A two-stage route optimization algorithm for light aircraft transport systems

This paper presents a route optimization algorithm for light aircraft operating under visual flight rules. The problem aims at finding a minimum-duration, collision-free route in three spatial dimensions with possible aircraft maneuvers. The optimal route takes into account the aircraft kinodynamic characteristics and its interaction with external wind. A data processing approach is presented to recast the flying environment as a series of polyhedrons based on which a mixed-integer linear model is formulated. A two-stage route optimization model is then introduced to solve real-life instances. Computational experiments depict the efficiency of this approach.