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Air Force Institute of Technology

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Articles 991 - 1020 of 1248

Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

Transportation Modeling Of Remote Radar Sites And Support Depots, Sonia E. Leach Mar 1997

Transportation Modeling Of Remote Radar Sites And Support Depots, Sonia E. Leach

Theses and Dissertations

The North Warning System (NWS), a joint program of the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), is responsible for the maintenance of 47 remote radar sites across northern Canada. NWS's current airlift operations, which support the radar maintenance activities, consist of both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft positioned at five support depots. This thesis considers whether a reconfiguration of these support depots and the assignment of radar sites to them can result in either an airlift or total cost savings for NWS. Mixed integer linear programming models were formulated to address the questions surrounding …

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Turkish Air Mobility Modeling, Huseyin Topcuoglu Mar 1997

Turkish Air Mobility Modeling, Huseyin Topcuoglu

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this research is to provide a tactical mobility model which is user friendly and flexible so the user is able to change the inputs, and evaluate the situation with the projected data for an operational plan. Thus, the users can analyze their system by using the model to see whether or not mobility requirements can be met within a definite time frame, and how long it takes to satisfy the requirements. Generalized Air Mobility Model (GAMM) was chosen to model TAMC's airlift system and has been found suitable for application to TUAF mobility problems. The software enables …

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Decision Support Model To Select The Optimal Municipal Solid Waste Management Policy At United States Air Force Installations, Johnathon L. Dulin Mar 1997

Decision Support Model To Select The Optimal Municipal Solid Waste Management Policy At United States Air Force Installations, Johnathon L. Dulin

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force has recently defined three objectives in developing strategies regarding the management of municipal solid waste at the base level. They are: (1) 50 percent reduction in total waste generated, from a 1992 baseline amount, by 1999; (2) 50 percent recycling of all waste generated, beginning in 1999; and, (3) a minimum cost program. With these objectives in mind, base environmental engineers must take appropriate actions in an effort to develop a program that meets these goals. Through consultations with base environmental managers, as well as research of the available literature, a decision support model was …

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Modeling And Analyzing The Effect Of Ground Refueling Capacity On Airfield Throughput, W. Heath Rushing Mar 1997

Modeling And Analyzing The Effect Of Ground Refueling Capacity On Airfield Throughput, W. Heath Rushing

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops five analytical models to understand the current ground refueling process, to optimize the airfield configuration and to determine the refueling policy which maximizes throughput, the primary measure of airfield efficiency. This study models the airfield refueling process as a continuous time Markov process to adequately represent the inherent stochastic nature of the transitory ground refueling system and provide an analytical evaluation of various airfield configurations. Also, the study provides an optimal refueling policy to minimize the number of aircraft on the ground which in turn minimizes the average amount of time aircraft spend on the ground in …

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Statistical Modeling And Optimization Of Nuclear Waste Vitrification, Todd E. Combs Mar 1997

Statistical Modeling And Optimization Of Nuclear Waste Vitrification, Todd E. Combs

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the development of a methodology to minimize the cost of vitrifying nuclear waste. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) regression models are used as baseline equations for modeling glass properties such as viscosity, electrical conductivity, and two types of durability. Revised PNL regression models are developed that eliminate insignificant variables from the original models. The Revised PNL regression model for electrical conductivity is shown to better predict electrical conductivity than the original PNL regression model. Neural networks are developed for viscosity and the two types of durability, PCT-B and MCC-1 B. The neural network models are shown to outperform …

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Ranking And Generating Alternatives For The National Air Intelligence Center's (Naic) Resource Allocation Strategy, Steven M. Cox Mar 1997

Ranking And Generating Alternatives For The National Air Intelligence Center's (Naic) Resource Allocation Strategy, Steven M. Cox

Theses and Dissertations

Allocating resources is never an easy task, especially when requirements call for more resources than those available. It gets more difficult when the availability of resources shrinks from year to year. This is the case at the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC). In each of the past five years, NAIC has been forced to make their resource allocation decision with fewer dollars and less manpower. This decision has been time consuming, manpower intensive, and sometimes very heated. In an effort to lessen these three consequences, a resource allocation model, based upon the NAIC Commander's values and preferences, was developed. The …

