JPH01216476A - Mission scheduling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize scheduling by a common method even for different kinds of resources by storing resource supply quantity information and resource consumption quantity information by expressing in a form of function changing gradually for a time. CONSTITUTION:The resource supply quantity information and the resource consumption quantity information for all of the resources are stored in a consumption pattern storage means 2 and a supply pattern storage means 3 by expressing in the form of the function changing gradually for the time. Therefore, it follows that resource supply remaining quantity information found as a differential value between the resource supply quantity information and the resource consumption quantity information for all of the resources is also expressed in the form of the function changing gradually for the time. In such a way, it is possible to realize the scheduling of the mission targeted to be scheduled being set one after another by a mission setting means 1 by repeating a consolidated method not depending on the kind of the resource by a scheduling execution means 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Overview] The present invention relates to a mission scheduling device regarding resource allocation.

The purpose is to make it possible to implement scheduling using a common method even for different types of resource sources.

In a mission scheduling device for determining mission scheduling.

a mission setting means for setting a mission to be scheduled; a consumption pattern storage means for storing resource consumption information of the mission to be scheduled;
a supply pattern storage means for storing resource supply amount information of a resource source; a scheduling execution means for executing scheduling of a scheduled mission by comparing resource consumption amount information and resource supply amount information; supply pattern updating means for obtaining resource supply remaining amount information of the resource source when executing the above, and storing the obtained resource supply remaining amount information in the supply pattern storage means as new resource supply amount information, The supply pattern storage means stores resource supply amount information of all resource sources expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time, and the consumption pattern storage means stores resource supply amount information regarding all resource sources. The configuration is such that consumption amount information is expressed and stored in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to, for example, materials experiments and life sciences carried out on the Japan Experimental Module (hereinafter referred to as JEM) built on the space station in the United States.

It relates to a mission scheduling device for scheduling various experiments such as scientific observations (hereinafter referred to as "mission" as an aspect of the mission), and more specifically, it schedules missions related to resource allocation. The present invention relates to a Mitsushiran scheduling device for.

[Conventional technology]

In the mid-1990s, JEM was placed on the U.S. space station.
will be constructed, and nine different missions will be carried out by making effective use of the zero gravity, high vacuum, and high energy particle environment of outer space. The operational plan for the implementation of such a mission is based on the creation of a long-term plan through international coordination over a time span of about 5 years, followed by a 2-year plan → 8th quarter (
45th) A structure is adopted in which the plan is created in two steps in the order of plan - weekly plan - daily plan.

Among the operation plans structured in this way, ground operation control handles planning from annual plans to weekly plans, which are relatively long-term plans, and creates a weekly plan (base schedule) that corresponds to 7 days of the daily plan. is onboard JE
It will be uplinked to M integrated control. and,
The onboard crew will conduct Mitsushiran based on this amp-linked base schedule.

If the base schedule needs to be reviewed due to the progress of the space station or JEM, they will be responsible for creating daily plans and changing the base schedule.

In this way, in JEM, the onboard crew is tasked with the daily task of creating daily plans for mission operations as necessary. In creating this daily plan.

The crew decided on the start time of the multiple Mitsushiran experiments, taking into consideration that the resource consumption, such as power consumption and fluid consumption required to carry out the mission, would be within the range of JEM's resource supply. Figure 10 shows an example of the limiting conditions for implementing a mission as a list.As shown in Figure 10, the limiting conditions for resources involved in implementing one mission are as follows: There are a considerable number of missions, and the number of missions scheduled to be carried out per day is quite large, about 10, so the burden of creating a schedule for carrying out Mitsushiran is large, even if it is only for one day. For example, in the case of FMPT (First Materials Experiment), it takes approximately one week to create a similar experiment schedule for one day by hand.

In the future, there is a need to develop a mission scheduling device that can automatically create a mission schedule through dialogue with the crew. However, participation in an experiment such as JEM conducted at the space stage Sun has never been seen before in Japan, and there is currently no prior art that is compatible with the mission scheduling system of the present invention.

