TRACLabs Inc. software engineers are developing automated planning software to assist operations planners in creating schedules that optimize time and resources. Our operations planning assistant is interactive and allows for changes in crew schedules, tool availability and time allotments. Prototypes of this planning assistant tool are being developed for ISS EVA operations and ISS PHALCON operations. The planning assistant is designed to work with the Procedure Representation Language (PRL) also developed by TRACLabs researchers.

The planning problem is to determine a state sequence to achieve desired goal state(s) given an initial state(s). An automated planner is a type of general problem solver that accepts a high-level problem description and computes its solution. TRACLabs Inc. is developing automated planners for NASA and military applications.

Key Publications

• Nicola Musettola, David Kortenkamp, Chuck Fry and Scott Bell Planner-Based Control of Advanced Life Support Systems, in Proceedings 35th International Conference on Environmental Systems, SAE Paper Number 2005-01-2961, 2005.
• David Kortenkamp, A Day in an Astronaut’s Life: Reflections on Advanced Planning and Scheduling Technology, in IEEE Intelligent Systems Magazine, April/March, 2003.