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Modeling Mirv Footprint Constraints In The Weapons Assignment Model, Elliot T. Fair Mar 1997

Modeling Mirv Footprint Constraints In The Weapons Assignment Model, Elliot T. Fair

Theses and Dissertations

US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is developing a new linear programming model called the Weapons Assignment Model (WAM) to perform weapons assignment for the Strategic Integrated Operations Plan (SIOP). One of the major improvements WAM will have over its predecessor is the ability to include Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) footprinting constraints in the optimization process. In order to include MIRV footprint constraints in WAM, a methodology is needed to model the MIRV footprints in a manner that is consistent with the limitations of linear programming. Two techniques for modeling MIRV footprints were developed. The first, Geometric Approximation (GA), uses …

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Linking Procurement Dollars To An Alternative Force Structures' Combat Capability Using Response Surface Methodology, James B. Grier Mar 1997

Linking Procurement Dollars To An Alternative Force Structures' Combat Capability Using Response Surface Methodology, James B. Grier

Theses and Dissertations

A General Officer Steering Group, chaired by HQ USAF/XOM tasked action to develop and implement evaluation and analysis support to lead turn' the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) and Joint Warfare Capability Assessment (JWCA) process. This evaluation process should be designed to supply measures of the 'health' of the Air Force program in light of the Defense Planning Guidance (DPG) and the Chairman's Program Assessment (CPA). The Air Force needs to be able to quickly evaluate various alternative force structures with regards to its combat capability, measured in terms of theater level campaign objectives (CO). HQ USAF/XOM tasked HQ USAF/XPY to …

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Simulation Model Of Fighter Pilot Assignment Process, Anthony J. Hutfles Mar 1997

Simulation Model Of Fighter Pilot Assignment Process, Anthony J. Hutfles

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the effect Continental United States (CONUS) Time on Station (TOS) has on filling critical rated assignments. A SIMSCRIPT II.5 simulation model of the F15 and F16 pilots assignment process was developed. The simulation tested the effect of changing CONUS TOS from 3 years to 6 years in half year increments. Analysis of the number of unfilled rated assignments from simulation runs of 10 years in length indicated that changing CONUS TOS by itself has no statistically significant effect on model's output. The analysis was expanded to a 2(2) factorial experimental design using CONUS TOS and Total Active …

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A Comparison Of Circular Error Probable Estimators For Small Samples, Charles E. Williams Mar 1997

A Comparison Of Circular Error Probable Estimators For Small Samples, Charles E. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Several previous studies investigated the performance of competing circular error probable (CEP) estimators for small samples. This estimation is important in ICBM analysis because, due to expense, there are a limited number of ICBM test launches. In the most recent previous study (1993), Tongue considered five CEP estimators in a simulation test, attempting to determine the behavior of these estimators for populations of various bias, ellipticity, correlation, and sample size. In this paper, we build on Tongue's findings in three ways: (1) The number of estimators compared is expanded to eight. (2) Different factors and factor levels are used. (3) …

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An Object Oriented Simulation Of The C-17 Wingtip Vortices In The Airdrop Environment, Hans J. Petry Mar 1997

An Object Oriented Simulation Of The C-17 Wingtip Vortices In The Airdrop Environment, Hans J. Petry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis effort focuses on the development of an object-oriented simulation of C-17 personnel airdrop operations and provides a tool for risk assessment of jumper and wingtip vortex interaction. Using the initial modeling efforts of the Wright Laboratory, this model expands those efforts to include random aircraft, wind and jumper movement within the simulation using MODSIM III as its language. Once the model was built, verified, and calibrated, it helped perform a preliminary analysis of jumper risk with varying element spacing and no crosswind. The results of the simulation provided 15 data points with which linear and logistic regression provided …

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A Cost Impact Assessment Tool For Pfs Logistics Consulting, Angela P. Giddings Feb 1997

A Cost Impact Assessment Tool For Pfs Logistics Consulting, Angela P. Giddings

Theses and Dissertations

Response surface methodology (RSM) is used for optimality analysis of the cost parameters in mixed integer linear programming. This optimality analysis goes beyond traditional sensitivity and parametric analysis in allowing investigation of the optimal objective function value response over pre-specified ranges on multiple problem parameters. Design of experiments and least squares regression are used to indicate which cost parameters have the greatest impact on the optimal objective function value total cost-and to approximate the optimal total cost surface over the specified ranges on the parameters. The mixed integer linear programming problems of interest are the large-scale problems in supply chain …

