A distributed scheduler for air traffic flow management

A system was developed to efficiently schedule aircraft into congested resources over long ranges and present that schedule as a decision support system. The scheduling system consists of a distributed network of independent schedulers, loosely coupled by sharing capacity information. This loose coupling insulates the schedules from uncertainty in long-distance estimations of arrival times, while allowing precise short-term schedules to be constructed. This "rate profile" mechanism allows feasible schedules to be produced over long ranges, essentially constructing precise short-range schedules that also ensure that future scheduling problems are solvable while meeting operational constraints. The system was tested operationally and demonstrated reduced airborne delay and improved coordination.