Satellite Constellation Design: Searching for Global Cost-Efficiency Trade-Offs

Abstract

For a long time, the optimization of satellite constellations has been formulated as the minimization of the number of satellites which satisfy a given geometrical coverage criterion (eg: continuous coverage of the Earth above a given minimum elevation threshold). Many authors theoretically solved this problem for single and multiple satellite coverage but without considering any other criterion. With the advent of large navigation and commercial telecommunication satellite constellations, cost considerations have become mandatory for any constellation designer eager to achieve the best global cost/efficiency trade-offs between the user requirements and the services provided by the operator. The paper proposes and discusses a multi-criteria approach that is highlighting and simultaneously handling three driving criteria in any constellation optimization process: coverage performances, operational availability and life-cycle costs of the system. A reference telecommuniction mission is taken as a case study to illustrate the power of the proposed approach with respect to the classical optimization process.