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Sensitivity Of Availability Estimates To Input Data Characterization, Darren P. Durkee Feb 1997

Sensitivity Of Availability Estimates To Input Data Characterization, Darren P. Durkee

Theses and Dissertations

Reliability analysts are often faced with the challenge of characterizing the behavior of system components based on limited data. Any insight into which model input data is most significant and how much data is necessary to achieve desired accuracy requirements will improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the data collection and data characterization processes. This thesis assesses potential significant factors in the probabilistic characterization of component failure and repair behavior with respect to the effect on system availability estimates. Potential factors were screened for significance utilizing fractional. factorial and Plackett-Burman experimental designs for several system models developed using an …

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Optimizing Airborne Area Surveillance Asset Placement, Douglas E. Fuller Feb 1997

Optimizing Airborne Area Surveillance Asset Placement, Douglas E. Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

Currently there is no automated planning tool for the optimum positioning of USAF area surveillance assets for a theater level campaign. This research seeks to find the optimum or near optimum placement of the limited USAF airborne surveillance assets against a theater level target set. The problem of finding the optimum orbit points can be modeled as a classic maximal covering location problem (MCLP). Operational constraints on the placement of surveillance aircraft can be handled by preprocessing the potential orbit points to eliminate infeasible orbit points. Heavy emphasis is placed on preprocessing the data to reduce problem size and hence …

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Applying Tabu Heuristic To Wind Influenced, Minimum Risk And Maximum Expected Coverage Routes, Mark R. Sisson Feb 1997

Applying Tabu Heuristic To Wind Influenced, Minimum Risk And Maximum Expected Coverage Routes, Mark R. Sisson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to provide Air Combat Command a method for determining the number of predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) required to cover a pre-selected target. Extending previous research that employs reactive TABU search methods for deterministic vehicle routing problems, this thesis incorporates wind effects that can significantly alter the travel times for any given scenario. Additionally, it accounts for possible attrition by introducing minimum risk route and expected number of target covered to the objective function. The results of the TABU search and subsequent Monte-Carlo simulation: gives the number of predator's required to cover a target …

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Experiments In Aggregating Air Ordnance Effectiveness Data For The Tacwar Model, James E. Parker Feb 1997

Experiments In Aggregating Air Ordnance Effectiveness Data For The Tacwar Model, James E. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

An interactive MS Access&trademark; based application that aggregates the output of the SABSEL model for input into the TACWAR model is developed. The application was developed following efforts to create a functional approximation of the SABSEL data using neural networks, statistical networks, and traditional statistical techniques. These approximations were compared to a look-up table methodology on the basis of accuracy, (RMSE

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Independent Verification And Validation Of The Hazardous Material Cost Trade-Off Analysis Tool Developed By The Human Systems Center At Brooks Air Force Base, Thomas S. Choi Dec 1996

Independent Verification And Validation Of The Hazardous Material Cost Trade-Off Analysis Tool Developed By The Human Systems Center At Brooks Air Force Base, Thomas S. Choi

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force realizes that the life cycle cost (LCC) associated with hazardous materials is a significant cost in the acquisition of major weapon systems. In trying to mitigate the growth of environmental LCC for future weapon systems, the Air Force has developed a tool called the Hazardous Material Cost Trade-off Analysis Tool (HAZMAT CTAT). The HAZMAT CTAT estimates the LCC for weapon system hazardous materials, so that intelligent decisions can be made in the early stages of the acquisition process. The problem with implementing this program into the acquisition process is that an independent computer model evaluation has never …

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Determining The Optimum Strategy Of Techniques From The Municipal Solid Waste Management Hierarchy To Maximize Social Value, Camille M. Still Dec 1996

Determining The Optimum Strategy Of Techniques From The Municipal Solid Waste Management Hierarchy To Maximize Social Value, Camille M. Still

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental managers must make difficult decisions regarding how to manage solid waste generation and disposal. The primary waste management alternatives are source reduction, recycling, composting, incineration, and landfilling often, waste management policies are based entirely on technical considerations and ignore that actual disposal practices depend on individuals' attitudes and behaviors. This research formulated a decision analysis model that incorporates social value measures to determine the waste management strategy that maximizes the individuals' willingness to participate. The social values that are important and that were considered in the decision support model to assist with making decisions about solid waste management were …

