LEO Small-Scale Experimental Regional Navigation Constellation Design and Optimization

Abstract

In order to demonstrate the key functionalities of large-scale LEO navigation constellations, this paper investigates the small-scale LEO experimental constellation design problem. The major requirements include achieving quadruple coverage of specific ground target areas. The regional navigation constellation consists of four satellites distributed on two orbit planes. Considering the sustainable regional navigation, it is expected that the orbits of the satellites are regressional such that it takes little effort for the constellation to cover the designated region. In this way, the structure of the optimization problem is set up, which is constrained by the quadruple coverage and accuracy requirements. It takes the maximum task time as the objective function. The differential evolution algorithm (DE) is utilized to solve the optimization problem. The optimal regional navigation constellation design scheme satisfying the constraints is obtained. The simulation results show that the regional navigation constellation designed by this method can meet the predetermined requirements.