Prof. George Zhizhao Liu was invited to give a talk at the “4th International Symposium on ATM for Civil Aviation”, held in Beijing, China, 11-12 April 2024.
Prof. George Zhizhao Liu was invited to give a talk at the “4th International Symposium on ATM for Civil Aviation”, held in Beijing, China, 11-12 April 2024.
Prof. George Zhizhao LIU from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) was invited to give a talk at the 4th International Conference on Air Traffic Management (ATM) for Civil Aviation held on 11-12 April 2024 at Beijing, China. More than 400 domestic and international participants from the sectors of academia, airlines, aviation product manufacturers, governments, and international organizations (e.g. International Civil Aviation Organizations, ICAO) attended this biennial symposium.
The purpose of this conference is to inject new impetus into the development of civil aviation air traffic management through technological innovation. It is expected that the symposium will provide a conducive environment for technical exchange, collaborative innovation, and enhancing the civil aviation ATM capabilities.
The talk he gave was on “Space weather effects on flight operation and proposed strategies for air traffic management”, coauthored by Dr. Dabin Xue and Prof. Jian Yang at the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Space weather, a phenomenon difficult to predict and often ignored by the aviation industry and passengers, has complex effects on the satellite-based navigation, radio communication, and cosmic radiation. Under severe space weather conditions, real-time satellite-based navigation and communication can be interrupted for a prolonged period of time and cosmic radiation can be elevated to an unusually high level. The occurrence of any of these incidents poses a critical safety and security hazard for the aircraft, aircrew, and passengers. To address these problems, Prof. Liu and his team members at the Micro-Laboratory of Atmospheric Research and Geomatics Engineering (Micro-LARGE) have proposed various strategies to mitigate the effects of these incidents. Meanwhile, they have quantitatively evaluated the economic benefits to the airlines when such strategies are adopted by airlines.
The Micro-LARGE was the first one in the international community to study and evaluate the impacts of space weather on flight operation from an economic cost perspective and propose response strategies. This work was highly commended by senior space weather scientist at the NASA JPL and was selected as a research highlight in 2023 by the Nature Reviews Earth & Environment Journal (IF: 42.1 as of 2023).
Space weather, due to its prediction reliability issues, has become an increasingly important factor to be considered in Air Traffic Management (ATM) by airlines and flight controllers. The work done Prof. Liu and his Micro-LARGE provides a new guideline for the worldwide aviation industries to address the space weather issues. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s air traffic management system has embarked on a new development path, where new technologies and innovations are needed to address emerging challenges.
