The ACCAM model: simulating aviation mission readiness for U.S. coast guard stations

We present a model and discrete event simulation of USCG Air Stations, accounting for the mission demands and maintenance procedures pertaining to USCG aircraft. The simulation provides aircraft availability distributions and mission performance metrics based on varying input scenarios, including changes in the number of stationed aircraft and maintenance targets. The Air Station model is novel in its relatively simple, easily tunable, renewal process treatment of maintenance procedures, mitigating the need for the modeling of complex maintenance subprocesses and the resulting statistical estimation of numerous parameters. The simulation also models mission requirements such as Search and Rescue that are stochastic in time and space. Simulations are consistent with historical data and offer insights into hypothetical scenarios.