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A Decision Support Model For Municipal Solid Waste Recycling At United States Air Force Installations, Gergory A. Williams Dec 1996

A Decision Support Model For Municipal Solid Waste Recycling At United States Air Force Installations, Gergory A. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force requires each installation to operate a municipal solid waste recycling program. Two inherently conflicting objectives, waste material diversion and financial result, have been established for the program. Reducing landfill disposal is the primary objective, but the incentive for profit is strong because each installation can retain profits from the program. Installations can be divided into two distinct areas, commercial and residential, based on the waste stream composition and funding. Structuring of the recycling program is often done in an ad-hoc manner. A decision support model was developed to evaluate four methods for each area. The …

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Digital Rosetta Stone: A Conceptual Model For Maintaining Long-Term Access To Digital Documents, Steven B. Robertson Dec 1996

Digital Rosetta Stone: A Conceptual Model For Maintaining Long-Term Access To Digital Documents, Steven B. Robertson

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the rapid evolution of technology, future digital systems may not be able to read and/or interpret the digital recordings made by older systems, even if those recordings are still in good condition. This thesis addresses the problem of maintaining long-term access to digital documents and provides a methodology for overcoming access difficulties due to technological obsolescence. A review was conducted to determine the long-term access methods that have already been suggested by other researchers. These previously suggested methods are then combined with other ideas that were encountered and conceived while performing research for this project. The combination of …

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Reaction Based Grasp Force Assignment, Mark W. Hunter Jul 1996

Reaction Based Grasp Force Assignment, Mark W. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

An iterative method is developed by which the contact forces required to apply an arbitrary wrench (six elements of force and moment) to a stably grasped object may be calculated quickly. The assignment of contact forces, given a required object wrench, is accomplished with the use of fuzzy logic. This concept is referred to as the fuzzy logic reactive system (FLRS). The solution is versatile with respect to goals inherent in the rulebase and the input parameters, and is also applicable for an arbitrary number of contacts. The goal presented in this research, to illustrate the concept of the FLRS, …

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An Investigation Of Learning Curves And Their Use In Simulation, Jennie H. Lommel Apr 1996

An Investigation Of Learning Curves And Their Use In Simulation, Jennie H. Lommel

Theses and Dissertations

In 1995, the C-17 Factory Simulation Model (FSM) was developed to enable analysts to address 'what-if' questions about the resources required to build future aircraft, and is based on learning curve models that are used to both portray and simulate future aircraft production. In this thesis, we examine and develop alternate learning curve models that also utilize a small amount of initial production data to portray the relationship between the number of aircraft built and the resources required to build them. The goal is to identify a model which not only provides a good fit and forecast based on a …

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Modeling Space In The Air Force Command Exercise System (Aces), Robert Payne Jr. Mar 1996

Modeling Space In The Air Force Command Exercise System (Aces), Robert Payne Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the increased influence of space forces on today's battlefield, several theater level models were analyzed for the presentation of space forces. These models were the Extended Air Defense Simulation (EADSIM), the Joint Theater Level Simulation (JTLS), the Integrated Theater Engagement Model (ITEM), the Tactical Warfare Model (TACWAR), Thunder, Janus, and the Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP). While ALSP is not a model but a simulation protocol connecting various models, it was studied because it appears to be the future of modeling. The consensus of the analysis was that space forces are virtually ignored by most of the …

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International Space Station Traffic Modeling And Simulation, Jillene B. Rylaarsdam Mar 1996

International Space Station Traffic Modeling And Simulation, Jillene B. Rylaarsdam

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to provide NASA with an alternative perspective and some insights to the operational planning of the International Space Station (ISS), this research developed a simulation environment for the ISS and devised a method to evaluate various altitude strategies. The simulation environment allowed us to incorporate the natural random behaviors which affect the lifetime of objects in low earth orbit. We created prototype models of the operational planning process to analyze current altitude strategy approaches and acquire new strategies from insights observed. In addition, by extrapolating random future solar activity values from the interpolation of historical data, we …

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The Effects Of Changing Force Structure On Thunder Output, Michael R. Farmer Mar 1996

