Advanced Emission Model (AEM)

Scope

Focus: CO₂, Non‑CO₂ Phases: Taxi‑out, Departure/Climb, Cruise, Descent/Arrival, Taxi‑in, Wheels‑up/‑down, Gate‑to‑Gate Metrics: Fuel burn/CO₂, Non‑CO₂

Overview

The Advanced Emission Model2 (AEM) is a software suite which is used for calculation of aircraft engine emissions using 4-dimension trajectories that are cut in segments. It provides the option to calculate 24 pollutants, e.g., CO2, NOx, PMs, HC, Cl, SOx.

One of the different available run modes of AEM allows calculation based on the ICAO CAEP trends method:

Below 3,000 ft: the fuel burn calculation is based on the LTO cycle defined by the ICAO Engine Certification specifications. The ICAO LTO cycle covers four modes of engine operation: approach, taxi, take-off and climb. They are used in AEM to model the following six phases of operations: taxi-out, taxi-in (idle), take-off, climb-out, approach and landing (approach).
Above 3,000 ft: during the Climb, Cruise, Descent phases of flight, the fuel burn calculation is based on EUROCONTROL’s BADA model, by using pre-calculated aircraft performance tables. It derives aircraft engine emissions from the calculations.

AEM options and setups allow users to adapt the model to their own context and available information: use of input fuel flow (ex. flight data recording, cockpit and real time simulators), atmospheric conditions at the flown segment, adaptation to the study context and reference database evolutions (aircraft and engine definition, default atmospheric model, taxi times, etc.) The BFFM2 model is used for calculation of non-linear pollutants such as NOx, CO, HC (&VOC TOG) and vPM. The nvPM MEEM is applied for the calculation of nvPM. AEM provides engine emissions indices for jet and piston engines. Particles emission indices are determined with the FOA4 method. AEM supports service providers in their environmental efforts as follows:

Emission Estimation: AEM estimates aircraft emissions and fuel burn for various flight profiles and scenarios. It calculates the mass of fuel burned and the corresponding emissions of pollutants such as CO2, NOx, SOx and particulate matter.
Detailed Analysis:The tool analyses flight profile data on a flight-by-flight basis, allowing for detailed assessments of emissions for specific air traffic scenarios, from local airport studies to global emissions.
Regulatory Compliance: AEM helps providers comply with international environmental standards and regulations by providing accurate emissions data that can be used for reporting and regulatory purposes.
Scenario Modelling: The tool can model different operational scenarios to assess their environmental impact, helping service providers plan and implement more sustainable air traffic management practices.

Provider

AEM is part of EUROCONTROL’s environmental tool suite, composed of:

Advanced Emission Model (AEM)
Open-ALAQS
IMPACT

Versions and OS Requirements

Current version: AEM 2.6.2b (available since March 2025).

AEM_CLI: Command-line executable
AEM_GUI: GUI executable
AEM_GEO: Trajectory pre-processing
AEM database files
AEM API (DLL/.so)

Supported Platforms

Windows: CLI, GUI, GEO, DB files, API (.dll)
Linux (Red Hat 7 & 8): CLI, DB files, API (.so)

Data Requirements

Mandatory

Aircraft type
Phase of flight
Weight category
Timestamp for each segment
Number of movements
Cruise altitude
ADEP and ADES

Optional

True Air Speed or Mach
Atmospheric conditions
Measured fuel flow

Limitations

BADA fuel burn uses simplified performance model
Input speed and thrust not used; weight decrease not modeled
Default reference database values require adaptation
Turboprops database not included by default

Future Developments

Add single LTO segment types
Update nvPM method (ICAO CAEP/13)
Helicopter fuel and emissions modeling