System Optimisation of Non-propulsive energy in Aircraft Taxi technologies and Architectures (SONATA)

Aircraft waste millions of litres of fuel every year pushing themselves around airport tarmacs with their main engines running. The SONATA project is designing an electric wheel system that lets planes taxi without using their jet engines at all. Today, planes burn jet fuel to crawl between gate and runway—a process that is noisy, polluting, and inefficient. Airlines spend heavily on fuel during taxiing, and airport communities endure unnecessary emissions and noise. The problem is not a lack of electric taxi concepts; it is that no single design has been optimised to work across the many aircraft types, airport layouts, and operational conditions that exist in practice. SONATA will integrate and test the specific technology bricks—motors, power electronics, control systems, and energy storage—needed for a practical on-aircraft electric wheel system. If the project succeeds, it could eliminate a significant source of ground-level aviation emissions and noise. The impact would be felt most directly by people living near airports, who would breathe cleaner air and hear quieter departures. Airlines would also cut fuel costs and reduce wear on main engines during low-power ground operations. The research is applied engineering with a clear commercial and environmental target.