Multi-Satellite Observation-Relay Transmission-Downloading Coupling Scheduling Method

With the development of satellite cluster technology, the earth observation capability of satellite clusters has been greatly enhanced, along with the improvement of satellite earth observation and inter-satellite data transmission ability. Nevertheless, it is difficult to coordinate satellite observation, inter-satellite data transmission, and satellite–ground data download to satisfy the constraints of satellite multi-subsystems. In this article, the multi-satellite observation-relay transmission-downloading coupling scheduling problem is described. Based on the conventional tabu search algorithm for multi-satellite earth observation, the data transmission path planning algorithm is integrated to carry out the entire coupling process of multi-satellite observation, inter-satellite data transmission, and satellite–ground data downloading. Referring to the idea of the artificial potential field method, the satellite cluster profit-state evaluation function is introduced to enhance the local search process within the tabu search framework. Moreover, in the data transmission planning algorithm, the rule-based Dijkstra data transmission path planning method is proposed based on two data transmission path planning strategies and the satellite cluster state-strategy selection rules. The simulation results show that the proposed method can realize the entire process of scheduling satellite cluster observation, relay transmission, and downloading and enhance the ability of the satellite cluster to obtain observation data. The improved Dijkstra method enhances the adaptability of the data transmission path planning method to the multi-subsystem coupled problem, and the improved local search in the tabu search method elevates the searching capability of the algorithm.