Multi-region capacity planning model with contracts of varying duration under uncertainty : a satellite capacity acquisition case study

This paper highlights the issues associated with and presents a modeling framework for long-term capacity planning problems constrained in a similar fashion to satellite capacity acquisition. Although ambiguities exist, the satellite capacity planning problem also contains many clearly defined constraints. In the immediate time horizon, universal satellite capacity is fixed, as satellite launches are rare, and each incremental satellite launch only marginally increases capacity. In the world of Commercial Satellite Communications (COMSATCOM), satellites have fixed coverage areas as they are typically in geo-synchronous orbit. Other military applications such as observation and satellite phone require, low-earth orbit and medium-earth orbit satellites. The contracts used to acquire satellite capacity from the commercial sector also clearly define constraints, such as start and end date, bandwidth, price per unit bandwidth and allocated satellite system, which also implies frequency and available capacity. The paper first reviews the issues involved with planning capacity acquisition, and then presents a modeling framework for developing strategies to meet criteria and minimize cost. A simulation environment is developed for testing contracts and satellites of different parameters against varying demand distributions. A dynamic program is used to solve the integer program associated with selecting satellite capacity levels to cover demand.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Lydiard, John M., IV

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Olivier L. de Weck.

• Engineering Systems Division.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/91439

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/91439