Multi-mission optimized re-planning in air mobility command's channel route execution

Abstract

The United States Air Force's Air Mobility Command is responsible for creating a schedule and executing that schedule for a large-scale air mobility network that encompasses different mission areas. One of the mission areas is channel route. Channel route execution often experiences disruptions that motivate a need for changes in the current channel route schedule. Traditionally, re-planning the channel route schedule has been a manual process that usually stops after the first feasible set of changes is found, due to the challenges of large amounts of data and urgency for a re-plan. Other challenges include subjective trade-offs and a desire for minimal changes to the channel route schedule. We re-plan the channel route schedule using a set of integer programs and heuristics that overcomes these challenges. The integer programs' variables incorporate many of Air Mobility Command's operating constraints, so they do not have to be explicitly included in the formulations. The re-plan uses opportunities in the other mission areas and reroutes channel route aircraft. Finally, our methods can quickly find a solution, allow for "what-if' analysis and interaction with the user, and can be adapted to an evolution in Air Mobility Command's operations while the underlying models remain constant.