Patent ID: 8185298

Claim:
A method for optimizing a plurality of competing portfolios of flight paths for flights through one or more sectors of an airspace represented by an air traffic system, said method comprising: executing computer program code on at least one computer processor to perform the steps of: executing at least one heuristic-based process to construct successive portfolios of the flight paths for consideration, wherein the at least one heuristic-based process includes one or more configurable parameters that are applied in selecting the successive portfolios, and wherein the at least one heuristic-based process comprises at least one of a bottom-up heuristic method and a top-down heuristic method; applying a genetic optimization process to identify the at least one heuristic-based process according to its one or more configurable parameters; evaluating each successive portfolio constructed by the at least one heuristic-based process with an approximation model that approximates the air traffic system; selecting an optimal portfolio of the flight paths from among the plurality of competing portfolios of flight paths based on results of said evaluating step; and utilizing a simulation of the air traffic system to validate the optimal portfolio of flight paths selected in said selecting step.