Planning and Scheduling Problems in Distributed Satellite Systems for Earth Observation
- Paper number
GLOC-2023,T,IP,x74635
- Author
Mr. Kathiravan Thangavel, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia
- Year
2023
- Abstract
Space-based Earth observation systems (SB-EOS) have undergone a continuous evolution in the twenty-first century. With the help of SB-EOS, their applicability across the world's waterways, climate change, agriculture, mining etc., has grown substantially. These capabilities can greatly help with resource preservation, economic and environmental sustainability, disaster mitigation, and security. As Distributed Satellite System (DSS) solutions become more readily available, it will be possible to carry out Earth Observation (EO) in real-time or near real-time for effective Area of Interest (AOI) monitoring. This research work explores the potential applicability of Planning and Scheduling (PS) problems in EO. Satellite missions must have extensive coverage and revisit intervals for satellites to continuously monitor the highly dynamic environment that DSS can fulfil. A DSS mission is proposed for wildfire detection and surveillance EO operations. In the satellite image acquisition scheduling problem, satellites take images of target areas, i.e., AOI, at the requests of the users. However, the number of requests often exceeds the capability of the satellites. This work explores the current state-of-the-art solution for the PS in the EO mission. Based on the requirements, a suitable solution is identified and implemented for the proposed mission. Here the satellites are represented as agents. Each agent has a utility function that measures how well the selected tasks are scheduled on it. The utility functions are described in detail. Then the satellite image acquisition schedule objective is converted to maximise the collective utility of the satellites. The optimisation goal is to maximise the number of acquired imagery (i.e., tasks). The simulation results of the missions and with the preliminary analysis of the experiments are presented.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)