasta una respuesta general de la cubierta forestal detectada a distancia de forma más incierta pero cubriendo un área mucho más amplia (la extensión cubierta por el vuelo o el satélite). Todas las fuentes de datos necesitan en ultimo termino basarse en las tecnologías de sistemas de navegación global por satélite (GNSS, del inglés global navigation satellite systems), las cuales son especialmente erróneas al operar por debajo del dosel forestal. Otras etapas adicionales de procesamiento, como la ortorectificación, también pueden verse afectadas por la presencia de vegetación, deteriorando la exactitud de las coordenadas de referencia de las imágenes ópticas. Todos estos errores introducen ruido en los modelos, ya que los predictores se desplazan de la posición real donde se sitúa su variable respuesta. El grado por el que las estimaciones forestales se ven afectadas depende de la dispersión espacial de las variables involucradas, y también de la escala utilizada en cada caso. Esta tesis revisa las fuentes de error posicional que pueden afectar a los diversos datos de entrada involucrados en un proyecto de inventario forestal basado en teledetección ALS, y como las propiedades del dosel forestal en sí afecta a su magnitud, aconsejando en consecuencia métodos para su reducción. También se incluye una discusión sobre las formas más apropiadas de medir exactitud y precisión en cada caso, y como los errores de posicionamiento de hecho afectan a la calidad de las estimaciones, con vistas a una planificación eficiente de la adquisición de los datos. La optimización final en el posicionamiento GNSS y de la radiometría del sensor óptico permitió detectar la importancia de este ultimo en la predicción de la desidad relativa de un bosque monoespecífico de Pinus sylvestris L. ABSTRACT Most forestry applications of airborne laser scanning (ALS) require the integration and simultaneous use of various data sources, pursuing a variety of different objectives. Projects based on remotely-sensed data generally consist in upscaling data fusion stages: from the most detailed information obtained for a limited area (field plot) to a more uncertain forest response sensed over a larger extent (airborne and satellite swath). All data sources ultimately rely on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), which are especially error-prone when operating under forest canopies. Other additional processing stages, such as orthorectification, may as well be affected by vegetation, hence deteriorating the accuracy of optical imagery’s reference coordinates. These errors introduce noise to the models, as predictors displace from their corresponding response. The degree to which forest estimations are affected depends on the spatial dispersion of the variables involved and the scale used. This thesis reviews the sources of positioning errors which may affect the different inputs involved in an ALS-assisted forest inventory project, and how the properties of the forest canopy itself affects their magnitude, advising on methods for diminishing them. It is also discussed how accuracy should be assessed, and how positioning errors actually affect forest estimation, toward a cost-efficient planning for data acquisition. The final optimization in positioning the GNSS and optical image allowed to detect the importance of the latter in predicting relative density in a monospecific Pinus sylvestris L. forest.

Max Bill: variaciones sobre la búsqueda de la belleza

Max Bill es un artista lógico. Quince variaciones sobre el mismo tema 1938, podría ser el epítome de la lógica de Bill: la obra como resultado de la aplicación de leyes distintas sobre una estructura de orden. La gran diversidad formal de la obra de Max Bill –entre sus diseños de objetos, su tipografía, su pintura, su escultura o su arquitectura no parece haber líneas formales evidentes- se debe a que, para él, cada tarea es diferente y depende de medios y leyes propios. Una diversidad que podría ser erróneamente interpretada como un tipo de eclecticismo. Su conferencia en el Werkbund suizo de 1948 “belleza de la función, belleza como función”, se aleja del discurso funcionalista al proponer la belleza como una igual al resto de funciones. Cada obra ha de satisfacer la finalidad para la que ha sido construida y cumplir todas las funciones que en ella intervienen pero, además, ha de ser bella. La particularidad de Bill estriba en que, reconociéndose a sí mismo como un artista lógico, incluye la belleza como una más de las funciones a cumplir por cualquier objeto. Su famoso aforismo en relación a la configuración del entorno, desde la cuchara a la ciudad, incluiría la arquitectura en el ámbito de los objetos que han de cumplir esta nueva función. La búsqueda de la belleza será una constante en su obra. No una belleza generalizable y determinada a priori, sino una belleza entendida como predicado singular, individualizada para cada tarea. De este modo, podemos analizar, alternativamente, la belleza lógica de sus construcciones geométricas y la belleza simbólica de sus monumentos; la belleza del espacio sin fin en las superficies de una sola cara y la belleza prefabricada en sus más austeras realizaciones; la belleza elemental de sus esculturas y la belleza corriente con que sus arquitecturas se integran en la ciudad. Podemos plantearnos la posibilidad de una belleza de la estructura y entender simultáneamente la belleza cruda de su obra maestra, los edificios de la Escuela de Ulm. La búsqueda de la belleza nos ayudará a entender que, en la obra de Bill, la razón intuitiva -como modo de conocimiento- toma mayor importancia de la que parece. La forma como suma de todas las funciones en unidad armónica, será el resultado de un adecuado equilibrio entre razón lógica y razón intuitiva. ABSTRACT Max Bill is a logical artist. We could consider “Fitfteen variations on the same theme”, 1938, as the Bill’s logic epitome: the work as a result of the application of different tectonic laws on the order structure. The variety of the form in Bill’s work –his designed objects, his typography, his painting, his sculpture, or his architecture do not seem to have, between them, a direct line connecting the form- is due to the fact that, for him, each task is different and it depends on the own means and tectonic laws. A kind of diversity that could be misinterpreted like certain type of eclecticism. His lecture at the Suisse Werkbund (1948) “beauty from function and as function” is far from the functionalist speech, when proposing beauty as an equal to the rest of functions. In his own words, each work has to satisfy the purpose it was built for and fulfill all functions, and furthermore it has to be beautiful. Seeing himself as a logical artist, Bill however introduces beauty as one more of the functions that any object has to fulfill. His famous aphorism related to the environment management, from the spoon to the city, would include architecture as one more of the objects that have to satisfy this new function. The pursuit of beauty is a constant in his work. It won’t be a general beauty determined in advance, but a singular predicate, individualized for each task. That way, we can analyze, alternatively, the logical beauty of his geometric constructions and the symbolical beauty of his monuments; the beauty of the endless space in the single-sided surfaces and the prefabricated beauty in his most stricts constructions; the elemental beauty of his sculptures and the ordinary beauty with which some of his architectures are integrated in the city. We can also try the possibility of a beauty from the structure and understand, at the same time, the raw beauty of his architectural masterpiece, the buildings of the Ulm School of Design. The pursuit of beauty in Bill’s work will help us to understand that intuitive reason, as a way of knowledge, takes more importance than it seems. Form, as the harmonious expression of the sum of all functions, will be the result of an appropriate balance between logical and intuitive reason.

