An efficient algorithm for solving the constellation-to-ground coverage problem based on latitude strip division

Abstract

The issue of constellation-to-ground coverage is a research focus in Earth observation applications. Traditional calculations often rely on grid point methods or their derivatives, but these can be limited in their application, relatively costly, inefficient, and often do not account for potential errors. This paper proposes a novel, efficient method based on latitude strip division for calculating the ground area coverage of satellite constellations, capable of providing the upper and lower bounds of coverage ratio for any ground area. Initially, the ground target area is divided into several latitude strips, and the target area range is utilized to determine the longitude range of each latitude strip. Subsequently, the upper and lower bounds of coverage of each strip are calculated according to the satellite ground coverage range. On this basis, the coverage boundary function is defined and the coverage ratio is derived through comprehensive statistics analysis. Finally, depending on the accuracy of the latitude strip division, the precise coverage area and coverage ratio with upper and lower bounds are determined for instantaneous, continuous, and cumulative coverage problems. Numerical simulation experiments were carried out and compared with the traditional grid point method to validate the effectiveness and computational efficiency of this algorithm in addressing the coverage issue for arbitrarily shaped ground areas. When compared to the longitude strip method, it was confirmed that for ground areas where the longitude exceeds the latitude range, this approach offers superior computational efficiency than the latitude strip method.