Abstract
Most of the currently active Earth-observing satellites are entirely controlled from the ground: observation plans are regularly computed on the ground (typically each day for the next day), uploaded to the satellite using visibility windows, and then executed onboard as they stand. Because the possible presence of clouds is the main obstacle to optical observation, meteorological forecasts are taken into account when building these observation plans. However, this does not prevent most of the performed observations to be fruitless because of the unforeseen presence of clouds. To fix this problem, the possibility of equipping Earth-observing satellites with an extra instrument dedicated to the detection of the clouds in front of it, just before observation, is currently considered. But, in such conditions, decision upon the observations to be performed can be no longer made offline on the ground. It must be performed online onboard, because it must be performed at the last minute when detection information is available and because visibility windows between Earth-observing satellites and their control centers are short and rare. With agile Earth-observing satellites which are the next generation ones, decision-making upon observation requires the computing of an as short as possible attitude trajectory allowing the satellite to point to the right ground area within its visibility window. In this paper, we show the results of an experiment consisting in using a continuous constraint satisfaction problem solver (RealPaver) to compute such optimal trajectories online onboard.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Bensana, E., Lemaître, M., Verfaillie, G.: Benchmark Problems: Earth Observation Satellite Management. Constraints 4(3), 293–299 (1999)
Verfaillie, G., Lemaître, M.: Selecting and Scheduling Observations for Agile Satellites: Some Lessons from the Constraint Reasoning Community Point of View. In: Walsh, T. (ed.) CP 2001. LNCS, vol. 2239, pp. 670–684. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)
Chien, S., et al.: The EO-1 Autonomous Science Agent. In: Kudenko, D., Kazakov, D., Alonso, E. (eds.) Adaptive Agents and Multi-Agent Systems II. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3394, Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Damiani, S., Verfaillie, G., Charmeau, M.C.: Cooperating On-board and On the ground Decision Modules for the Management of an Earth Watching Constellation. In: Proc. of i-SAIRAS-05 (2005)
Charmeau, M.C., Bensana, E.: AGATA: A Lab Bench Project for Spacecraft Autonomy. In: Proc. of i-SAIRAS-05 (2005)
Parraud, P., Flipo, A., Jaubert, J., Lassalle-Balier, G.: Computing Smooth Attitude Guidance Laws for Homing Maneuvers. In: Proc. of the International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (2006)
Merlet, J.P.: Interval Analysis and Robotics (Invited Presentation). In: Benhamou, F. (ed.) CP 2006. LNCS, vol. 4204, p. 15. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Hoots, F.: Theory of the Motion of an Artificial Earth Satellite. Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy (1979)
Granvilliers, L., Benhamou, F.: Continuous and Interval Constraints. In: Rossi, F., Beek, P.V., Walsh, T. (eds.) Handbook of Constraint Programming, pp. 571–603. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2006)
Granvilliers, L., Benhamou, F.: RealPaver: an Interval Solver using Constraint Satisfaction Techniques. ACM Trans. Math. Softw. 32(1), 138–156 (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Beaumet, G., Verfaillie, G., Charmeau, MC. (2007). Estimation of the Minimal Duration of an Attitude Change for an Autonomous Agile Earth-Observing Satellite. In: Bessière, C. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming – CP 2007. CP 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4741. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74970-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74970-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-74969-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-74970-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)