Geometric documentation of the flour factory "El Puente Colgante" in Aranjuez (Madrid).

The goal of this communication is to offer, through computer-aided design tools, a methodology to recover and virtually reconstruct disappeared buildings of our industrial historical heritage. It will be applied to the case of the flour factory "El Puente Colgante" (The Suspended Bridge) in Aranjuez, which was demolished in 2001. The process is as follows: After a historical analysis of the evolution in time of the flour factory, a field work provides data allowing an info graphic reconstruction of the factory. Once this information has been processed, a lifting of the current state is made with AutoCAD, and a three-dimensional model is built with the Rhinoceros application. Then images of the ensemble are obtained with the applications Rhinoceros and V-Ray, ending with a postproduction with Photoshop. The proposed methodology has permitted to obtain a three-dimensional model of the flour factory ?El Puente Colgante? in Aranjuez, with an accurate virtual reconstruction of its original state prior to demolition. The procedure exposed is susceptible to be generalized for any other example of industrial architecture.

Analysis of pixel-mapping rounding on geometric distortion as a prediction for view synthesis distortion

We analyze the performance of the geometric distortion, incurred when coding depth maps in 3D Video, as an estimator of the distortion of synthesized views. Our analysis is motivated by the need of reducing the computational complexity required for the computation of synthesis distortion in 3D video encoders. We propose several geometric distortion models that capture (i) the geometric distortion caused by the depth coding error, and (ii) the pixel-mapping precision in view synthesis. Our analysis starts with the evaluation of the correlation of geometric distortion values obtained with these models and the actual distortion on synthesized views. Then, the different geometric distortion models are employed in the rate-distortion optimization cycle of depth map coding, in order to assess the results obtained by the correlation analysis. Results show that one of the geometric distortion models is performing consistently better than the other models in all tests. Therefore, it can be used as a reasonable estimator of the synthesis distortion in low complexity depth encoders.

Einstein-like geometric structures on surfaces

An AH (affine hypersurface) structure is a pair comprising a projective equivalence class of torsion-free connections and a conformal structure satisfying a compatibility condition which is automatic in two dimensions. They generalize Weyl structures, and a pair of AH structures is induced on a co-oriented non-degenerate immersed hypersurface in flat affine space. The author has defined for AH structures Einstein equations, which specialize on the one hand to the usual Einstein Weyl equations and, on the other hand, to the equations for affine hyperspheres. Here these equations are solved for Riemannian signature AH structures on compact orientable surfaces, the deformation spaces of solutions are described, and some aspects of the geometry of these structures are related. Every such structure is either Einstein Weyl (in the sense defined for surfaces by Calderbank) or is determined by a pair comprising a conformal structure and a cubic holomorphic differential, and so by a convex flat real projective structure. In the latter case it can be identified with a solution of the Abelian vortex equations on an appropriate power of the canonical bundle. On the cone over a surface of genus at least two carrying an Einstein AH structure there are Monge-Amp`ere metrics of Lorentzian and Riemannian signature and a Riemannian Einstein K"ahler affine metric. A mean curvature zero spacelike immersed Lagrangian submanifold of a para-K"ahler four-manifold with constant para-holomorphic sectional curvature inherits an Einstein AH structure, and this is used to deduce some restrictions on such immersions.