To explain further, missions are not limited to JEM, nor are they limited to experiments, but can be broadly considered to have resource allocation problems such as supply and consumption. The current situation is that there is also no conventional technology that supports a mission scheduling device for realizing this.

From now on, it is necessary to configure mission scheduling devices from a completely new perspective.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As explained above, the present invention provides a mission operation scheduling system that is operated in cooperation between ground operation control and space station JEM, as shown in FIG. The aim is to provide the following information (abbreviated as "MISES"). This mission operation scheduling system is implemented for the purpose of reducing the scheduling work of the onboard crew.

However, as shown in FIG. 10, the resource sources scheduled to be implemented in JEM will include a mixture of resource sources with quite different characteristics, as can be seen from, for example, electric power and crew. Moreover, the types of resources required by each mission also vary. From now on, if you try to solve the mission operation scheduling system blindly by trial and error using a computer, you will find a search tree for "the number of combinations of Mik9 numbers" as shown in Figure 12. , and regarding the scheduling of one mission, there is a "possibility of the existence of an infinite solution within the schedulable time period", and the search tree for these results in a so-called "combinatorial explosion", and the scheduling solution is not practical. The problem arises that it cannot be determined in time.

The present invention aims to solve these problems.

The mission is to enable scheduling to be achieved using a common method even for different types of resource sources.
The purpose is to provide a scheduling device.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a general-purpose mission scheduling device that can be applied not only to the mission of the JEM experiment but also to missions with all kinds of resource allocation problems. be.

[Means for solving problems] FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a mission setting means, which sets a scheduled mission to be scheduled.

2 is a consumption pattern storage means.

Resource consumption information of the scheduled mission set by the mission setting means 1 is stored. The resource consumption information stored at this time is configured to be expressed and stored in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to one hour for all resource sources. 3 is a supply pattern storage means, which stores resource supply amount information of resource sources. Resource supply amount information stored at this time is also included. It is configured to be expressed and stored in the form of a function that changes stepwise over 9 hours for all resource sources. 4 is a scheduling execution means;
By comparing the resource consumption amount information in the consumption pattern storage means 2 and the resource supply amount information in the supply pattern storage means 3, scheduling of the scheduled mission is executed. Reference numeral 5 denotes a supply pattern updating means, which obtains resource supply remaining amount information of a resource source when the scheduling execution means 4 executes scheduling, and updates the supply pattern by using the obtained resource supply remaining amount information as new resource supply amount information. It is stored in the storage means 3.

[Effect]

In the present invention, since resource supply amount information and resource consumption amount information are expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time for all resource sources, the difference value between resource supply amount information and resource consumption amount information is The remaining resource supply information is also determined. All resource sources will be expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time. From now on, the scheduling execution means 4.

Scheduling of the scheduling targets that are successively set by the mission setting means 1 can be performed by repeating a unified method regardless of the type of resource source.

Furthermore, it enables scheduling for any mission that has resource allocation problems of supply and consumption.

This makes it possible to configure a general-purpose mission scheduling device.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail according to examples.

A system configuration diagram for realizing the present invention is shown in FIG. 2, in which 20 is ESltELL, 24 is UDF,
25 is UTILISP, 26 is TSS, 27 is FOR
TRAN, 28 is a GPS, and 29 is a schedule file. E as an expert system construction tool
The SIIELL 20 operates under the ITILISP 25 environment and constructs the inference engine 21 and the frame file 22 and KS file 23 that serve as the knowledge base. [1DF24 is provided to make the functions of UTILISP25 usable, and calculates the remaining amount of resource supply, etc. FORTRAN 2
7 and GPS 28 are provided to improve the man-machine interface, and the schedule file 29 stores the required mission schedule.

