文章基本信息

标题：Design of Regional Coverage Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Constellation with Optimal Inclination
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作者：Jinyoung Shin ; Sang-Young Park ; Jihae Son 等
期刊名称：Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
印刷版ISSN：2093-5587
电子版ISSN：2093-1409
出版年度：2021
卷号：38
期号：4
页码：217-227
DOI：10.5140/JASS.2021.38.4.217
语种：English
出版社：Korean Space Science Society
摘要：In this study, we describe an analytical process for designing a low Earth orbit constellation for discontinuous regional coverage, to be used for a surveillance and reconnaissance space mission. The objective of this study was to configure a satellite constellation that targeted multiple areas near the Korean Peninsula. The constellation design forms part of a discontinuous regional coverage problem with a minimum revisit time. We first introduced an optimal inclination search algorithm to calculate the orbital inclination that maximizes the geometrical coverage of single or multiple ground targets. The common ground track (CGT) constellation pattern with a repeating period of one nodal day was then used to construct the rest of the orbital elements of the constellation. Combining these results, we present an analytical design process that users can directly apply to their own situation. For Seoul, for example, 39.0° was determined as the optimal orbital inclination, and the maximum and average revisit times were 58.1 min and 27.9 min for a 20-satellite constellation, and 42.5 min and 19.7 min for a 30-satellite CGT constellation, respectively. This study also compares the revisit times of the proposed method with those of a traditional Walker-Delta constellation under three inclination conditions: optimal inclination, restricted inclination by launch trajectories from the Korean Peninsula, and inclination for the sun-synchronous orbit. A comparison showed that the CGT constellation had the shortest revisit times with a non-optimal inclination condition. The results of this analysis can serve as a reference for determining the appropriate constellation pattern for a given inclination condition.
关键词：satellite constellation design;regional coverage;optimal inclination constellation;repeat ground track (RGT)