Agile Satellite Planning for Multi-Payload Observations for Earth Science
This work addresses planning challenges for adaptive remote sensing in Earth science, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing optimization methods for satellite coordination.
The paper tackles the problem of coordinating multiple agile satellites with multiple instruments for Earth observation by developing a heuristically guided constraint optimization planner that operates in a closed-loop to adapt to changing phenomena, with preliminary results applied to a soil moisture monitoring scenario using spaceborne radars.
We present planning challenges, methods and preliminary results for a new model-based paradigm for earth observing systems in adaptive remote sensing. Our heuristically guided constraint optimization planner produces coordinated plans for multiple satellites, each with multiple instruments (payloads). The satellites are agile, meaning they can quickly maneuver to change viewing angles in response to rapidly changing phenomena. The planner operates in a closed-loop context, updating the plan as it receives regular sensor data and updated predictions. We describe the planner's search space and search procedure, and present preliminary experiment results. Contributions include initial identification of the planner's search space, constraints, heuristics, and performance metrics applied to a soil moisture monitoring scenario using spaceborne radars.