Robust Mission Design Through Evidence Theory and Multi-Agent Collaborative Search

In this paper, the preliminary design of a space mission is approached by introducing uncertainties on the design parameters and formulating the resulting reliable design problem as a multiobjective optimization problem. Uncertainties are modelled through evidence theory and the belief, or credibility, that the successful achievement of mission goals is maximized along with the reliability of constraint satisfaction. The multiobjective optimization problem is solved through a novel algorithm based on the collaboration of a population of agents in search for the set of highly reliable solutions. Two typical problems in mission analysis are used to illustrate the proposed methodology.