A time-window constrained scheduling of target illuminators in naval battle-group antiair warfare

Consider a naval battle group defending itself against an air attack, equipped with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), sensors, and target illuminators (homing devices that assist in striking the targets) (see Figure 3.1) [22]. The sensors track the approaching targets (airplanes, cruise missiles), and provide inflight guidance for the SAMs. Each target must be illuminated during some last few seconds of the SAM trajectory in order for it to home in on the target. Because of the common theater that these battle-group ships operate within, this poses a cooperative engagement problem that calls for a coordinated use of antiair defense resources among the ships. In addition, the number of illuminators that are jointly possessed by the battle group is very small compared to the number of SAMs, and compared to the number of potential incoming targets. Thus, the task of allocating the targets to the illuminators emerges as a critical problem. Additionally, each target must be illuminated during a specified time interval, called an engageability duration, that depends on the location of each illuminator. However, the illuminators may be unavailable during certain specified durations due to previously scheduled commitments.