EFFICIENCY AND FAIRNESS WHEN SHARING THE USE OF A SATELLITE

ABSTR.ACT H i x ) ~ l r c ~ ~ s co-funded by several agents must be exp l o i t d in suc:h a way tha t three kinds of constraints i i r ~ ~nt l t : (1) physical problem (hard) constraints; ( 2 ) efficit:r~c,y ~ons t~ ra in t s , aiming a t maximizing the sat,isfac:tjion of each agent; (3) a fairness constraint, which is ideally satisfied when each agent receives ;in a n ~ o u n t of the resource exactly proportional to i ~ s fi11imcia.l corit,rihut,ion. This paper investigates ; I tiecision problem for which the co~iimon property rcwi1rc.v is ;in r a r th observation satellite. The p r o b l ~ n i s to dccidt: on the daily selection of a subset I )f ~)ic.tllrc>s, arno11g a set of candidate pict,ures which c.oulil l ~ r t,al;eri tht: next day considering the satellitti trajectory. This subset must satisfy the t,hree Iiil~tls of cx)nst,raint,s stat,ed above. Altjhougli fair division pro1)lerns have received considerable at,t,ent,ion for ;I long tirne. especially from rnicroeconomists; t,l~is xlwi,ific prohlrrli does not fall entirely wit,hin a das5ic.;1l irppi.oac.11. This is because the cantlidat,c> pic:1 rlrc3s may 1)(1 incompatible, and because a pict,urr is 01i1!. of vi111111 to t h ~ ilgerit, request,ing it,. As iri t,llr K('~~csral ( . i l s ~ , c4fic:ienc:y arid fairness const,raints are