This paper addresses the maintenance optimization problem in multi-component systems in which parts are connected in series, carrying out several missions interspersed with scheduled finite breaks. Due to limited time or resources, maintenance actions can be only carried out on a limited set of components. The decision maker then has to decide which components to maintain to ensure a pre-specified performance level during next mission. Most of the existing models in the literature usually assume only one system and enough spare parts. However, there are situations in which maintenance is required for multiple systems of the same type. To overcome this restrictive assumption, this study optimizes the maintenance problem considering the lack of repair parts and cannibalism for many identical systems. This study presents two optimization models with different objectives to solve the problem and analyzes the results so that the decision maker can decide. The results of this study are expected to be used for the maintenance of multiple systems of the same type, such as swarm drones.

This work presents fuel-optimal altitude maintenance of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) spacecrafts experiencing non-negligible air drag and J2 perturbation. A pseudospectral (direct) method is first applied to roughly estimate an optimal fuel consumption strategy, which is employed as an initial guess to precisely determine itself. Based on the physical specifications of KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite-2 (KOMPSAT-2), a Korean artificial satellite, numerical simulations show that a satellite ascends with full thrust at the early stage of the maneuver period and then descends with null thrust. While the thrust profile is presumably bang-off, it is difficult to precisely determine the switching time by using a pseudospectral method only. This is expected, since the optimal switching epoch does not coincide with one of the collocation points prescribed by the pseudospectral method, in general. As an attempt to precisely determine the switching time and the associated optimal thrust history, a shooting (indirect) method is then employed with the initial guess being obtained through the pseudospectral method. This hybrid process allows the determination of the optimal fuel consumption for LEO spacecrafts and their thrust profiles efficiently and precisely.