Session

Poster Session 4

Location

Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Ground segment operations must keep pace with increasingly demanding mission concepts of operation. For a GroundSegment-as-a-Service (GSaaS) provider, this means scheduling ground contacts against a diverse, often conflicting set of customer requirements, historically requiring bespoke scheduling logic. Leaf Line's baseline addresses this with two mechanisms: an automated Scheduler that computes guaranteed network-wide allocations 4 days ahead, and on-demand booking of unallocated capacity, first-come-first-served.

PROBLEM

Together, the baseline delivers strong service levels and network utilization, but two gaps emerged. The 4-day rolling horizon limits visibility into exact pass allocation beyond that window. And users needing specific pass times may find them already claimed by the Scheduler by the time on-demand booking becomes available, since on-demand only reaches leftover capacity.

APPROACH

Leaf Line addresses these gaps with three new access mechanisms layered onto the existing baseline: RAOS extends visibility and booking up to 10 days ahead of the guaranteed scheduling window, Service Request adds pre-validated customization to the guaranteed Scheduling tier, and First Access provides fully isolated, dedicated antenna access. Together with the baseline Scheduler and on-demand booking, this creates five mechanisms competing for the same shared antenna infrastructure.

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Aug 26th, 12:00 PM

Multi-Paradigm Contact Scheduling — Combining Automation and Flexibility in GSaaS Operations

Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT

BACKGROUND

Ground segment operations must keep pace with increasingly demanding mission concepts of operation. For a GroundSegment-as-a-Service (GSaaS) provider, this means scheduling ground contacts against a diverse, often conflicting set of customer requirements, historically requiring bespoke scheduling logic. Leaf Line's baseline addresses this with two mechanisms: an automated Scheduler that computes guaranteed network-wide allocations 4 days ahead, and on-demand booking of unallocated capacity, first-come-first-served.

PROBLEM

Together, the baseline delivers strong service levels and network utilization, but two gaps emerged. The 4-day rolling horizon limits visibility into exact pass allocation beyond that window. And users needing specific pass times may find them already claimed by the Scheduler by the time on-demand booking becomes available, since on-demand only reaches leftover capacity.

APPROACH

Leaf Line addresses these gaps with three new access mechanisms layered onto the existing baseline: RAOS extends visibility and booking up to 10 days ahead of the guaranteed scheduling window, Service Request adds pre-validated customization to the guaranteed Scheduling tier, and First Access provides fully isolated, dedicated antenna access. Together with the baseline Scheduler and on-demand booking, this creates five mechanisms competing for the same shared antenna infrastructure.