Configuration optimization of multi-optical sensors with complex pointing constraints

Abstract This paper investigates the pointing direction optimization problem of multi-optical sensors with complex pointing constraints. In the spacecraft design area, this problem is characterized as the optical-sensor configuration optimization. The complex pointing requirements and avoidance constraints of different types of optical sensors are taken into account, and a new optimization method is presented. The proposed combinatorial optimization algorithm is divided into three steps. First, an initial guess solution is generated by coordinate projection. The relative directions between all constraint objects and the spacecraft are projected into the spacecraft body-fixed coordinate system. Second, the density-of-presence analysis is conducted for relative directions by introducing the image processing concept into the optimization process. The morphological dilation approach is adopted with a new filter, and the high and low density regions are defined to reduce the dimension of the candidate solution group. Finally, the mathematical model of the optimization problem is developed and solved by the Genetic Algorithm (GA). The computer simulations show that the new method can properly handle the configuration optimization problem with complex requirements and constraints in a relatively short calculation time.