TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CONCEPT EVALUATION

AN AIR-TRAFFIC FLOW MANAGEMENT (ATFM) TOOL BASED EITHER ON STRICT MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION AND OPTIMIZATION, AND/OR ONEBASED ON HEURISTIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DISTRIBUTING THE FLOW OVER THE NETWORK MAY PROVIDE A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM, PERHAPS MUCH BETTER AND OBJECTIVE THAN THE ONE MADE PRESENTLY BY A CADRE OF EXPERTS UNDER STRESSFUL CONDITIONS. THE SYSTEM SHOULD COMPLEMENT THE HUMAN DECISIONS MADE DAILY TO SMOOTH THE FLOW OF AIR TRAFFIC, AND THEREBY MINIMIZE DELAYS WITHOUT SACRIFICING SAFETY. IT WILL BE QUITE VALUABLE IF THE SYSTEM IS ABLE TO EPLAIN SUGGESTED ADVICE INA WAY COMPREHENSIBLE TO THE HUMAN EXPERTS. THE SPECIFIC PHASE I TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT THE ATFM SYSTEM ARE: (1) DEVELOP A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT HEURISTIC KNOWLEDGE BASE GATHERED FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF HUMAN EXPERTS; (2) FORMULATE THE DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING APPROACH; (3) COMBINE DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY WITH HEURISTIC OPTIMIZATION; (4) DEVELOP A BOUNDED IMPLEMENTATION AS A PROOF OF CONCEPT; THE PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SYSTEM WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ON AKM ASSOCIATES SYMBOLIC 3650 AI WORKSTATION USING THE WELL KNOWNKEE-3 KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENT TOOL. WE CHOSE THIS SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT, BECAUSE IT WILL GUARANTEE THE QUICK IMPLEMENTATION/MODIFICATION OF THE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM DURING THE SIX MONTHS OF PHASE I EFFORT.