Conflict Resolution with Time Constraints in Trajectory-Based Arrival Management

The meet-time problem in arrival management is analyzed, that is, the problem of generating conflict-free tra- jectories that meet the scheduled times of arrival. The conflict- resolution algorithms developed are based on the parameteriza- tion of the aircraft intents, using predefined trajectory patterns that model the aircraft trajectories actually flown. The algorithms have three steps: avoidance, recovery and optimization. Two algorithms are presented: one in which the optimization step is applied globally (to all aircraft) after the other two steps are performed for all aircraft, and another one in which the optimization step is applied locally to each aircraft after the other two steps are performed for the same aircraft. This second algorithm is shown to be efficient when the scenario is very demanding (in which the global optimization of the first algorithm is not effective). Results are presented for two different scenarios in the TMA of Canarias.