NASA-AMMOS
Support Anchor Creation in the Scheduler
Checked for duplicates
Yes - I've already checked
Alternatives considered
No - I haven't considered
Related problems
This feature request is similar to https://github.com/NASA-AMMOS/aerie/issues/1073 in that it covers how grouped activity instances setup via scheduling are handled.
Describe the feature request
Currently, when activity types are "linked" to others via coexistence scheduling goals this relationship does not persist after manual alterations to the activities are made in the plan post-scheduling.
An example of this is having a GNC turn activity linked (via coexistence goal) to startAt the end of a specific instrument calibration activity. When users go into the plan post-scheduling and manually alter parameters for this calibration activity, the GNC activity that was scheduled initially to start at the end of the calibration will not move to reflect the altered activity's new end time (if the manual alterations impacted duration). Ideally, after alterations are made and the user simulates the plan again to view the results of the parameter changes, the activity(s) that were linked to the anchor would move along with it to still satisfy the goal's intent. It could be beneficial to have a visual way of depicting these linkage relationships in the plan UI (similar to how anchoring has an icon) as well.
As of now, if a user wants to make a manual alteration to an activity instance that has other activities linked to them via scheduling, they would have to (1) delete all activity instances that were initially linked to this to-be-altered activity type (2) update the necessary parameters or move the activity placement and then (3) re-run the scheduling goal to re-link the peripheral activity instances at the appropriate start/end times. This process is not convenient to the user and makes it more challenging to track scheduling relationships.