The frame file 22 includes a resource frame 2 that represents resource supply amount information of each resource source of JEM.
2a and a mission frame 22b representing resource consumption information of each mission to be implemented in JEM are stored with a frame structure that is an expression of a semantic network. FIG. 3 shows an example of this resource frame 22a, and FIG. 4 shows an example of this mission frame 22b. As shown in Figure 3, the resource supply amount of JEM resource sources such as electric power and crew changes over time.
In the present invention, this is expressed as an approximate value using a step-like function, and the resource supply amount patterned in this way is represented by a combination of time and value pairs in the resource frame 22a.

The resource frame 22a is configured such that the area representing the resource supply capacity is also described. Similarly, as shown in Figure 4, the resource consumption required for a mission to carry out its execution is also expressed as a step-like function with respect to time, and the mission The resource consumption amount is represented by a bare combination of time and value in the mission frame 22b. The mission frame 22b has an area (total resource consumption) representing the resource consumption characteristics of the mission.

It is configured so that the height (maximum resource consumption IT) and length (consumed time) are described together.

In this way, the present invention is configured to commonly express the resource supply amount and resource consumption amount in the form of a stepwise function for all resource sources of JEM.Next, the inference engine 21 Describe the blackboard that will be used as a work area. A blackboard is an expression of a semantic network, where the basic unit is a node that associates an attribute with a value of that attribute, and meaning is given by links between these nodes. As shown, “Manage”, “Plan 1.”Resource 1
．． Four types of nodes called "solutions" will be prepared. This management node manages resource types, scheduling periods, mission types, and scheduling methods, the planning node manages characteristic data for mission scheduling, and the resource node manages resource supply patterns. be. Plan nodes are linked to each other in the relationship of previous plan and next plan, and plan nodes and resource nodes are linked to each other in the relationship of supply and consumption of resources.

Next, it will be explained how the mission scheduling device of the present invention realizes mission scheduling according to the knowledge source transition diagram shown in FIG. 6. here.

“Initial setting KS” and “possible time period calculation KS” shown in Figure 6
”, “allocation time determination KS”, “new pattern generation KS”,
The knowledge sources “scheduling generation KS”, “scheduling failure KS” and “backtracking KS” are
As shown in FIG. 2, the data will be stored in the S file 23. These knowledge sources basically define the procedure for reasoning.

1F Conditions are described by production rules in the form of conclusion/action and when, and the inference engine 21 executes inference based on these knowledge sources using information stored in the frame file 22, thereby achieving the mission. scheduling will be realized.

(b) Initial setting KS The initial setting KS that will be executed first is:

It is a knowledge source for securing a work area, ordering missions, and setting initial values. In executing this initial setting KS, first, the resource type, the scheduling period, the scheduling method name, and the scheduling method, which are the limiting conditions for mission scheduling, are set in the management node of the blackboard.

Next, the resource frame 22a and the mission frame 2
The mission scheduling order will be determined using the data stored in 2b. This ordering is performed using the resource with the highest resource consumption rate (hereinafter referred to as D) according to the formula below.
When the area of the resource Ai supply pattern (abbreviated as R) is determined, when the scheduling method is centralized scheduling (scheduling in which missions are concentrated in the first half of the scheduling period), calculate Si in the following formula for each mission.

Si=α・ki+β・1i ki: Serial number in descending order of consumed area of DR li: DR
Serial numbers α and β in descending order of consumed time: weighting coefficients for consumed area and consumed time The scheduling order is determined in ascending order of this Si, and in the case of 1 distributed scheduling (scheduling that distributes missions throughout the scheduling period), Calculate St using the following formula for each mission.

Si=α・ki+r−hi ki: Serial number in descending order of consumed area of DR hi: DR
Serial numbers α and γ in descending order of maximum consumption value: Weighting coefficients for consumption area and maximum consumption value This is determined by determining the scheduling order in descending order of Si.

The reason for determining the scheduling order according to such an evaluation formula is that it is easier to find a solution by puffing from the largest one.

Furthermore, scheduling tends to become difficult if a mission with a horizontally long pattern comes later in the order when using centralized scheduling, or if a mission with a tall pattern comes later in order when using decentralized scheduling.

