Airlines turn to AI to allocate gates and cut waiting times
www.bbc.com
Airlines are hoping to cut waiting times by using AI to allocate gates at airports.
  • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    3 hours ago

    Another problem that has been solved years ago with regular old algorithms and properly designed airports.

    AI not gonna solve crap when your entire timetable collapses because one flight got delayed and you refused to spend money to use additional gates or upgrade an antiquated 90s system.

    • xep@fedia.io
      1·
      24 seconds ago

      LLMs and generative AI aren’t going to be much good on this problem. The article is using the older, non-buzzword computer science meaning, which includes algorithms for this exact problem, such as the ones used for the category of problems known as constraint satisfaction problems, which timetable scheduling belongs to.

      Allocating gates is one problem that traditional computers and algorithms struggle to do quickly, with calculation times increasing disproportionately to the size of the problem.

      But, Dr Doetsch is confident that approaches using quantum computing will crush the problem.

      “Quantum algorithms will allow optimally assigning gates, and other resources, even in large airports and travel networks. These algorithms will be able to respond to changing external factors with updated optimal solutions in real time,” he says.

      This stuff is cool, and has nothing to do with generative AI.

    • mrmacduggan@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      1 hour ago

      I feel like ATC is one of those pattern-recognition constraint-satisfaction problem jobs where a (non-generative!) algorithm can probably do a pretty good job.

      • bluGill@fedia.io
        1·
        37 minutes ago

        Everything they are doing has known algorithms. Some are np problems though, but ai isn’t any better for those than the existing algorithyms. but ai is hype today so everyone needs to do it. In a few years this will die off and ai will be used for where it is useful. Just like every other ai that has been a fad for a while since 1950.

    • chaospatterns@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      3 hours ago

      Why do you think this is going to replace air traffic control work? It’s picking which gate to park the plane at. This was done by airline and airport operations teams, not ATC. Imagine if you could automatically pick gates to reduce the time a plane spends taxiing and/or minimize time passengers spend walking. That’s 100% a useful application for computer optimization algorithms. Humans aren’t going to do that better and it’s not a function of safety that tower or ground control needs to do.