Session
Technical Poster Session 2
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
This paper addresses the problem of optimization of earth orbit space vehicle constellations balancing access over specified earth regions subject to constraints on the constituent members’ orbital elements. Whereas symmetric constellations such as Walker Delta Parameter Constellations are often a convenient starting point for system trade studies, the desire to balance access over multiple earth latitude bands requires exploration of asymmetric constellations. This paper proposes a simple, yet effective method to rapidly test asymmetric constellation designs incorporating arbitrary constraints on the space vehicles’ orbital elements. A user of this novel Constellation Design Tool (CDT) provides inputs to the code, including details about desired vehicle altitudes, range of inclinations, number of space vehicles per orbital plane, and number of total space vehicles within the constellation, as well as the desired set of latitude, longitude and altitude points to which space vehicle access is to be tested. The first stage of the CDT executes a Monte Carlo simulation using pseudorandom generations of constellation designs, providing the user with the Keplerian elements of the top-performing constellations subject to a user-defined figure of merit. Subsequently, the second stage of the CDT, drawing inspiration from a particle swarm optimization method, makes incremental changes to the orbital elements, testing the reported performance of the constellation against all other variations of the base constellation. After completion of a specified number of iterations, the top-performing constellation’s orbital elements are loaded into STK with the replicated simulation environment to further analyze the constellation and provide performance data to the user.
Novel Constellation Design Tool: A Framework for Asymmetric Constellation Design
Utah State University, Logan, UT
This paper addresses the problem of optimization of earth orbit space vehicle constellations balancing access over specified earth regions subject to constraints on the constituent members’ orbital elements. Whereas symmetric constellations such as Walker Delta Parameter Constellations are often a convenient starting point for system trade studies, the desire to balance access over multiple earth latitude bands requires exploration of asymmetric constellations. This paper proposes a simple, yet effective method to rapidly test asymmetric constellation designs incorporating arbitrary constraints on the space vehicles’ orbital elements. A user of this novel Constellation Design Tool (CDT) provides inputs to the code, including details about desired vehicle altitudes, range of inclinations, number of space vehicles per orbital plane, and number of total space vehicles within the constellation, as well as the desired set of latitude, longitude and altitude points to which space vehicle access is to be tested. The first stage of the CDT executes a Monte Carlo simulation using pseudorandom generations of constellation designs, providing the user with the Keplerian elements of the top-performing constellations subject to a user-defined figure of merit. Subsequently, the second stage of the CDT, drawing inspiration from a particle swarm optimization method, makes incremental changes to the orbital elements, testing the reported performance of the constellation against all other variations of the base constellation. After completion of a specified number of iterations, the top-performing constellation’s orbital elements are loaded into STK with the replicated simulation environment to further analyze the constellation and provide performance data to the user.
