An Evolutionary Optimization Approach for Path Planning of Arrival Aircraft for Optimal Sequencing

In this paper, we present an evolutionary optimization based path planning algorithm at Terminal Airspace (TAS) that provides a near optimal aircraft arrival sequence at Final Approach Fix (FAF). The sequence obtained minimizes the inter-arrival time as well as provides conflict free path planning to an Air Traffic Controller (ATC). A classic Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimization technique with conflict detection and resolution is developed. Conflict between any two aircraft is detected based on their future arrival time at the waypoint and resolved by stretching the gap between those two aircraft. The proposed algorithm is compared with the traditional GA. Results indicate that the proposed approach obtains a near optimal solution compared to the traditional GA based algorithm which does not consider TAS constraints.