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.