# Quantum Annealing Applied to De-Conflicting Optimal Trajectories for Air Traffic Management

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.04889 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.04889/

## Key facts

- Cited by 13 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 13 Nov 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Hybrid quantum ResNet for car classification and its hyperparameter optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04878/) (2022)
- [SWIFT-FMQA: Enhancing Factorization Machine with Quadratic-Optimization Annealing via Sliding Window](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.21024/) (2025)
- [QUBO Decision Tree: Annealing Machine Extends Decision Tree Splitting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09772/) (2023)
- [Dynamic Range Reduction via Branch-and-Bound](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.10863/) (2024)
- [Hybrid Quantum-Classical Multi-Agent Pathfinding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.14568/) (2025)
- [Comparison of D-Wave Quantum Annealing and Gibbs Monte Carlo for Sampling from a Probability Distribution of a Restricted Boltzmann Machine](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.10228/) (2025)
- [Quantum Artificial Intelligence for Mission-Critical Systems: Foundations, Architectural Elements, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.09884/) (2025)
- [QANTIS: A Hardware-Validated Quantum Platform for POMDP Planning and Multi-Target Data Association](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00785/) (2026)
- [Solving Large Break Minimization Problems in a Mirrored Double Round-robin Tournament Using Quantum Annealing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.07239/) (2021)
- [QUBO-inspired Molecular Fingerprint for Chemical Property Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10179/) (2023)
- [Stage-dependent integer-binary encoding in factorization-machine black-box optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.23188/) (2026)
- [QANTIS: Hardware-Calibrated Sequential POMDP Belief Updates on IBM Heron](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.06760/) (2026)
- [Quantum Compressed Sensing CT Reconstruction Algorithm Based on Penalized Weighted Least Squares and Guided Total Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.10566/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present the mapping of a class of simplified air traffic management (ATM) problems (strategic conflict resolution) to quadratic unconstrained boolean optimization (QUBO) problems. The mapping is performed through an original representation of the conflict-resolution problem in terms of a conflict graph, where nodes of the graph represent flights and edges represent a potential conflict between flights. The representation allows a natural decomposition of a real world instance related to wind-optimal trajectories over the Atlantic ocean into smaller subproblems, that can be discretized and are amenable to be programmed in quantum annealers. In the study, we tested the new programming techniques and we benchmark the hardness of the instances using both classical solvers and the D-Wave 2X and D-Wave 2000Q quantum chip. The preliminary results show that for reasonable modeling choices the most challenging subproblems which are programmable in the current devices are solved to optimality with 99% of probability within a second of annealing time.