Genetic Algorithm Approach to Automating Satellite Range Scheduling

摘要

Satellite range scheduling involves scheduling satellite supports in which asatellite and a specific remote tracking station communicate with each other within a specified time window. As the number of satellite supports continue to increase, more pressure is placed on the current manual system to generate schedules efficiently. Previous research efforts focused on heuristic and mixed-integer programming approaches which may not produce the best results. The objective of this research was to determine if a genetic algorithm approach to automating the generation of 24 hour schedules was competitive with other methods. The goal was to schedule as many supports as possible without conflict. The genetic algorithm approach attempted to find the best priority ordering of support requests, and then used a schedule builder program to build schedules based on simple rules. A schedule was produced for seven days of representative satellite range data with slightly better results compared to earlier results using a mixed-integer programming formulation. Based on the reported results, the genetic algorithm approach presented in this research appears to be a competitive approach for generating 24-hour satellite range schedules. Genetic algorithms, Scheduling, Satellite range scheduling.