Agent-based Mission Modeling and Simulation

Abstract A simulation environment for agents is presented, enabling agent-based modeling and simulation of people, systems and robots in space exploration missions. The environment allows the analysis and design of mission operation work procedures, communications and interactions between people and systems, co-located or distributed on Earth and in space. The MODAT (Mission Operations Design and Analysis Toolkit) is the integration of NASA Ames’ Brahms multiagent modeling and simulation environment, the Mission Simulation Toolkit (MST), a 3-D Visualization and Surface Reconstruction (Viz), plus JPL’s Virtual Mission Operations Framework (VMOF) into an agent-based end-to-end mission modeling and simulation environment. This paper describes a work in progress. Introduction Simulation-based design tools enabling mission designers to simulate and analyze systems-of-systems impact are critical to the success of Exploration Missions. Innovations affecting human-robot work processes must be evaluated before designs are implemented. In our End-to-end Mission Modeling and Simulation (EMMSE) project, funded by NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the objective is to develop an agent-based mixed fidelity end-to-end mission simulation capability to baseline, verify and validate human and robot mission operations. An end-to-end mission modeling and simulation environment provides a holistic approach to mission design and analysis of human-robot teams that was heretofore not possible. Multiple “what if” scenarios can be tested and the impact of ground/crew and human/robot interactions analyzed at a systems level. Mission operations designers can simulate the least costly and most efficient mission operations. In this paper we discuss the integration of NASA Ames’ Brahms multiagent MS the VMOF simulates the spacecraft and telemetry systems, uplink and downlink and command sequences. We will develop an agent for mission planning and scheduling (in the simulation environment) that interfaces with an adaptation of MAPGEN [Ai-Chang, et al. 2004]. This provides mission designers with the ability to simulate mixed-initiative planning operations with humans in the