Performance Analysis of Algorithms for Coordination of Earth Observation by CubeSat Constellations
Name
JAIS-I010426_AUTHOR_1_kc.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
2.4 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
d2bb589c29d7dcd454fcb5f12bf11c5f
Author(s)
Kennedy, Andrew
Cahoy, Kerri
Date Issued
2017
Journal
Journal of Aerospace Information Systems
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
© 2016 by Marc Sanchez Net. Two algorithms that coordinate activities across a resource-constrained, Earth-observing CubeSat constellation are presented. The Resource-Aware SmallSat Planner algorithm performs online planning of activities for a satellite while keeping the satellite's resources within constraints. The Limited Communication Constellation Coordinator algorithm performs coordination of observations across the constellation to reduce average revisit times for a set of targets. The algorithms are simulated for 24 h with an 18 satellite Low Earth Orbit constellation. Three orbital geometries are examined, with different configurations of intersatellite and satellite-to-ground communications links to share planning information. Results indicate that coordination through Resource-Aware SmallSat Planner/Limited Communication Constellation Coordinator and a background communications constellation improves observation performance, with sensor-averaged revisit times of 197, 203, and 225 min (over three orbital geometries) versus 204, 211, and 240 min for a baseline random sensor selection method. The results also reveal that the constellations studied perform poorly at sharing planning information via only downlinks and crosslinks and point to the need for a method of calculating the information sharing utility of such links in a coordinated constellation. These findings are relevant for Federated Satellite Systems because they provide guidance on next steps toward integrating large networks of heterogeneous small satellites into large-scale, coordinated, Earth-observing systems.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.2514/1.I010426
