Robust Air-Traffic Control Using Ground-Delays and Rerouting of Flights
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In this paper we demonstrate that finite horizon optimization of ground-delays and rerouting can provide robustness to the performance of the United States National Airspace System, in the event a center goes down. Our analysis is based on a linear system approximation of the National Airspace System.We use the linear model to analyze the degrading effect of a loss of center on the performance of the air-traffic control.We employ ground-delays and rerouting of flights as mitigation tools and propose optimal sequences of these control actions to restore the performance of the National Airspace System. The optimal sequence is determined by solving a finite horizon optimal control problem. Historical data in the available literature are used to derive the linear approximation of the National Airspace System. From our analysis we observe that both ground-delays and rerouting are able to successfully restore the performance of the National Airspace System.We did not observe significant difference in performance between these two methods. However, the computational complexity associated with rerouting is significantly more than that for ground delays. The simulation plots demonstrate that finite horizon optimization for determining optimal ground-delay or rerouting strategies can mitigate the effects of a center going down in the National Airspace System. Copyright 2009.
