Asynchronous, Distributed Optimization for the Coordinated Planning of Air and Space Assets

In this paper, we examine how to improve the frequency and accuracy with which highquality Earth observations are made by coordinating across multiple collection systems, including air and space assets, in an asynchronous environment. In particular, we consider how these improvements could impact Earth observing sensors in two use areas; climate studies and intelligence collection operations. To do this, we make simplifying but reasonable assumptions and use a complex yet intuitive value function to solve a series of simple optimization problems that allocate requests to single-mission planners, or “sub-planners.” We consider requests with time windows and priority levels, some of which require simultaneous observations by different sensors. The primary contributions of this paper include our approach to the asynchronous and distributed nature of the problem and the development of a value function to facilitate the coordination of the observations with multiple surveillance assets.