27th edition of the ENAIRE Foundation Awards presented 27.10.2022:

- The Aeronautical Journalism Award went to Marta Fajardo Fernández for her report "Nace Startical, la constelación satelital del espacio aéreo" (Startical, the satellite constellation for airspace, is born), on Radio Exterior de España and Radio-5 (RNE)



- The I+Drone Award was presented to the team from the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (FADA-CATEC) for their work Cooperative Multi-UAV System for Surveillance and Search & Rescue Operations Over a Mobile 5G Node



- The Luis Azcárraga Prize went to Almudena Buelta, Alberto Olivares and Ernesto Stafetti for their article Iterative Learning Control for Precise Aircraft Trajectory Tracking in Continuous Climb and Descent Transportation Systems



- The José Ramón López Villares Air Navigation Award was given to Celia Martín de Valmaseda Fuertes for her final degree project titled "Model for Tracking Incidents in the Air Transport Network.Application to the Spread of COVID", at the Advanced Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering (UPM). And in the Airports speciality, Juan Luis Lupiáñez received the awarded for his Master's degree project, entitled: "Role of Electric Vehicle Fleet
Aggregators in the Spanish Electricity Market", of the Advanced Polytechnic School - Universidad Carlos III, and Cristina Sanz García, for her final degree project, entitled: "Scalable Hub for the Ecological Transition of Air Operations Using Green Hydrogen", from the Advanced Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering (UPM).



The panel of judges for the ENAIRE Foundation Awards, which this year mark their 27th anniversary, has announced the winners in the following aviation categories: Aviation Journalism Award, I+Dron Award, Luis Azcárraga


Innovation in Aviation Award, and José Ramón López Villares Award (Bachelor's and Master's theses), in the fields of air navigation and airports. This year, Airbus Spain again co-sponsored the I+Dron Award in order to associate this accolade with the latest developments in the aviation industry.




A total of 5 projects were submitted for this edition:




Aviation Journalism Award


Every year, this award recognises works of journalism that are disseminated in the press, radio, television, and on digital and online publications that are related to air transport and navigation, as well as those involving airport
facilities and airport services in general. The award is worth €12,000.



Of the 14 nominations received this year, the jury decided to present the award to Marta Fajardo Fernández for her report "Nace Startical, la constelación satelital del espacio aéreo" (Startical, the satellite constellation
for airspace, is born), on Radio Exterior de España and Radio-5 (RNE).


The jury noted the pacing and interest of the report, which, without sacrificing any technical rigour, presents a highly topical subject with great potential in a way that is fun and engaging for a wide audience, taking advantage of every second of radio time with interviews and interesting information.



I+Dron Award


Presented annually, it recognises those technical works, studies, projects, papers or publications that make a unique contribution to innovation in the drone sector, in the fields of aircraft design and aircraft system technologies
(including propulsion, communications, control, etc.), drone production, operation, and traffic management, as well as the development of new applications.



The award is worth €12,000. In addition, this year the award is being co-sponsored by Airbus Spain, and the winner will be able to present the project to technical managers at the company. If the project interests them, they will consider prototyping it.




This year's edition saw five nominations presented, with the prize going to the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (FADA-CATEC) for the work titled Cooperative Multi-UAV System for Surveillance and Search & Rescue Operations Over a Mobile 5G Node. The team was led by Miguel Ángel Trujillo and Antidio Viguria Jiménez, and also relied on inputs from the avionics and systems departments at this centre.


The jury noted the interest of the case presented, with a highly detailed explanation that included a video, and which seeks to conduct searches automatically while avoiding obstacles. The project could feasibly be continued in collaboration with Airbus Spain.




Luis Azcárraga Innovation in Aviation Award


Presented annually, it acknowledges work, studies or projects that offer a major contribution to air transport in terms of planning and organisation, economic and administrative management, environmental impact and protection, as well as technological research and innovation. The award is worth €12,000.


Eight nominees were presented this year, and the jury awarded the prize to Almudena Buelta, Alberto Olivares and Ernesto Stafetti for their paper Iterative Learning Control for Precise Aircraft Trajectory Tracking in Continuous Climb and Descent Operations, in the journal IEEE Transactions On Intelligent Transportation Systems.


The jury believes that this work will contribute positively to the efficiency of continuous climb and descent operations in the vicinity of airports, and can translate into an improvement in the capacity of these facilities, which is essential for the proper growth of air transport.

José Ramón López Villares Award for Bachelor's and Master's theses

This is an annual prize to reward Bachelor's or Master's degree projects in Aeronautical or Aerospace Engineering, or in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering (especially the branch of Roads, Canals and Ports), and Industrial and Telecommunications Engineering that involved air navigation or airports, written in any Spanish university and in any of Spain's official languages or in English. A maximum of four prizes may be awarded every year, each one worth 3,000 euros. This edition featured 13 nominees.



In the air navigation speciality, the award was given to Celia Martín de Valmaseda Fuertes for her final degree project titled "Model for Tracking Incidents in the Air Transport network. Application to the Spread of COVID", at the Advanced Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering (UPM).


The jury recognised how the project proposes a model for studying the characteristics of the European airport network by analysing how incidents - such as a contagious disease - proliferate, and applied it practically to the spread of COVID-19.


The analysis performed relies on network models, and was innovative and had the objective goal of identifying risks and mitigation measures. The award in the airports speciality was presented to Juan Luis Lupiáñez for his Master's degree project, entitled: "Role of Electric Vehicle Fleet Aggregators in the Spanish Electricity Market", of the Advanced Polytechnic School - Universidad Carlos III.



The jury noted the ambitious and rigorous nature of this project, whose main objective is to design an energy management system that, thanks to the optimal distribution of its energy consumption and generation, is able to
obtain an economic benefit.


A practical application is made at an airport by proposing a model that provides flexibility to the electrical system and leverages the energy supply possibilities of a photovoltaic solar plant and the energy stored in the batteries of electric vehicles that are parked in long and short-duration car parks.



And to Cristina Sanz García, for her final degree project entitled: "Scalable Hub for the Ecological Transition of Air Operations Using Green Hydrogen", from the Advanced Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering (UPM).



The jury noted how this project analyses a model that considers the construction of a hub at an airport facility that allows aircraft to be refuelled using renewable hydrogen. It provides an in-depth description of all the links in the green hydrogen value chain, as well as of the end consumers, the aircraft, to reach the initial objectives set by analysing the investment and associated expense of implementing this proposal, as well as its profitability.





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