Controlling Complex Physical Systems Through Planning and Scheduling Integration

This paper presents a framework for planning and scheduling integration based on a uniform constraint-based representation. Such representation is inspired to time-line based planning but has the unique characteristic of conceiving both resource and causal constraints as abstract specifications that generate segments of temporal evolution to be scheduled on the time-line. This paper describes the general idea behind this type of problem solving, shows how it has been implemented in a software architecture called OMP, and presents an example of application for the generation of mission planning commands for automating the management of spacecraft operations.