WCSE

A Terminal Airspace Flight Path Planning Algorithm Based on Improved Deep Q-Network

Abstract— Due to the deteriorated weather and the activities of other airspace users, the control job at terminal airspace become complex and changeable. This situation brings more work burden for the air traffic controllers to conduct aircraft path planning. The conventional aircraft path planning methods are not consistent with the actual operation situation of air traffic control facility. In this paper, a terminal airspace flight path planning algorithm based on improved Deep Q-Network (DQN) is proposed. It use the results generated by classical path planning algorithms as priority experience to feedback the DQN model. The experimental results show the proposed algorithm is able to reduced the distance of the path planning and training time compared with the traditional path planning algorithm. It greatly improves the model training efficiency.

Index Terms— Flight path planning, Deep Q-Network, Terminal airspace, restricted airspace.

Han Yingchao, Wei Qi, Shen Zhiyuan
College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, CHINA
Han Yingchao
Civil Aviation Administration of China Northwest Regional Air Traffic Management Bureau at Ningxia Subbranch, CHINA
Wei Qi
China Eastern Airlines Jiangsu Co.Ltd, CHINA

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Cite: Han Yingchao, Wei Qi, Shen Zhiyuan, "A Terminal Airspace Flight Path Planning Algorithm Based on Improved Deep Q-Network", 2025 the 15th International Workshop on Computer Science and Engineering (WCSE 2025), pp. 250-255, Jeju Island, South Korea, June 28-30, 2025.