AN AUTOMATIC SCHEDULING ASSISTANT FOR THE NASA SPACE STATION

THE PROPOSED NASA SPACE STATION HAS SEVERAL CLASSES OF ACTIVITIES, MOST OF WHICH WILL BE AUTOMATED. SINCE THE FIRST PHASE OF AUTOMATION WILL BE CENTERED AROUND A SET OF TELEOPERATED ROBOTS, THE CREWMEMBERS WILL PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART IN ALL AUTOMATED ACTIVITIES. THESE ACTIVITIES WILL HAVHAVE TO BE SCHEDULED SUBJECT TO NUMEROUS METERIAL AND LABOR RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS. THIS SCHEDULING TASK WOULD BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR A HUMAN TO DO. HENCE, WE ARE PROPOSING TO DEVELOP AN AUTOMATIC SCHEDULING ASSISTANT BASED ON A HIERARCHY OF ACTIVITY CRITICALITY IN WHICH THE ACTIVITIES OFA GIVEN CRITICALITY LEVEL ARE SCHEDULED PRIOR TO THOSE OF LOWER CRITICALITY. FURTHERMORE, EACH CRITICALITY LEVEL IS CONSIDERED TO BE A POTENTIALLY DIFFERENT CLASS OF SCHEDULINGPROBLEM WITH AN ASSOCIATED SET OF SCHEDULING RULES. TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS APPROACH, PHASE I WILL ATTEMPT TO SATISFY THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES; (1) SHOW THAT THERE EXISTS A GOAL-DIRECTED APPROACH FOR SELECTING A CRITICALITY HIERARCHY FOR SCHEDULING SPACE STATION ACTIVITIES, AND (2) SHOW THAT THERE EXISTS A GOAL-DIRECTED APPROACH FOR CLASSIFYING SCHEDULING PROBLEMS AT EACH LEVEL AND THAT THERE IS A CORRESPONDING SET OF SCHEDULING RULES FOR EACH CLASS.