Quantum Mission Planning Challenges (QMPC)
Quantum Mission Planning Challenges (QMPC) is a DLR project funded by the Quantum Computing Initiative (QCI) for exploring Quantum Computation with the goal of solving concrete Mission Planning related problems.
Mission Planning typically involves constrained optimization problems that can be of very large sizes, e.g. when creating schedules for large satellite constellations. Classical solvers, however, very often scale badly with input size. As quantum computation currently sees a lot of progress there is hope that one may solve large problem instances using quantum algorithms on noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices (NISQ), quantum annealers or future large gate-based quantum computers.
The goal of QMPC is to develop quantum algorithms for specific realistic Mission Planning problems that can be run on current and future quantum computers. Besides this it tries to integrate these solutions into the operational landscape at GSOC as well as promote quantum computation in the area of space craft control.
Topics | Description |
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Spacecraft Quantum On-Call Scheduling (SQOS) | Goal is to create on-call shift plans for operators at GSOC. This includes a variety of constraints modelling requirements that sub systems need to have an operator on-call, operators may have outages or various labor laws. SQOS uses classical optimizers as well as the Grover quantum algorithm to find good solutions. |
Quantum Reinforced Groundstation Scheduling (QuaRGS) | Given a large satellite constellation with known orbits and multiple ground stations the goal is to plan ground contacts obeying various constraints from satellite operations. This problem includes continuous components and shall be applicable to very large future satellite constellations. |
Earth Observation Planning | An earth observation satellite schedule with known orbit and certain acquisition requests shall be planned in such a way that as many data takes as possible are executed while obeying various operational constraints. These may include the planning of downlinks such that the maximum on-board memory is respected but can also include sliding window constraints due to thermal restrictions. |
Quantum Space Operations Center (QSOC) | QSOC is a holistic approach to bring quantum computing to GSOC by looking for possible applications in the various systems required for space craft operations. |
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Industry Collaboration
Part of QMPC is to promote quantum computation work on conceptually similar problems in the industry. Therefore, QMPC is looking for an industry partner working on Decentralized Energy System Scheduling, an area which provides specific problem that share a lot of characteristics with Mission Planning problems, e.g. the goal of optimizing schedules and the types of constraints that they need to obey.
Currently, public calls for bids are in preparation at the QCI.
Publications
The following are publications at GSOC that concern topics close to QMPC.
- Scherer, Antonius; Guggemos, Tobias; Grundner-Culemann, Sophia; Pomplun, Nikolas; Prüfer, Sven and Spörl, Andreas (2021) OnCall Operator Scheduling for Satellites with Grover's Algorithm. In: 21st International Conference on Computational Science, ICCS 2021, Pages 17-29. Springer. https://elib.dlr.de/142229/
- Prüfer, Sven; Scherer, Antonius; Spörl, Andreas; Guggemos, Tobias; Pomplun, Nikolas and Lenzen, Christoph (2021) Quantum Shift Scheduling - A Comparison to Classical Approaches. In: 12th International Workshop on Planning and Scheduling for Space (IWPSS 2021). https://elib.dlr.de/145763/