Geometric Study of the Weak Equilibrium in a Weighted Case for a Two-Dimensional Competition Game

In this work, an improvement of the results presented by [1] Abellanas et al. (Weak Equilibrium in a Spatial Model. International Journal of Game Theory, 40(3), 449-459) is discussed. Concretely, this paper investigates an abstract game of competition between two players that want to earn the maximum number of points from a finite set of points in the plane. It is assumed that the distribution of these points is not uniform, so an appropriate weight to each position is assigned. A definition of equilibrium which is weaker than the classical one is included in order to avoid the uniqueness of the equilibrium position typical of the Nash equilibrium in these kinds of games. The existence of this approximated equilibrium in the game is analyzed by means of computational geometry techniques.

Analysis of the geometric altimetry to support aircraft optimal trajectories within the future 4d trajectory management

Over the past few years, the common practice within air traffic management has been that commercial aircraft fly by following a set of predefined routes to reach their destination. Currently, aircraft operators are requesting more flexibility to fly according to their prefer- ences, in order to achieve their business objectives. Due to this reason, much research effort is being invested in developing different techniques which evaluate aircraft optimal trajectory and traffic synchronisation. Also, the inefficient use of the airspace using barometric altitude overall in the landing and takeoff phases or in Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) trajectories where currently it is necessary introduce the necessary reference setting (QNH or QFE). To solve this problem and to permit a better airspace management born the interest of this research. Where the main goals will be to evaluate the impact, weakness and strength of the use of geometrical altitude instead of the use of barometric altitude. Moreover, this dissertation propose the design a simplified trajectory simulator which is able to predict aircraft trajectories. The model is based on a three degrees of freedom aircraft point mass model that can adapt aircraft performance data from Base of Aircraft Data, and meteorological information. A feature of this trajectory simulator is to support the improvement of the strategic and pre-tactical trajectory planning in the future Air Traffic Management. To this end, the error of the tool (aircraft Trajectory Simulator) is measured by comparing its performance variables with actual flown trajectories obtained from Flight Data Recorder information. The trajectory simulator is validated by analysing the performance of different type of aircraft and considering different routes. A fuel consumption estimation error was identified and a correction is proposed for each type of aircraft model. In the future Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, the trajectory becomes the fundamental element of a new set of operating procedures collectively referred to as Trajectory-Based Operations (TBO). Thus, governmental institutions, academia, and industry have shown a renewed interest for the application of trajectory optimisation techniques in com- mercial aviation. The trajectory optimisation problem can be solved using optimal control methods. In this research we present and discuss the existing methods for solving optimal control problems focusing on direct collocation, which has received recent attention by the scientific community. In particular, two families of collocation methods are analysed, i.e., Hermite-Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto collocation and the pseudospectral collocation. They are first compared based on a benchmark case study: the minimum fuel trajectory problem with fixed arrival time. For the sake of scalability to more realistic problems, the different meth- ods are also tested based on a real Airbus 319 El Cairo-Madrid flight. Results show that pseudospectral collocation, which has shown to be numerically more accurate and computa- tionally much faster, is suitable for the type of problems arising in trajectory optimisation with application to ATM. Fast and accurate optimal trajectory can contribute properly to achieve the new challenges of the future ATM. As atmosphere uncertainties are one of the most important issues in the trajectory plan- ning, the final objective of this dissertation is to have a magnitude order of how different is the fuel consumption under different atmosphere condition. Is important to note that in the strategic phase planning the optimal trajectories are determined by meteorological predictions which differ from the moment of the flight. The optimal trajectories have shown savings of at least 500 [kg] in the majority of the atmosphere condition (different pressure, and temperature at Mean Sea Level, and different lapse rate temperature) with respect to the conventional procedure simulated at the same atmosphere condition.This results show that the implementation of optimal profiles are beneficial under the current Air traffic Management (ATM).

Spatial analysis of geometric design consistency and road sight distance

Because of the high number of crashes occurring on highways, it is necessary to intensify the search for new tools that help in understanding their causes. This research explores the use of a geographic information system (GIS) for an integrated analysis, taking into account two accident-related factors: design consistency (DC) (based on vehicle speed) and available sight distance (ASD) (based on visibility). Both factors require specific GIS software add-ins, which are explained. Digital terrain models (DTMs), vehicle paths, road centerlines, a speed prediction model, and crash data are integrated in the GIS. The usefulness of this approach has been assessed through a study of more than 500 crashes. From a regularly spaced grid, the terrain (bare ground) has been modeled through a triangulated irregular network (TIN). The length of the roads analyzed is greater than 100 km. Results have shown that DC and ASD could be related to crashes in approximately 4% of cases. In order to illustrate the potential of GIS, two crashes are fully analyzed: a car rollover after running off road on the right side and a rear-end collision of two moving vehicles. Although this procedure uses two software add-ins that are available only for ArcGIS, the study gives a practical demonstration of the suitability of GIS for conducting integrated studies of road safety.