Time-Based Air Traffic Management using Expert Systems

A prototype expert system has been developed for the time scheduling of aircraft into the terminal area. The three functions of the air-traffic-control schedule advisor are as follows: First, for each new arrival, it develops an admissible flight plan for that aircraft. Second, as the aircraft progresses through the terminal area, it monitors deviations from the aircraft´s flight plan and provides advisories to return the aircraft to its assigned schedule. Third, if major disruptions such as missed approaches occur, it develops a revised plan. The advisor is operational on a Symbolics 3600, and is programmed in MRS (a logic programming language), Lisp, and Fortran.