Application of a Multi-Satellite Dynamic Mission Scheduling Model Based on Mission Priority in Emergency Response

Abstract

Emergency observations are missions executed by Earth observation satellites to support urgent ground operations. Emergency observations become more important for meeting the requirements of highly dynamic and highly time-sensitive observation missions, such as disaster monitoring and early warning. Considering the complex scheduling problem of Earth observation satellites under emergency conditions, a multi-satellite dynamic mission scheduling model based on mission priority is proposed in this paper. A calculation model of mission priority is designed for emergency missions based on seven impact factors. In the satellite mission scheduling, the resource constraints of scheduling are analyzed in detail, and the optimization objective function is built to maximize the observation mission priority and mission revenues, and minimize the waiting time for missions that require urgency for execution time. Then, the hybrid genetic tabu search algorithm is used to obtain the initial satellite scheduling plan. In case of the dynamic arrival of new emergency missions before scheduling plan releases, a dynamic scheduling algorithm based on mission priority is proposed to solve the scheduling problem caused by newly arrived missions and to obtain the scheduling plan of newly arrived missions. A simulation experiment was conducted for different numbers of initial missions and newly arrived missions, and the scheduling results were evaluated with a model performance evaluation function. The results show that the execution probability of high-priority missions increased because the mission priority was taken into account in the model. In the case of more satellite resources, when new missions dynamically arrived, the satellite resources can be reasonably allocated to these missions based on the mission priority. Overall, this approach reduces the complexity of the dynamic adjustment and maintains the stability of the initial scheduling plan.