Coordinating Space Telescope Operations in an Integrated Planning and Scheduling Framework

Abstract

The authors describe HSTS, an integrated planning and scheduling architecture that has been applied to the problem of generating observation schedules for the Hubble Space Telescope. HSTS deals with the problem of the interaction of resource allocation and auxiliary task expansion during schedule development by viewing planning and scheduling as two complementary aspects in the construction of the behavior of a system. The authors first describe how HSTS specifies the dynamics of a system, how it represents schedules at multiple levels of abstraction, and the specific problem solving machinery it provides. An example of the use of the architecture in the Hubble Space Telescope domain is given. Performance results that indicate the practicality of the HSTS approach are presented.