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Design of a Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation Network for Air Traffic Surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2020

Jianming Guo*
Affiliation:
(College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China)
Lei Yang
Affiliation:
(College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China)
Quan Chen
Affiliation:
(College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China)
Sunquan Yu
Affiliation:
(College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China)
Xiaoqian Chen
Affiliation:
(College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China)
Yong Zhao
Affiliation:
(College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China)

Abstract

The satellite constellation with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast on-board is of great importance for air traffic surveillance due to its multiple advantages compared with traditional methods. Although some research has been conducted on satellite constellation design based on coverage performance, the findings cannot entirely satisfy all the requirements of air traffic surveillance owing to the lack of analysis on inter-satellite links and network transmission. This paper presents a novel design of a low earth orbit satellite constellation network to solve this problem. Based on the requirements of space-based surveillance, an evaluation model of constellation performance is proposed concerning coverage, link and transmission. The simulation results show that the evaluation model can reflect the performance of a satellite constellation network designed for a space-based surveillance system, and a 55-satellite constellation design scheme with fairly good performance can fulfil the function of global real-time air traffic surveillance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 2020

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