Scheduling for maintenance and service support of carrier-based aircraft based on variable operation process

With the increasing demand for aircraft carrier combat capability in modern naval warfare, the efficiency of carrier aircraft maintenance and support operations directly affects the effectiveness of aircraft carrier combat. To optimize the support operation process and further improve operation efficiency, the scheduling optimization problem for maintenance and service support of carrier aircraft based on variable operation process was studied, and the corresponding scheduling optimization algorithm was proposed. Firstly, the characteristics of the flight deck environment and maintenance and support operations were analyzed, and a transfer path library for personnel and equipment in the deck environment was constructed. Secondly, with the optimization goal of minimizing the completion time of support operations, an scheduling model for maintenance and service support of carrier aircraft based on variable operation process is constructed. The model takes into account the constraints of support personnel, support equipment, and operation process, as well as the collaborative pickup and delivery process of weapons. Furthermore, the problem is conceptualized as an integrated scheduling problem of resource constrained multi-project scheduling and resource delivery scheduling based on variable process operation flow. Based on a serial scheduling generation scheme considering resource transfer and personnel transfer, an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (IPSO) is proposed to optimize and solve the scheduling model. Finally, the effectiveness of the scheduling model and algorithm, as well as the efficiency and robustness of the algorithm, were verified through simulation of typical support task scenarios and algorithm comparisons. Under the same conditions, compared to the fixed process-based scheduling method, the proposed variable process-based scheduling method for maintenance and support operations can effectively shorten the completion time. In the scenario of flight deck operations with weapon delivery operations, the average completion time can be reduced by at least 25.50%; and in the scenario with weapon pick-up and delivery, the average completion time can be reduced by at least 25.96%.