REFMAP developed an online analytics platform, built through widespread collaboration with international partners, to optimize both individual flight trajectories at the micro-scale (e.g. unmanned aircraft systems) and overall air traffic at the macro-scale. The research investigated a new aviation business model shaped by environmental data, including weather conditions, local pollution, and wind intensity, alongside emissions from different types of air vehicles, such as CO2 and noise, and their trajectories.
The platform integrates numerical simulations, predictive models, and deep-learning methods to predict optimal trajectories from environmental inputs and to develop a business model aligned with the EU's Green Agenda.
The overall objectives were:
1) Real-time AI for ATM optimization. Robust AI models trained on multi-fidelity flow data to optimize environmental performance in multi-scale air traffic management, including data exchanges with U-space.
2) Sustainable UAS expansion framework. A framework enabling the responsible, sustainable, interoperable, coordinated, and safe growth of the unmanned aircraft systems industry.
3) Noise modeling & trajectory optimization. Modeling noise from commercial aviation and drones, with defined targets for trajectory optimization to minimize impact on exposed communities and wildlife.
4) Environmental KPIs for European aviation. Development of innovative environmental key performance indicators tailored to multi-scale European aviation business operations.
5) Large-scale model validation. Validation of newly developed models, services, and KPIs through large-scale simulations, assessing impact on existing ATM and emerging U-space services.
6) Stakeholder alignment & deployment. Aligning platform capabilities with aviation stakeholder needs to accelerate deployment and enable new aviation business models.
By the end of the project all planned tasks were completed and all deliverables submitted, and the project met these objectives in full. REFMAP results were shared widely, including 46 scientific publications and the creation of the Aviation Twin Transition (ATT) cluster, which brings together projects funded under the same call and met in Athens in July 2025. The project outcomes support cleaner, quieter and more competitive European aviation and drone services.
