Aiding USAF/UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) Aircrew Scheduling Using Network Flow Models.

Abstract

Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) is a dynamic, high pressure program which produces front line aviators for the United States Air Force. The eleven month curriculum contains a complicated assortment of academic, flight, and simulator training. Recent expansions in the UPT program and increased emphasis on cost effective scheduling have rendered the current manual scheduling methods obsolete. This thesis develops a micro-computer based scheduling algorithm which aids UPT schedulers in finding feasible solutions to daily scheduling problems. We formulate the problem as a two level network flow problem. Level 1 uses both maximum flow and minimum cost flow formulations to solve the instructor assignment problem. Level 2 addresses student scheduling and uses a two pass, optimization based heuristic which assigns students via a network transportation formulation. The bi-level network formulation produces feasible daily schedules in minutes on an IBM PC/XT compared to the hours required for the manual method. It also performs feasibility checks at both levels and allows scheduler interaction to effectively generate daily schedules.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA172321

Entities

People

  • Robert M. Huelskamp

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Algorithms
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Flight Simulators
  • Flight Training
  • Flow Network
  • Heuristic Methods
  • Instructors
  • Integer Programming
  • Mathematical Programming
  • Operations Research
  • Optimization
  • Simulators
  • Students
  • Trainees

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Computer Science.