Optimal Satellite Orbit Design for Prioritized Multiple Targets with Threshold Observation Time Using Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution

This study considers a satellite orbit design when a given set of target sites needs to be visited within an assigned period. Optimization of the orbit design takes into account target properties such as priority and minimum duration of observation time. Equations describing satellite orbit are used to compute the satellite’s field of view and ground track. Scheduling of visits to the targets is carried out by maximizing the observation time over priority-weighted targets and minimizing the distance between the ground track and the target position while satisfying the constraints with respect to the minimum duration of observation time and revisit requirement. A self-adaptive differential evolution (SA-DE) algorithm with the ability to adjust its search parameters is used to find the best solution. The proposed design methodology computes the optimal values of design variables and also the start and end observation time points of each target. Regional and global case studies demonstrate that the SA-DE/best/1/bin variant is found to be the most suitable optimizer for orbit design.