Local Search for Designing Noise-Minimal Rotorcraft Approach Trajectories

NASA and the international community are investing in the development of a commercial transportation infrastructure that includes the increased use of rotorcraft, specifically heli- copters and civil tilt rotors. However, there is significant con- cern over the impact of noise on the communities surrounding the transportation facilities. One way to address the rotorcraft noise problem is by exploiting powerful search techniques coming from artificial intelligence coupled with simulation and field tests to design low-noise flight profiles which can be tested in simulation or through field tests. This paper in- vestigates the use of simulation based on predictive physical models to facilitate the search for low-noise trajectories using local search combined with a robust noise simulator.