The project „SOAP - Simulation and Optimization of Air transport Processes“ is part of the Cluster of Excellence „SE²A – Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation“. As an interdisciplinary research center of the Technische Universität Braunschweig, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) and the University of Art Braunschweig (HBK), it is the objective of SE²A the investigation of new technologies for a sustainable and energy efficient air transport system.
Over the last decades, simulation has proven to be a solid approach to grasp the effects of introducing new elements into an already running system. Utilizing new electric or hydrogen-based aircraft types will lead to major changes in transportation flows and operating processes within the air transport system (ATS), airport and the hinterland resulting in optimization opportunities and potential problems. To identify the latter, the already existing simulation environment “SE2A Advanced ATS Simulation” (AdAS) will be both refined and expanded in certain areas. Refinements are needed in the area of gate assignments, which are currently not robustly planned. Secondly, to represent the novel aircraft types proposed from ICA B and ICA C in the simulation, the high-fidelity models will be reformulated and made available to the simulation environment. Furthermore, the extensions include an embedding of the ATS in a multimodal transportation system, as well as an extension to include a long-term optimal fleet planning option.