Optimal system loading and aborting in additive multi-attempt missions

Despite considerable research efforts devoted to the mission aborting policies for diverse systems, little work considered the effects of loading and the existing models assumed single-attempt missions only. In practice, loading may affect mission work progress and system loss risk. This paper contributes by modeling and optimizing the mission aborting and loading policy (MALP) for a mission system that must accomplish a specified amount of work through multiple attempts. A successful attempt includes an operation phase (OP) that completes a portion of required work dependent on the loading level, followed by a return phase (RP). The OP in an attempt may also be aborted followed by a rescue action (RA) to survive the system. The system undergoes different, loading-dependent shock processes during OP, RP, and RA. A new numerical method is proposed to evaluate the expected mission losses (EML), encompassing costs associated with uncompleted work and system losses. The optimal MALP problem is then solved to minimize the EML. The case study of an aerial vehicle performing a goods delivery mission is conducted to illustrate the proposed model. Managerial insights are also derived through investigating impacts of different model parameters on the EML and optimal MALP solutions.