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At least 919 records · Page 51

Electric power scheduling - A distributed problem-solving approach

Space Station Freedom's power system, along with the spacecraft's other subsystems, needs to carefully conserve its resources and yet strive to maximize overall Station productivity. Due to Freedom's distributed design, each subsystem must work cooperatively within the Station community. There is a need for a scheduling tool which will preserve this distributed structure, allow each subsystem the latitude to satisfy its own constraints, and preserve individual value systems while maintaining Station-wide integrity.

Mellor, Pamela A.↗

Run-time parallelization and scheduling of loops

Run-time methods are studied to automatically parallelize and schedule iterations of a do loop in certain cases where compile-time information is inadequate. The methods presented involve execution time preprocessing of the loop. At compile-time, these methods set up the framework for performing a loop dependency analysis. At run-time, wavefronts of concurrently executable loop iterations are identified. Using this wavefront information, loop iterations are reordered for increased parallelism. Symbolic transformation rules are used to produce: inspector procedures that perform execution time preprocessing, and executors or transformed versions of source code loop structures. These transformed loop structures carry out the calculations planned in the inspector procedures. Performance results are presented from experiments conducted on the Encore Multimax. These results illustrate that run-time reordering of loop indexes can have a significant impact on performance.

Saltz, Joel H.↗

Computer-Assisted Scheduling System (COMPASS)

COMPASS is interactive planning and scheduling software system used like spreadsheet. System places activities only at feasible times, taking into consideration all constraints imposed upon activity and resources it requires. Version 1.4 written in Ada and contains standard X-Windows interfaces written in C.

Fox, Barry R.↗

Effects of partitioning and scheduling sparse matrix factorization on communication and load balance

A block based, automatic partitioning and scheduling methodology is presented for sparse matrix factorization on distributed memory systems. Using experimental results, this technique is analyzed for communication and load imbalance overhead. To study the performance effects, these overheads were compared with those obtained from a straightforward 'wrap mapped' column assignment scheme. All experimental results were obtained using test sparse matrices from the Harwell-Boeing data set. The results show that there is a communication and load balance tradeoff. The block based method results in lower communication cost whereas the wrap mapped scheme gives better load balance.

Venugopal, Sesh↗

Initial Hardware Development Schedule

The hardware development schedule for the Common Lunar Lander's (CLLs) tracking system is presented. Among the topics covered are the following: historical perspective, solution options, industry contacts, and the rationale for selection.

Culpepper, William X.↗

The entropy reduction engine: Integrating planning, scheduling, and control

The Entropy Reduction Engine, an architecture for the integration of planning, scheduling, and control, is described. The architecture is motivated, presented, and analyzed in terms of its different components; namely, problem reduction, temporal projection, and situated control rule execution. Experience with this architecture has motivated the recent integration of learning. The learning methods are described along with their impact on architecture performance.

Drummond, Mark↗

Design and scheduling for periodic concurrent error detection and recovery in processor arrays

Periodic application of time-redundant error checking provides the trade-off between error detection latency and performance degradation. The goal is to achieve high error coverage while satisfying performance requirements. We derive the optimal scheduling of checking patterns in order to uniformly distribute the available checking capability and maximize the error coverage. Synchronous buffering designs using data forwarding and dynamic reconfiguration are described. Efficient single-cycle diagnosis is implemented by error pattern analysis and direct-mapped recovery cache. A rollback recovery scheme using start-up control for local recovery is also presented.

Wang, Yi-Min↗

Obtaining schedules for digital systems

A systematic technique is presented to derive correct schedules for a synchronous digital system, given a signal flow graph for an algorithm. It is also shown how to use this technique to derive designs that are optimal in having the lowest latency, the highest throughput, or the smallest number of registers. The same technique can also be used to verify digital systems that have already been designed.

Jagadish, H. V.↗

Seamless transitions from early prototypes to mature operational software - A technology that enables the process for planning and scheduling applications

New and innovative software technology is presented that provides a cost effective bridge for smoothly transitioning prototype software, in the field of planning and scheduling, into an operational environment. Specifically, this technology mixes the flexibility and human design efficiency of dynamic data typing with the rigor and run-time efficiencies of static data typing. This new technology provides a very valuable tool for conducting the extensive, up-front system prototyping that leads to specifying the correct system and producing a reliable, efficient version that will be operationally effective and will be accepted by the intended users.

Hornstein, Rhoda S.↗

Scheduling of an aircraft fleet

Scheduling is the task of assigning resources to operations. When the resources are mobile vehicles, they describe routes through the served stations. To emphasize such aspect, this problem is usually referred to as the routing problem. In particular, if vehicles are aircraft and stations are airports, the problem is known as aircraft routing. This paper describes the solution to such a problem developed in OMAR (Operative Management of Aircraft Routing), a system implemented by Bull HN for Alitalia. In our approach, aircraft routing is viewed as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem. The solving strategy combines network consistency and tree search techniques.

Paltrinieri, Massimo↗

Multi-agent planning and scheduling, execution monitoring and incremental rescheduling: Application to motorway traffic

This article describes a planning method applicable to agents with great perception and decision-making capabilities and the ability to communicate with other agents. Each agent has a task to fulfill allowing for the actions of other agents in its vicinity. Certain simultaneous actions may cause conflicts because they require the same resource. The agent plans each of its actions and simultaneously transmits these to its neighbors. In a similar way, it receives plans from the other agents and must take account of these plans. The planning method allows us to build a distributed scheduling system. Here, these agents are robot vehicles on a highway communicating by radio. In this environment, conflicts between agents concern the allocation of space in time and are connected with the inertia of the vehicles. Each vehicle made a temporal, spatial, and situated reasoning in order to drive without collision. The flexibility and reactivity of the method presented here allows the agent to generate its plan based on assumptions concerning the other agents and then check these assumptions progressively as plans are received from the other agents. A multi-agent execution monitoring of these plans can be done, using data generated during planning and the multi-agent decision-making algorithm described here. A selective backtrack allows us to perform incremental rescheduling.

