Flying hot potatoes [air traffic management]

Optical communication networks and air traffic management systems share the same fundamental routing problem as both optical packets and aircraft must continuously move within the network, while avoiding conflicts. We explore the use of hot potato and deflection routing algorithms, which are established routing methods in optical communication networks, in the conflict-free routing of air traffic. Hot potato algorithms allow the incorporation of conflict resolution constraints into the routing problem, in contrast to most approaches that decouple the optimal routing problem from the conflict resolution problem.