Optimal UAV Task Assignment and Scheduling (Preprint)

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of task assignment and scheduling for teams of cooperative Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) operating in a semi-autonomous manner with a single operator controlling the multiple-vehicle team. Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) is a highly effective technique for expressing this type of complex optimization problem because it allows for binary decision variables, continuous timing variables, and an extensive, flexible constraint set. A general MILP formulation is proposed, allowing a wide variety of vehicle capabilities and mission requirements to be incorporated. Possible task coupling constraints include precedence constraints, time windows, simultaneous tasks, joint tasks, and more. A variety of scenarios, with heterogeneous vehicles, and a wide range of mission constraints can be addressed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA467104

Entities

People

  • Amanda Weinstein
  • Corey Schumacher

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Aircrafts
  • Algorithms
  • Computations
  • Computer Programming
  • Couplings
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Information Exchange
  • Integer Programming
  • Linear Programming
  • Military Research
  • Scheduling (Production)
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Operations Research
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - Human-Robot Interaction