U.S. Air Force Awards Contract to Stottler Henke to Develop AI System for Scheduling ICBM Maintenance
Optimized Scheduling Will Enhance the Combat Readiness of
Missile Systems Used for Strategic Nuclear Deterrence
SAN MATEO, CA, August 5, 2024 – The Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) has awarded Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. a contract to develop intelligent, adaptive software to manage the maintenance of their inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and supporting infrastructure. Maintaining these assets is extremely costly, so it is critical to plan and execute these activities efficiently. However, it is difficult to produce efficient schedules because the assets and activities are complex and inter-related. Also, the work required for each asset varies greatly, depending upon its condition, so the schedule must adapt quickly as new work requirements are identified. Optimized scheduling of maintenance activities will also help ensure the combat readiness of these assets and enhance their ability to support strategic nuclear deterrence.
Stottler Henke is developing the scheduling solution for AFGSC based on its Aurora software, the world’s leading planning and scheduling software solution that combines expert knowledge with artificial intelligence. Aurora was originally developed to help NASA tackle difficult, mission-critical planning problems—by using artificial intelligence technologies to encode and apply extensive domain knowledge and decision rules to generate more efficient schedules.
“The development of the Aurora-MSOP has enabled 20 AF/A4, Operational Fleet Scheduling Management, to coordinate and validate three separate operational Missile Wings maintenance schedules to meet operational, treaty, sustainment, and transition requirements,” said Mr. John Mora, Branch Chief, Munitions and Mission Maintenance with 20th Air Force/A4. “Aurora capability has reduced combining and validating three schedules from a four to five hour data entry process to just minutes. The efficiency and effectiveness of Aurora with maintenance scheduling allows us to spend more time discussing with units and developing a solid plan vs spending time doing data entry.”
Aurora software is unique in its ability to produce highly efficient schedules that satisfy complex constraints. Conventional scheduling systems often support only basic timing constraints between tasks. Without a complete and accurate specification of all the constraints that the schedule must satisfy, simpler systems cannot even determine whether a candidate schedule is valid. Aurora enables specification and enforcement of complex temporal and resource constraints, so it can schedule projects that other tools cannot even model.
Most other scheduling systems use simple rules to select and schedule tasks and assign resources to carry them out. These rules usually consider only limited information about the tasks, resources, and constraints, so they generate schedules that are far from optimal. Some other systems rely on mathematical optimization. However, the time needed to search systematically for an optimal schedule increases exponentially with the number of tasks and constraints, so this approach is impractical for large, complex operations. Aurora solves problems effectively by modeling complex constraints and resource requirements and by encoding and applying built-in and domain-specific heuristic knowledge and decision-making rules. This knowledge-rich approach enables Aurora to combine human expertise with intelligent algorithms to generate superior schedules.
Aurora manages the most demanding operations for aerospace organizations like The Boeing Company, US Air Force, US Space Force, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Bombardier Learjet, Spirit AeroSystems, Korea Aerospace Industries, and Alaska Airlines. Additional customers include General Dynamics Electric Boat, Massachusetts General Hospital, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the US Navy. For example, Boeing selected Aurora to help them manage their Boeing 787 Dreamliner™ airliner assembly operations and 60 other commercial and defense applications.
Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. applies cognitive modeling, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other advanced technologies to solve problems that defy solution using traditional approaches. Stottler Henke develops intelligent software solutions that provide advanced capabilities for planning and scheduling, autonomy, knowledge management and retrieval, education and training, and machine learning and data analytics. Stottler Henke has received numerous awards for its innovative AI solutions. In 2012, at a White House ceremony, Stottler Henke was one of 18 businesses and six individuals who received the prestigious Tibbetts award for the critical role they played in research and development for the government and for their success driving innovation and creating new jobs. Email: info@stottlerhenke.com