Traffic Flow Management Using Aggregate Flow Models and the Development of Disaggregation Methods

A linear time-varying aggregate traffic flow model can be used to develop Traffic Flow Management strategies based on optimization algorithms. However, there are no meth-ods available in the literature to translate these aggregate solutions into actions involving individual aircraft. This paper describes and implements a computationally efficient disag-gregation algorithm, which converts an aggregate (flow-based) solution to a flight-specific control action. Numerical results generated by the optimization method and the disaggre-gation algorithm are presented and illustrated by applying them to generate TFM schedules for a typical day in the U.S. National Airspace System. The results show that the disag-gregation algorithm generates control actions for individual flights while keeping the air traffic behavior very close to the optimal solution. Nomenclature N number of centers (i, j) directional link from center i to center j T time horizon of simulation and optimization