Turn-Constrained Route Planning for Avoiding Hazardous Weather

Abstract

We investigate the problem of algorithmically synthesizing turn-constrained routes that minimize exposure to hazardous weather. Such a problem is suitable to air traffic management automation and aircraft flight management systems. Our algorithm synthesizes routes that aircraft may follow from a specified start to finish location. Example applications include synthesizing routes (1) from airport metering fix locations to runway final approach fixes, and (2) from sector boundary crossing locations to airport metering fix locations. The algorithm takes into account aircraft dynamics limits on velocity and acceleration, pilot and controller workload considerations (e.g., the number of turn maneuvers), and other constraints (e.g., utilizing arrival vs. departure corridors or avoiding special use airspace regions). The solution approach is based on searching in an appropriate discretization of a geometric model of the airspace using a dynamic programming algorithm for optimal paths having a bounded number of t...