An envelope curve-based theory for the satellite coverage problems

Abstract The performance of satellites on continuous and accumulative coverage during a given period are main concerns about earth-observation mission design. In this paper, an envelope curve-based coverage theory (ECCT) is proposed for the rapid computation of accumulative and continuous coverage boundary during a given period. First of all, the application of envelope curve theory to satellite coverage problem is introduced. Under this application background, inner envelope curves and outer envelope curves are proposed for continuous and accumulative coverage. Secondly, to validate the usability of ECCT, by setting different simulation scenario, the coverage boundaries results got by ECCT, compared with the coverage regions obtained by Satellite Tool Kit (STK) are presented. Finally, the efficiency of ECCT is illustrated by the time cost and computation accuracy comparisons with improved grid-point algorithm (iGPA) and longitude stripe-based algorithm (LSA) for solving a cumulative coverage boundary problem. The experimental results show that ECCT can provide a high-precision result within a shorter time.