Automated generation of tracking plans for a network of communications antennas

This paper describes the Deep Space Network Antenna Operations Planner (DPLAN) : a system that automatically generates antenna tracking plans for a set of highly sensitive radio science and telecommunications antennas. DPLAN inputs current equipment configuration information and a set of requested antenna track services. The system then uses a knowledge base of antenna operations procedures to produce a plan of activities that will provide the requested services using the allocated equipment. DPLAN produces this plan using an integration of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, specifically, 'hierarchical task network (HTN) and operator-based planning. In this paper, we describe the antenna automation problem, the DPLAN system for automatic generation of track plans, DPLAN's current deployment status, and planned future work.