Strategic Allocation of Flight Plans in Air Traffic Management: An Evolutionary Point of View
Authored by Gerald Gurtner, Fabrizio Lillo
Date Published: 2018
DOI: 10.1007/s13235-017-0236-4
Sponsors:
European Union
Platforms:
Python
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
https://github.com/ELSA-Project/ELSA-ABM-StratS
Abstract
We present a simplified model of the strategic allocation of
trajectories in a generic airspace for commercial flights. In this
model, two types of companies, characterized by different cost functions
and different strategies, compete for the allocation of trajectories in
the airspace. With an analytical model and numerical simulations, we
show that the relative advantage of the two
populations-companies-depends on external factors like traffic demand as
well as on the composition of the population. We show that there exists
a stable equilibrium state which depends on the traffic demand. We also
show that the equilibrium solution is not the optimal at the global
level, but rather that it tends to favour one of the two business
models-the archetype for low-cost companies. Finally, linking the cost
of allocated flights with the fitness of a company, we study the
evolutionary dynamics of the system, investigating the fluctuations of
population composition around the equilibrium and the speed of
convergence towards it. We prove that in the presence of noise due to
finite populations, the equilibrium point is shifted and is reached more
slowly.
Tags
Agent-based model
Complex networks
evolutionary dynamics
systems
Transportation network
Air traffic management
Strategic allocation