Maximum Payloads Per Unit Time Delivered Through an Air Network

Abstract

Because the payload that an airplane can carry is a function of the longest segment of its route and differs from route to route, the usual algorithms of network flow theory will not yield the optimum flow of payload. In this paper two network algorithms are described. They determine the route of maximum payload flow per hour of flight time and the maximum steady-state payload flow through a network with capacity constraints on the nodes.