Once the scheduling order is determined in this way,
As shown in Figure 5, the "mission name" of the management node on the blackboard is re-registered in this order (in the example in Figure 5, A3 →
A1 → Bt) At the same time, create a plan node, register the mission name in this order, and perform the process of attaching a link pointer to the corresponding resource node, and
To start scheduling, register the mission name with the earliest scheduling order registered in the Plan 1 node in the global variable area in Figure 5 (A3 in the example in Figure 5), and link the Plan 1 node. A resource frame 22a representing the resource supply amount of each resource source in the “new pattern” of resource nodes.
supply pattern will be set.

(Mountain) Possible time period calculation KS Possible time period calculation KS, which will be executed following the initial setting KS, first calculates the time during which resources can be supplied to the mission of the plan node pointed to by the global variable area. Ask for an obi. An example of a possible time period is shown in FIG. 7, and a method for determining this possible time period is shown in FIG.

The resource consumption pattern of a mission is decomposed by the rectangle that is maximally included in the pattern (hereinafter referred to as the maximum included rectangle), and the resource supply pattern of the resource is similarly decomposed by the maximum included rectangle. This is achieved by comparing the size of each rectangle. Through such processing, the possible time slots are determined for each resource linked to the planning node pointed to by the global variable area, and by taking the common part, the schedulable time slot for the mission is determined. The schedulable time slot obtained in this way is set as the "schedulable time slot" of the planning node.

Furthermore, in this possible time slot calculation KS, scheduling time candidates are selected from among the determined available schedulable time slots.In the case of centralized scheduling, this selection of scheduling time candidates They are selected at intervals of time width T, and priorities are determined according to the time order of one time sequence. In addition, during distributed scheduling, if the schedulable time period is longer than a certain reasonable time width T, the resource remaining amount pattern is searched and the two points with the largest remaining amount value are found, and the schedulable time period is If it is shorter than T, the times at both ends are taken as scheduling time candidates, and the priority is determined in descending order of the remaining resource amount.

The reason why we selected scheduling candidate times according to these selection criteria is that if scheduling fails at a certain time, there is a high possibility that scheduling will also fail at that time, so it should be retried at a time a certain distance away. In decentralized scheduling, the purpose of optimization is to intensively execute as many missions as possible in the first half of the scheduling period, and in decentralized scheduling, the purpose of optimization is to averagely consume the remaining resources. This is because it is the purpose of The scheduling time candidates obtained in this way are sorted according to priority and
"Candidate time" is set.

(C) Allocation time determination KS The allocation time determination KS, which is executed following the possible time slot calculation KS, selects the time with the highest priority among the scheduling time candidate times set in the planning node. This is a knowledge source for setting the time in the "assigned time" and deleting that time from the "candidate time". By executing this knowledge vh source, the scheduling time to try is set.

(=) New pattern generation KS The new pattern generation KS calculates the remaining amount of resource supply according to the following formula when the scheduling time is set.

Remaining resource supply amount = (Resource supply amount) - (Resource consumption amount) Set the remaining resource supply amount found by this calculation to the “new pattern” of the resource node linked to the next plan node of the plan node pointed to by the global variable area. In the present invention, the resource supply amount and the resource consumption amount for all resource sources are both expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time, as shown in FIG.

The remaining amount of resource supply, which is determined as the difference between these values, is also expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time.

The single pattern generation KS becomes a knowledge source for updating and linking the planning node pointed to by the global variable area to the next planning node and issuing the possible time slot calculation KS in order to schedule the first mission. ing.

Therefore.

The resource supply remaining amount set in the "new pattern" is set as the resource supply amount for the primary mission, and an attempt is made to schedule the mission of the primary priority order.

On the other hand, this knowledge source indicates that if the scheduling of all missions is completed, then the scheduling is successful.
Issue S.

As described above, according to the present invention, the possible time slot calculation KS for executing mission scheduling can be made common to all resource sources, and also made common to all missions.

