A Distributed Approach for Time-Dependent Observation Scheduling Problem in the Agile Earth Observation Satellite Constellation

The increasing number of agile earth observation satellites (AEOSs) in orbit have advanced maneuverable capabilities, enabling the AEOS constellation to provide richer services. Therefore, scheduling is crucial for improving performance satellite remote sensing systems. This paper focuses on problem distributed constellation, where a period transition time required between two consecutive observations, and this constraint depends start observations. We define new fitness function that not only maximizes profit sum but also considers system load balancing. Based fundamental idea impact (PI) algorithm, we develop PI-based method (PIDSM) runs concurrently all AEOSs via local inter-satellite link (ISL)-based communications. PIDSM iterates phases: target inclusion consensus removal. first phase aims select optimal task each AEOS, while second reaches over removes targets may decrease overall fitness. Experimental results demonstrate can schedule more targets, reduce communication overhead, achieve higher values than existing algorithms. Sensitivity analyses further validate effectiveness PIDSM.