Hierarchical, Extensible Search-Based Framework For Airlift And Sealift Scheduling Using Discrete Event Simulation

Due to the large size of the airlift and sealift analyses performed by the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) using the Analysis of Mobility Platform (AMP), AMP has historically used a greedy heuristic algorithm focused on specific criteria in order to be able to compute solutions efficiently. We introduce a multi-year effort to enhance the extensibility and capability of AMP to support analysts in their evolving need to explore different tradeoffs - such as the impact of different business rules or evaluation criteria - using a new hierarchical, policy-based framework that provides a fundamentally search-based approach to solving the problem. The framework applies explicit selection, traversal and evaluation policies at different levels of AMP's airlift and sealift algorithms. We present an airlift constraint scheduler capability implemented using the framework, describe ongoing prototype efforts to apply the framework across other levels of AMP, and discuss future potential enhancements.