(Book) Bank Track KS Bank Trunk KS is used when a schedulable time slot cannot be determined by executing the available time slot calculation KS, and there is a "candidate time" for the mission of the plan node pointed to by the global variable area. is because there are untried schedule solutions for that mission.

In order to try them out, a 1 allocation time determination KS is issued. Also, if there is no "candidate time", it means that the mission could not be scheduled even if all the solution candidates for that mission were tried, and therefore, it is necessary to reschedule the previous mission. Since it is necessary to re-set the global variable area to the plan node pointed to by the previous plan link of the plan node it points to, the knowledge m[, on the other hand, to enter the backtrack KS again. At this time, if even the previous 91 missions are gone, it means that you have finished exploring all the search tree techniques that occurred in the heuristic.
A scheduling failure KS is issued. In this way, by executing this knowledge source, the scheduling of a mission whose scheduling has failed midway through will be retried based on the principle of vertical search.

(to) Scheduling success KS When the scheduling of all missions is completed successfully, this knowledge source is executed and its schedule solution,
In other words, while informing the crew of the experiment start time for all missions, according to the evaluation formula shown in Figure 13,
The evaluation value of the degree of concentration or degree of dispersion of the solution is calculated and notified to the crew.

Furthermore, if requested, we may start searching for alternative solutions.

Issue backtrack KS.

(g) Scheduling failure KS This knowledge source is activated when no solution is found.
This is when the scheduling ends in failure, or when all alternative solutions have been explored and the process is terminated, and the crew is notified to that effect and the process is terminated.

Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the inference engine 21.

The order of the missions to be scheduled is determined according to the priority order determined by the initial setting KS, and the scheduling of the target missions is executed in the order of the scheduling time determined by the possible time slot calculation KS.

In the above description, centralized scheduling was shown using an example in which scheduling is concentrated in the first half of the scheduling period, but it is also possible to concentrate in the latter half of the scheduling period. In this case, higher priority is given to the later time.

Furthermore, the blackboard used in Fig. 5 can also be realized with a frame structure, while the resource frame and mission frame have been explained using the semantic network of the frame structure. It is also possible to express it by other oriented semantic networks. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to JEM (.

A similar effect can be achieved for experiment scheduling at ground-based experimental facilities where resource supply capacity is limited.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is not only possible to schedule missions using a common method even for missions that use completely different types of resources, but also to solve "scheduling problems" in fields other than space bases. ” even if it is.

If the meaning of the constraint condition can be described in the form of a function that changes stepwise according to the present application, scheduling becomes possible, and a general-purpose scheduling device can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a resource frame. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the mission frame. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the blackboard of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a knowledge source transition diagram of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of possible time slot calculation. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of decomposition into maximum included rectangles. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the remaining resource supply amount. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of scheduling constraints. FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram of the operation of the scheduling system. Figure 12 is an explanatory diagram of combinatorial explosion. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of scheduling evaluation values. In the figure, 1 is a mission setting means, 2 is a consumption pattern storage means, 3 is a supply pattern storage means, 4 is a scheduling execution means, and 5 is a supply pattern updating means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a mission scheduling device for determining mission scheduling under constraint conditions including resource supply capacity from a resource source and resource consumption by a mission, a mission setting means ( 1), consumption pattern storage means (2) for storing resource consumption information of this scheduled mission, supply pattern storage means (3) for storing resource supply amount information of resource sources, and the consumption pattern storage means ( The resource consumption information in 2) is compared with the resource supply amount information in the supply pattern storage means (3), and the scheduling target mission is scheduled under the condition that the resource consumption information is included in the resource supply amount information. a scheduling execution means (4) for
) determines resource supply remaining amount information of a resource source when scheduling is executed, and stores the determined resource supply remaining amount information in the supply pattern storage means (3) as new resource supply amount information. The supply pattern storage means (3) stores resource supply amount information of all resource sources expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time, and A mission characterized in that the pattern storage means (2) is configured to store resource consumption information regarding all resource sources expressed in the form of a function that changes stepwise with respect to time. Scheduling device.