The Effects Of Changing Force Structure On Thunder Output, Michael R. Farmer

Theses and Dissertations

In today's reduction of America's national defense, campaign level models are being used more in the development of force structure. The effects of drawdown are of significant interest to those at the highest levels of authority. Campaign models can bring those high ranking officials the answers they seek with high confidence. THUNDER is a campaign model used frequently by the United States Air Force and many of its contractors. The effects of changing the force structure within THUNDER require modifying variables before executing a new experimental run. Changes in such issues as force structure cannot be immediately addressed. Response Surface …

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Forecasting And Explanatory Models For Middle Eastern Defense Budgets: A Case Study Of Saudi Arabia, Robert S. Renfro Ii Mar 1996

Forecasting And Explanatory Models For Middle Eastern Defense Budgets: A Case Study Of Saudi Arabia, Robert S. Renfro Ii

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on means of forecasting Saudi Arabian military expenditures and the effect of such expenditures on the United States. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest purchasers of American arms and will continue to be for many years. Saudi Arabia has experienced several recent changes in economic and government policy. Using exponential smoothing techniques and linear regression, we isolated several trends in Saudi Arabian military expenditures. Using two linear regression models, military expenditures were then forecast with excellent results. The first model considered the assumption that Gulf War spending would continue. This model uses Saudi Arabian Gross Domestic …

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Replicative Use Of An External Model In Simulation Variance Reduction, Thomas H. Irish Mar 1996

Replicative Use Of An External Model In Simulation Variance Reduction, Thomas H. Irish

Theses and Dissertations

The use of control variates is a well-known variance reduction technique for discrete event simulation experiments. Currently, internal control variates are used almost exclusively by practitioners and researchers when using control variates. The primary objective of this study is to explore the variance reduction achieved by the replicative use of an external, analytical model to generate control variates. Performance for the analytical control variates is compared to the performance of typical internal and external control variates for both an open and a closed queueing network. Performance measures used are confidence interval width reduction, realized coverage, and estimated Mean Square Error. …

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Modeling Mobility Engineering In A Theater Level Combat Model, Brian K. Hobson Mar 1996

Modeling Mobility Engineering In A Theater Level Combat Model, Brian K. Hobson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the development of a methodology to model theater-level mobility engineering assets in the Joint Staff's Joint Warfare Analysis Experimental Prototype (JWAEP) and to quantify the joint and Army doctrine that guides the task organization of engineers for combat and which quantifies engineer mobility effects in combat. The methodology incorporates theater-level mobility engineering assets into the JWAEP by using Mission, Enemy, Troops available, Terrain, and Time (MET-T principles which reflect joint and Army doctrine, and combines them with the existing basic concepts in other theater-level models. Additional aspects of the problem include determining the manmade and natural obstacles' …

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Performance Study Of Shared Versus Nonshared Bandwidth On A Packet-Switched Network, John P. Stevens Mar 1996

Performance Study Of Shared Versus Nonshared Bandwidth On A Packet-Switched Network, John P. Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

In wide area computer data communications, many networks have evolved by satisfying increased user demands in the most expedient manner. In some cases, new users’ demands are satisfied by installing a new link, rather than sharing the links that are already in place. This research investigates the differences in performance between using a dedicated link for each source destination pair (nonshared bandwidth) and using a single link to be used by all source destination pairs (shared bandwidth). Simulation models are developed for a wide area network using shared bandwidth, and a wide area network using nonshared bandwidth. The quality of …

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Measuring The Impact Of Programmed Depot Maintenance Funding Shortfalls On Weapon System Availability, Donald F. Hurry Mar 1996

Measuring The Impact Of Programmed Depot Maintenance Funding Shortfalls On Weapon System Availability, Donald F. Hurry

Theses and Dissertations

This study used the Poisson regression technique, bootstrap estimates, and the Kaplan-Meier estimates for survivor curves to determine the impact of Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) on weapon system availability. More specifically, these techniques estimated the effect in the number failures per year due to PDM, but the bootstrap technique also estimated the effect in the amount of downtime experienced by a weapon system due to PDM. Although the Poisson regression model did not pass the rigors of statistical testing, the Poisson regression suggested differences in the number of failures per year between PDM and no-PDM weapon systems. The results of …

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