APPROACHES FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF THE RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN A SATELLITE CONSTELLATION

This paper presents the progressive approaches which have been studied in CNES for the resolution of the handover management problem. The first approach was based on the analysis with a conservative algorithm. This approach allowed us to resolve some cases but was limited. Event and activity scheduling tools have been evaluated and discarded. In a next step, a Petri net approach has been studied. If a solution exists, the Petri net modeling allows finding it but doesn’t allow choosing the optimal solution within the set of potential ones. Finally, a new formalism which allows finding the optimal solution was established. It provides results in simplified configurations representative of all the constraints and was validated with a linear programming tool with little adaptation of the formalism. Then the paper will discuss the study perspectives for a hybrid global method. The principal idea is to combine the Petri net approach with an optimization method ( constraint programming, graph theory, mathematical programming, combinatorial optimization … ).