Mourou, Pascal↗

An extended abstract: A heuristic repair method for constraint-satisfaction and scheduling problems

The work described in this paper was inspired by a surprisingly effective neural network developed for scheduling astronomical observations on the Hubble Space Telescope. Our heuristic constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) method was distilled from an analysis of the network. In the process of carrying out the analysis, we discovered that the effectiveness of the network has little to do with its connectionist implementation. Furthermore, the ideas employed in the network can be implemented very efficiently within a symbolic CSP framework. The symbolic implementation is extremely simple. It also has the advantage that several different search strategies can be employed, although we have found that hill-climbing methods are particularly well-suited for the applications that we have investigated. We begin the paper with a brief review of the neural network. Following this, we describe our symbolic method for heuristic repair.

Minton, Steven↗

Decision theory for computing variable and value ordering decisions for scheduling problems

Heuristics that guide search are critical when solving large planning and scheduling problems, but most variable and value ordering heuristics are sensitive to only one feature of the search state. One wants to combine evidence from all features of the search state into a subjective probability that a value choice is best, but there has been no solid semantics for merging evidence when it is conceived in these terms. Instead, variable and value ordering decisions should be viewed as problems in decision theory. This led to two key insights: (1) The fundamental concept that allows heuristic evidence to be merged is the net incremental utility that will be achieved by assigning a value to a variable. Probability distributions about net incremental utility can merge evidence from the utility function, binary constraints, resource constraints, and other problem features. The subjective probability that a value is the best choice is then derived from probability distributions about net incremental utility. (2) The methods used for rumor control in Bayesian Networks are the primary way to prevent cycling in the computation of probable net incremental utility. These insights lead to semantically justifiable ways to compute heuristic variable and value ordering decisions that merge evidence from all available features of the search state.

Linden, Theodore A.↗

Knowledge based automated scheduling and planning tools for IUE

The International Ultraviolet Explorer has been successfully operated as a real time user-interactive space observatory for twelve years. It is expected to continue operation for up to five additional years, but under increasing constraints. The option to operate IUE in a more automated, non user-interactive mode is under consideration. A sophisticated software system to support such an operation is a clear requirement. The conceptual framework of such a system is described. Results of a preliminary tests are presented for which a hypothetical four day schedule of space-craft activities at a time resolutions as low as ten minutes was generated.

Shrader, Chris R.↗

Scheduling message processing for reducing rollback propagation

Traditional checkpointing and rollback recovery techniques for parallel systems have typically assumed the communication pattern is specified by program behavior. In this paper we exploit the property that the communication pattern can often be changed at run-time without affecting program correctness. A scheduling algorithm for message processing and its implementation for reducing rollback propagation are described. The algorithm incorporates a user-transparent prioritized scheme based upon the run-time communication and checkpointing history. Communication trace-driven simulation for several parallel programs written in the Chare Kernel language demonstrates that the probability of rollback propagation can be reduced at the cost of slight additional performance degradation.

Wang, Yi-Min↗

Statistical Survey of Icing Data Measured on Scheduled Airline Flights over the United States and Canada from November 1951 to June 1952

A statistical survey and a preliminary analysis are made of icing data collected from scheduled flights over the United States and Canada from November 1951 to June 1952 by airline aircraft equipped with NACA pressure-type icing-rate meters. This interim report presents information obtained from a continuing program sponsored by the NACA with the cooperation of the airlines. An analysis of over 600 icing encounters logged by three airlines operating in the United States, one operating in Canada and one operating up the coast to Alaska, is presented. The icing conditions encountered provided relative frequencies of many icing-cloud variables, such as horizontal extent, vertical thickness, temperatures, icing rate, liquid-water content, and total ice accumulation. Liquid-water contents were higher than data from earlier research flights in layer-type clouds but slightly lower than previous data from cumulus clouds. Broken-cloud conditions, indicated by intermittent icing, accounted for nearly one-half of all the icing encounters. About 90 percent of the encounters did not exceed a distance of 120 miles, and continuous icing did not exceed 50 miles for 90 percent of the unbroken conditions. Icing cloud thicknesses measured during climbs and descents were less than 4500 feet for 90 percent of the vertical cloud traverses.

Perkins, Porter J↗

Window-Based Graphics For Scheduling

XOPPS computer program generates window-based graphics for scheduling and planning projects. Provides easy and fast on-screen "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" editing capabilities. Object-oriented, but unique in its capability for creating objects that have date attributes. Can be used in conjunction with project-management software. Written in C language for Sunseries workstations running SunOS. XOPPS was developed in 1992, based on the Sunview version of OPPS (NPO-18439) developed in 1990. It is copyrighted work with all copyright vested in NASA.

Mulnix, Cassie↗

A statistical-based scheduling algorithm in automated data path synthesis

In this paper, we propose a new heuristic scheduling algorithm based on the statistical analysis of the cumulative frequency distribution of operations among control steps. It has a tendency of escaping from local minima and therefore reaching a globally optimal solution. The presented algorithm considers the real world constraints such as chained operations, multicycle operations, and pipelined data paths. The result of the experiment shows that it gives optimal solutions, even though it is greedy in nature.

Jeon, Byung Wook↗