A Distributed Environment for Onboard Planning and Scheduling Charles River Analytics Cambridge MA

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A Distributed Environment for Onboard Planning
and Scheduling Charles River Analytics
Cambridge MA
Small Business Innovation Research

• INNOVATION
• Allows a constellation of spacecraft to function
  as a hierarchy of autonomous agents handling
  tasks from multiple sources.
• Reduces a single complex global scheduling
  problem to parallel scheduling problems that are
  easily tractable.
• Minimizes inter-agent negotiation by executing a
  generous domain distribution algorithm during
  constraint management.

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• ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Developed a vertically layered agent architecture
  incorporating a domain-independent constraint
  database, an inference layer incorporating
  domain-specific knowledge, and an interface for
  interacting with the outside world.
• Developed a 3-D visualization interface for the
  simulation.
• Demonstrated by analysis the benefits of
  distributed vs. central scheduling and of
  inter-agent negotiation.
• Illustrated ability to resolve difficult
  scheduling problems with formation based on Three
  Corner Satellite Constellation.
• COMMERCIALIZATION
• Multi-agent architecture incorporated into
  Charles River Analytics Intelligent Agent
  Toolkit. Applicable domains include commercial
  satellite systems, supply chain management, and
  agent-based modeling and simulation.

Vertically Layered Agent Architecture

• Planning and Scheduling incorporated into Charles
  River Analytics Intelligent Agent Toolkit.
  Applicable domains include transportation and
  inventory control.
• GOVERNMENT/SCIENCE APPLICATIONS
• Multi-agent architecture employed in Air Force
  contract for a Multi Agent-based Satellite System
  for Information Fusion (MASSIF)
• Planning and scheduling engine used in Air Force
  contract for a Generic User-friendly Integrated
  Development Environment (GUIDE)

Goddard Space Flight Center
Points of Contact NASA Walter Truszkowski
[phone] Charles River Analytics Subrata
Das [phone]
1997 Phase II, SS5-070