Application of Latitude Stripe Division in Satellite Constellation Coverage to Ground

Abstract

Grid point technique is a classical method in computing satellite constellation coverage to the ground regions. Aiming at improving the low computational efficiency of the conventional method, a method using latitude stripe division is proposed, which has high efficiency, and we name it latitude stripe method. After dividing the target region into several latitude stripes, the coverage status of each latitude stripe is computed by means of the spherical geometry relationship in the first orbital period. The longitude coverage intervals in the remaining orbital periods are computed by sliding the coverage status in the first orbital period. Based on this method, the instantaneous and cumulative coverage in simulation time can be calculated more efficiently. As well, the relationship between the cumulative coverage and altitude can be computed fast by this method, which could be used in the optimized design of repeating sun-synchronous orbits. The comparison between the conventional grid point method and the latitude stripe method shows that the latitude stripe method has high efficiency and accuracy. Through various case studies, the optimization in repeating sun-synchronous orbits design is successfully represented.

Cell Area-Based Method for Analyzing the Coverage Capacity of Satellite Constellations

“…P and Q are the two intersection points. The longitude and latitude coordinates of P and Q can be computed by spherical geometry [27].…”

“…The spherical polygon division method [26] is based on the dual vino diagram of the spherical triangulation method, and it can be used to analyze arbitrarily shaped regions. The latitude band method [27] divides the target region into a group of latitude bands for analysis, and the algorithm is efficient. The feature area analysis method divides the two-dimensional sphere into a series of regions based on the trajectories of the satellites in the constellation [28,29].…”

A Novel Technique to Compute the Revisit Time of Satellites and Its Application in Remote Sensing Satellite Optimization Design

“…Recent studies have shown the possibility of using the Periodic Multi-Sun-Synchronous orbits (PMSSOs) for Earth and Mars observation; these orbits allow the observation of the same area under different solar illumination conditions and have a repetition period of the solar illumination conditions which is multiple of the repeat cycle [9,10]. Wang et al [14] divided the region by latitude stripes. The relationship between the cumulative coverage and the altitude can be quickly got, which is helpful for orbit designer to select optimal orbits for Earth observation.…”