CPAW Workstation

Considerations

CPAW utilizes a competition between a battery of optimization algorithms to create the an high-value collection plans for each planning period.  Each algorithm incorporates a different approach to collection planning and attempts to maximize its scoring against a common (and configurable) Figure-of-Merit (FOM). Ultimately, the collection plan with the highest FOM score is chosen and returned to the operator for evaluation, optional manual editing, and transmission.

Stereo Planning

Stereo collections are supported in both manual and automated plan generation processes. By default, both stereo scans must be completed within the same orbit pass. Stereo geometric constraints (convergence, bi-sector elevation, and BIE-C angles) are supported by the software and are configurable within the target specification. Violation of any stereo-related constraint through manual planning is highlighted for the operator in the manual planning GUI.

Reasons Not Collected

Inevitably questions will arise about why a specific order was not included in an automatically-generated collection plan. The planning algorithms make tens of thousands of decisions to generate a single collection plan for even a relatively short planning window. An operator could not possibly read through a log of algorithm decisions... it is just too much data.

CPAW, however, provides (in response to a user query related to a specific unscheduled target) a list of any targets included in the plan during the queried target's access window and within a configurable time window before and after its access period. This may allow the user to manually lock in the desired target in place of the originally included target. In addition, CPS will provide the last violation that caused the target to be discarded by the algorithms.

Plan Statistics

The CPAW GUI provides summary statistics for the current collection plan (whether in process or one that has been retrieved for review). These statistics include total area collected, number of included scans, total scan time, and FOM score.

Validation and Verification

CPAW uses models to verify that generated collection plans respect resource, attitude, and imaging constraints. Target access constraints cannot be violated since CPAW does not allow scans to occur outside of computed constrained access windows. Other constraints can be violated in manually-generated plans, but the user is notified of any violations with messages and color-coded display indications.

Each violation is operator-configurable to be "HARD" or "SOFT". CPAW precludes the transmission of any collection plan that includes one or more HARD violations. CPAW requires user-confirmation prior to the transmission of a collection plan with one or more SOFT plan violations. The Figure-of-Merit (FOM), which is used to score algorithmically and manually-generated collection plans, penalizes plans for constraint violations.