4d temporal data structures for visualization of alternative mission plans over time

A system, comprising:

• a memory to store computer-executable instructions;
• and
• a processor to execute the computer-executable instructions from the memory, the computer-executable instructions comprising:
• a mission definition file (MDF) that includes mission data that describes alternative routes generated by at least one mission planner for a vehicle;
• an MDF parser to extract the mission data for the alternative routes from the mission definition file, the MDF parser maps the mission data into a temporal data structure describing the alternative routes;
• the temporal data structure comprising:
• a route list to describe the alternative routes for the vehicle, each alternative route defined by at least one segment to connect between waypoints;
• a route segment list to describe an estimated time between each of the waypoints for each segment of the route list;
• and
• a waypoint list to describe a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude for each of the waypoints for each segment of the route list;
• and
• a mission plan constructor to generate a network topology of a mission plan depicting the alternative routes for the vehicle over time by graphing list data from the temporal data structure for the alternative routes.
• a graphical user interface (GUI) to display a visualization of the network topology generated by the mission plan constructor from the temporal data structure, wherein the alternative routes can be viewed concurrently in the visualization to enable determination of what-if alternative mission plan scenarios for the one or more vehicles.

A method, comprising:

• parsing a mission data file into an initial temporal data structure establishing a mission network structure;
• extrapolating estimated segment transition times for each segment of the mission network structure;
• extracting task timing constraints from input tasking to populate an action list;
• extracting specified task constraints to populate an action point data list;
• and
• outputting the temporal data structure after populating the lists, the temporal data structure comprising:
• the action list and the action data point list;
• a route list to describe alternative routes for the vehicle, each alternative route defined by at least one segment to connect between waypoints;
• a route segment list to describe an estimated time between each of the waypoints for each segment of the route list;
• and
• a waypoint list to describe a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude for each of the waypoints for each segment of the route list.