Mission Scheduling Maximization Subject to Aircraft System Reliability and Mission Requirements

Abstract

In this paper we address the Mission Scheduling (MS) problem for Engineering and Manufacturing Development flight test operations, i.e., determining which aircraft to schedule for specified missions and how many missions are scheduled. We account for a squadron of shared aircraft that are utilized for specific mission assignments. We consider the system reliability and mission requirements for multi-ship missions to maximize the number of missions flown. Since flight test is a necessary and costly endeavor, maximizing the efficiency of a flight test program is critical to the overall success of a program. Aborted missions, due to aircraft unavailability, delay the program and increase the overall cost. We have performed a sensitivity analysis utilizing the aircraft reliability data, which determines the system reliability. The reliability sensitivity results show the effect that increases or decreases in the aircraft reliability have on mission scheduling. Additionally, sensitivity of the Mission Reliability (MR) requirement has been analyzed. The MR requirement reflects the acceptable risk a program has determined when scheduling missions. The MS problem optimization has been implemented using the Excel Solver add-in. Due to the sensitive nature of aircraft capabilities and reliability data, the input data have been approximated based on subject matter expertise.