Satellite Constellation Design with Adaptively Continuous Ant System Algorithm

The ant system algorithm (ASA) has proved to be a novel meta-heuristic algorithm to solve many multivariable problems. In this paper, the earth coverage of satellite constellation is analyzed and a -fold coverage rate is put forward to evaluate the coverage performance of a satellite constellation. An optimization model of constellation parameters is established on the basis of the coverage performance. As a newly developed method, ASA can be applied to optimize the constellation parameters. In order to improve the ASA, a rule for adaptive number of ants is proposed, by which the search range is obviously enlarged and the convergence speed increased. Simulation results have shown that the ASA is more quick and efficient than other methods.