Aircraft Noise Modelling in Environmental Trade-offs: Designing Quieter, Cleaner Routes
- RefMap
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
With the RefMap Project concluding on 30/1/2026, the following post was written by RefMap partner KTH Royal Institute of Technology to provide an overview of their work and results in the project.
As aviation continues to reinforce its ongoing sustainability efforts, aircraft noise has become a key component of the environmental equation, complementing established concerns such as emissions and energy consumption.
The widening of sustainability concerns to include local impacts has highlighted the need for a more holistic approach that explores the trade-offs and synergies between climate goals and the health and well-being of communities living near airports.
A key focus of the RefMap project is addressing sustainability in a broad sense, considering not only CO2 and non-CO2 climate impacts at cruise levels but also factors such as local air quality and community noise exposure around airports. To achieve this, the project has sought to optimize and evaluate all these impacts through advanced flight planning tools. For this purpose, various tools developed by the RefMap partner UC3M have been utilized [1–3].
At the core of the noise modeling effort is SAFT (Simulation of atmosphere and Air traffic For a quieter environment) [4], a tool developed by KTH’s Center for Sustainable Aviation [5], which enables detailed acoustic footprint mapping using both standard and advanced simulation techniques [6–8].
Given recognized connections between aircraft noise and adverse health outcomes, such as sleep disturbance, annoyance, cardiovascular effects, and cognitive impairment in children [9], SAFT noise contour outputs are linked to population datasets [10], to assess the societal relevance of aircraft noise simulations. The analysis provides a detailed breakdown within 5 dB(A) intervals, enabling assessment of how many individuals are exposed to aircraft noise across varying sound levels.
To showcase the process, a descent profile of an aircraft (Airbus A320-251N) approaching Stockholm Arlanda Airport—via Runway 26, one of Arlanda Airport’s most frequently used landing directions—was modeled. Figure 1 depicts the spatial distribution of noise impact from this single event through LAmax-based noise contours. These contours reveal how the acoustic footprint shifts with both distance and direction from the runway. Figure 2 complements this by quantifying the affected population within each exposure zone.
Together, these outputs provide insight into the interplay between flight behavior and human noise exposure. The goal of this contribution is to ensure that future aviation planning considers not only operational efficiency but also the lived experience of those under flight paths, particularly given the challenges posed by a growing global population, increasing air traffic, and the continuing densification of urban areas near airports.
As RefMap’s analytics ecosystem continues to evolve, integrating noise exposure into environmental trade-offs offers a more inclusive and intelligent path forward for aviation. These noise modeling efforts contribute to decision-support tools including ANTAO, which forms part of the RefMap Platform and models aircraft trajectories to reduce noise and emissions while complying with regulations.
To see more about the RefMap Noise Tool, click the button below.
REFERENCES
[1] Abolfazl Simorgh et al. “Robust 4D climate-optimal aircraft trajectory planning under weather-induced uncertainties: Free-routing airspace”. In: Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 131 (2024), p. 104196. doi: 10.1016/j.trd.2024.104196. url: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920924001536
[2] Abolfazl Simorgh et al. “Concept of robust climate-friendly flight planning under multiple climate impact estimates”. In: Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 131 (2024), p. 104215. doi: 10.1016/j.trd.2024.104215. url: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136192092400172X
[3] Abolfazl Simorgh and Manuel Soler. “Climate-optimized flight planning can effectively reduce the environmental footprint of aviation in Europe at low operational costs”. In: Communications Earth & Environment 6.1 (2025), p. 2031. doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02031-8. url: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02031-8
[4] KTH Centre for Sustainable Aviation. SAFT: Simulation of atmosphere and Air traffic For a quieter environmenT. Accessed July 2025. 2019. url: https://www.kth.se/csa/projekt/avslutade-projekt/saft-1.991973
[5] KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Centre for Sustainable Aviation (CSA). Accessed July 2025. 2025. url: https://www.kth.se/en/csa
[6] SAFT: Simulation of Atmosphere and Air Traffic for a Quieter Environment – Final Report. Tech. rep. Accessed July 2025. KTH Centre for Sustainable Aviation and Chalmers University of Technology, 2019. url: https://www.kth.se/polopolyfs/1.1139631.1643809421!/Slutrapport_SAFT_2019_R.pdf
[7] Ulf Tengzelius and Mats ˚Abom. “Aircraft pass-by noise on ground modelled with the SAFT program”. In: Proceedings of INTER-NOISE 2019. Madrid, Spain, 2019, pp. 1958–1969. url: https://www.sea-acustica.es/INTERNOISE_2019/Fchrs/Proceedings/1431.pdf.2 .
[8] Ulf Tengzelius et al. “Next generation aircraft noise-mapping using the SAFT program”. In: Proceedings of INTER-NOISE 2021. Accessed July 2025. Washington,D.C., USA: Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 2021, pp. 2064–2075. doi: 10.3397/IN-2021-2043. url: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ince/incecp/2021/00000263/00000004/art00014 .
[9] Charlotte Clark. Aircraft Noise Effects on Health. Tech. rep. Report prepared for the UK Airports Commission. London, UK: Queen Mary University of London, 2015.
[10] Meta and Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). Sweden: High Resolution Population Density Maps + Demographic Estimates. Accessed July 2025. 2021. url: https://data.humdata.org/dataset/sweden-high-resolution-population-density-maps-demographic-estimates .
