Mixed Initiative Scheduling for the Air Force Satellite Control Network

Scheduling access to Air Force satellites is an over-constrained problem. Over 500 requests for access are received for each day's operation; after manual scheduling, over 100 con icts typically remain in the schedule. We are developing a prototype scheduling system that will assist human schedulers in this problem. Automated scheduling promises to reduce the number of con icts, but will never remove all of them. Thus, the system will allow the human schedulers to examine alternative schedules so that they can better negotiate changes with the users.