A Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization framework for integrated aircraft and mission design of a cruiser-feeder concept Background Researches have shown that air transportation has detrimental effects due the environment due to the emissions of CO2, NOx and noise. In order to reduce the impact of the air transportation industry, the REsearch on a CRuiser Enabled Air Transport Environment (RECREATE) project proposes a new air transport paradigm in which cruiser-feeder operations are utilized. These operations entail that, 1)large aircraft (cruisers) fly fixed routes and rendezvous with smaller aircraft (feeders) that transfer passengers, fuel and other goods. 2) long-haul passenger cruisers are refueled by tanker aircraft in-flight. The research effort presented herein is targeted at the latter cruiser-feeder concept, i.e., Air-to-Air (AAR) refueling. The answers of those questions … Other aspect emerges Main question Example of very large cruiser with smaller feeders What is Cruiser - Feeder concept? A Cruiser-Feeder concept implies that an aircraft (Cruiser) transport passengers (or cargo) for the largest part of a journey. It also implies a midair contact with another aircraft, the Feeder. Basically, the contact between Cruiser and Feeder can be done in two ways: 1)No transfer of Supplies. 2)Transfer of Supplies. This figure shows three different concepts of Cruiser – Feeder that are described below: 1)A concept without transfer of supplies. The feeder is “parked” on the Cruiser. 2)A concept where the feeders transfer supplies to the Cruiser and then return to where they departed from. 3)The case of Air to Air refueling where the Cruiser is intercepted by a feeder half-way (in this case). Air to Air Refueling 1) The feasibility and usefulness of AAR has long been proven in military operations, However there is no similar experience in passenger aircraft operations. 2) “Operational safety” and “operational costs” are two main concerns in AAR for passenger aircraft that make it different from the military domain.. 3) The development of the AAR concept for passenger aircraft entails 2 major design aspects: 1)AAR mission (network) design 2)Aircraft design (cruiser and feeder) Operations is the aspect that gives rise to several know- how and know-what questions pertaining to optimized AAR in passenger aircrafts operations PhD Candidate: Sayyed Hamid Hosseini Department: C&O Section: Air Transport and Operations Supervisor: Dr. ir. H.G. Visser Dr. ir. G. La Rocca Promoter: Prof. dr. R. Curran Start date: Funding: FP7 Aerospace Engineering Fig. 2- Example of air to air refueling Network for one transport cycle for different Cruiser-Feeder concepts. How many types of tanker aircrafts should be in operations? How big the tanker fleet size should be? How many tanker bases are needed and where should they be located? Where should the rendezvous of tankers and cruisers take place? How should, for given cruiser flight schedules, the tanker flights be assigned to the cruisers? Reveal the need of designing new types of aircrafts Directly influence the selection of the design parameters within the available aircraft design space. Optimum operational concept Certain aircraft performances Certain operational concept Assumed aircraft characteristic might demand is derived based on How can the analysis and optimization of the mission and aircraft design be wired together? How the operational parameters and variables in AAR influence the aircraft design variables, and vice versa Aircraft design space Operation design space