System and method for determining an alternative flight route based on sector geometry

A flight routing system for determining an alternative route for an aircraft based on an airspace that is partitioned into a plurality of sectors and an original flight route, wherein the original flight route has an initial point of takeoff and a destination point, the flight routing system comprising:

• a processor that receives as input a maximum connecting angle measured between a perpendicular line at a specific point on a selected edge of a selected sector and at least one connecting arc;
• and
• a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
• determining a plurality of points within each of the plurality of sectors, wherein the plurality of points are each located along an edge of one of the plurality of sectors;
• determining the at least one connecting arc for each of the plurality of sectors, wherein the at least one connecting arc connects a first point with another point located along one of the edges of each of the plurality of sectors such that an angle measured between the first point and the another point located along one of the edges is less than the maximum connecting angle;
• determining a complete time-based airspace network based on at least a forecast capacity, wherein the forecast capacity indicates an available capacity for each of the plurality of sectors and which of the plurality of sectors are unavailable, and wherein the maximum connecting angle is based on at least one of aircraft performance, air traffic control, and an amount of connectivity of the time-based airspace network within a single sector;
• and
• selecting the alternative route as output based on at least the complete time-based airspace network and the at least one connecting arc for each of the plurality of sectors, wherein the processor determines the alternative route without any of the at least one connecting arcs located within an unavailable sector, and wherein the unavailable sector is representative of unavailable airspace.