The optimization of memory management in Earth observation constellations

The Earth observation market is a highly competitive business and one key to success is to optimize the image acquisition capacity of satellite constellations. This paper shows an optimization approach for the RapidEye constellation that is based on the knowledge of 3 years of operational data. A ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta astronautica 2019-11, Vol.164, p.433-443
Main Authors: Stoll, Enrico, Brunn, Andreas, Shahid, Kam, Horstmann, Andre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business competition
Data compression
Earth observation
Earth observations (from space)
Image acquisition
Image compression
Memory management
Optimization
Remote sensing
Satellite constellation
Satellite constellations
Satellite imagery
Satellite observation
Satellites
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Summary:The Earth observation market is a highly competitive business and one key to success is to optimize the image acquisition capacity of satellite constellations. This paper shows an optimization approach for the RapidEye constellation that is based on the knowledge of 3 years of operational data. A mathematical model derives compression settings for use aboard the satellites. It reflects changes depending on individual seasons of the year, as well as in the geographical regions that are imaged during the day. It will be shown that RapidEye could increase the acquisition capacity of their Earth observation satellites, based on the optimization presented, by more than 10% for certain months. •We model the memory management of Earth observation constellations.•We examine the changes in the on-board memory depending on the season using image data of 3 years.•Based upon that we developed a mathematical model for the optimization of the memory management.•The solution of the optimization was implemented in the Operations of the RapidEye constellation.•The five satellites were capable of increasing the imaged area by 10%.
ISSN:0094-5765
1879-2030
DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2015.12.006