A Neural ODE Approach to Aircraft Flight Dynamics Modelling

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Jarry, Gabriel, Dalmau, Ramon, Olive, Xavier, Very, Philippe
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Jarry, Gabriel
Dalmau, Ramon
Olive, Xavier
Very, Philippe
author_facet Jarry, Gabriel
Dalmau, Ramon
Olive, Xavier
Very, Philippe
contents Accurate aircraft trajectory prediction is critical for air traffic management, airline operations, and environmental assessment. This paper introduces NODE-FDM, a Neural Ordinary Differential Equations-based Flight Dynamics Model trained on Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data. By combining analytical kinematic relations with data-driven components, NODE-FDM achieves a more accurate reproduction of recorded trajectories than state-of-the-art models such as a BADA-based trajectory generation methodology (BADA4 performance model combined with trajectory control routines), particularly in the descent phase of the flight. The analysis demonstrates marked improvements across altitude, speed, and mass dynamics. Despite current limitations, including limited physical constraints and the limited availability of QAR data, the results demonstrate the potential of physics-informed neural ordinary differential equations as a high-fidelity, data-driven approach to aircraft performance modelling. Future work will extend the framework to incorporate a full modelling of the lateral dynamics of the aircraft.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_23307
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Neural ODE Approach to Aircraft Flight Dynamics Modelling
Jarry, Gabriel
Dalmau, Ramon
Olive, Xavier
Very, Philippe
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Accurate aircraft trajectory prediction is critical for air traffic management, airline operations, and environmental assessment. This paper introduces NODE-FDM, a Neural Ordinary Differential Equations-based Flight Dynamics Model trained on Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data. By combining analytical kinematic relations with data-driven components, NODE-FDM achieves a more accurate reproduction of recorded trajectories than state-of-the-art models such as a BADA-based trajectory generation methodology (BADA4 performance model combined with trajectory control routines), particularly in the descent phase of the flight. The analysis demonstrates marked improvements across altitude, speed, and mass dynamics. Despite current limitations, including limited physical constraints and the limited availability of QAR data, the results demonstrate the potential of physics-informed neural ordinary differential equations as a high-fidelity, data-driven approach to aircraft performance modelling. Future work will extend the framework to incorporate a full modelling of the lateral dynamics of the aircraft.
title A Neural ODE Approach to Aircraft Flight Dynamics Modelling
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23307