ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES FOR SCHEDULING SHUTTLE PROCESSING

AN INNOVATIVE COMBINATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TECHNIQUES WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO MEET NASA'S SCHEDULING NEEDS FOR REPRESENTATION, SCHEDULE DESIGN, AND SCHEDULE ANALYSIS. AI KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATIONS SUCH AS FRAMES, SEMANTIC NETWORKS, AND RULES WILL BE USED FOR CAPTURING SCHEDULE COMPONENTS AND CONSTRAINTS. SCHEDULE DESIGN WILL BE FACILITATED THROUGH THE USE OF SIMILARITY-BASED AND CONSTRAINT-SATISFACTION TECHNIQUES. NASA'S SCHEDULE ANALYSIS CAPABILITIES WILL BE ENHANCED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF AI CONSTRAINT-BASE TECHNIQUES, CAPTURE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HEURISTIC ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES, AND STANDARD GRAPH NEGOTIATION TECHNIQUES. THE GOALS OF THE PHASE I RESEARCH ARE TO DEFINE THOROUGHLY THE MISSION-PLANNING DOMAIN, ELABORATE THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES USEFUL FOR AUTOMATING THE SCHEDULING PROBLEM, PROVE THE FEASIBILITY OF THESE TECHNIQUES, AND DEVELOP A COMPLETE SYSTEM SPECIFICATION FOR AN AUTOMATED NASA SHUTTLE AND PAYLOAD PROCESSING SCHEDULER. PHASE I RESEARCH AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT WILL LAY THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE PHASE II IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATED SCHEDULING AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM. AN INNOVATIVE COMBINATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TECHNIQUES WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO MEET NASA'S SCHEDULING NEEDS FOR REPRESENTATION, SCHEDULE DESIGN, AND SCHEDULE ANALYSIS. AI KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATIONS SUCH AS FRAMES, SEMANTIC NETWORKS, AND RULES WILL BE USED FOR CAPTURING SCHEDULE COMPONENTS AND CONSTRAINTS. SCHEDULE DESIGN WILL BE FACILITATED THROUGH THE USE OF SIMILARITY-BASED AND CONSTRAINT-SATISFACTION TECHNIQUES. NASA'S SCHEDULE ANALYSIS CAPABILITIES WILL BE ENHANCED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF AI CONSTRAINT-BASE TECHNIQUES, CAPTURE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HEURISTIC ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES, AND STANDARD GRAPH NEGOTIATION TECHNIQUES. THE GOALS OF THE PHASE I RESEARCH ARE TO DEFINE THOROUGHLY THE MISSION-PLANNING DOMAIN, ELABORATE THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES USEFUL FOR AUTOMATING THE SCHEDULING PROBLEM, PROVE THE FEASIBILITY OF THESE TECHNIQUES, AND DEVELOP A COMPLETE SYSTEM SPECIFICATION FOR AN AUTOMATED NASA SHUTTLE AND PAYLOAD PROCESSING SCHEDULER. PHASE I RESEARCH AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT WILL LAY THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE PHASE II IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATED SCHEDULING AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM.