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.