Using DIRECT to Solve an Aircraft Routing Problem

In this paper we discuss a global optimization problem arising in the calculation of aircraft flight paths. Since gradient information for this problem may not be readily available, a direct-search algorithm (DIRECT), proposed by Jones et al., Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, vol. 79, pp. 157–181, 1993, appears to be a promising solution technique. We describe some numerical experience in which DIRECT is used in several different ways to solve a sample problem.