Performances Optimization of Remote Sensing Satellite Constellations: a Heuristic Method
Sergio De Florio · 2006
The realization of distributed sensor networks for the monitoring of the Earth, by means of a constellation of small satellites, poses the need of an extensive and effective application of planning and scheduling tech-nology to space systems. The possibility to generate an optimal schedule, for a satellite constellation, based on user requests and some figure of merit to be op-timized (e.g. system response time, number of data-takes) can drastically improve the performances of the system and enhance its automatization. Especially the minimization of the constellation response time to the user requests can be very useful to reconnaissance and disasters management purposes. A simple but effective heuristic algorithm enriched with look-ahead capability