Optimizing Unmanned Aircraft System Scheduling

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) are critical for future combat effectiveness. Military planners from all branches of the Department of Defense now recognize the value that real time intelligence and surveillance from UASs provides the battlefield commander. The Operations Analysis Division of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command is currently conducting an Overarching Unmanned Aircraft Systems study to determine future force requirements. Current analysis is conducted through the use of the Assignment Scheduling Capability for Unmanned Air Vehicles (ASC-U) and several specially designed heuristics. The Unmanned Aircraft System Scheduling Tool (UAS-ST) combines these capabilities into one model and addresses several issues associated with ASC-U. UAS-ST allows the user to control all aspects of the UAS, define a scenario, and then generates a flight schedule over a known time horizon based on those inputs. All missions are assigned a user defined value and the total schedule value is reported. The user can then quickly change a parameter of the UAS, re-solve the model, and see the impact their proposed change has on the overall value of the schedule attained. Therefore, UAS-ST is a tool for analyzing the value of future changes in UAS structure.