Using the OpenSky ADS-B Data to Estimate Aircraft Emissions

The OpenSky ADS-B/Mode-S databases have been fully integrated into a computational model that is used to estimate aircraft and rotorcraft engine emissions. This paper demonstrates the basis for the method and the generalisation to a wide class of aircraft types. First, we use mathematical operations (filters and machine learning) to clean up the data and generate first-order derivatives. Then, we “fly” these trajectories using ancillary databases and numerical methods, including models for gas turbine engine emissions (CO2, CO, NOx, SOx, H2O, particulate matter). We show results for short-commuter flights (turboprop airplane), wide-body commercial aircraft, business jets, and helicopters. We demonstrate the main features, which include the ability to aggregate data depending on city-pairs, flight distance, and altitude distribution of emissions.