Multi-satellite task allocation algorithm for Earth observation

The recent increase in the number of satellites in orbit has made their control by ground stations inefficient. Moreover, the delays in ground station to satellite communication adversely affects the functioning and efficiency of satellite systems. The environment of the satellites is also highly dynamic. Thus, the allocation of tasks to satellites by ground stations is no longer feasible. In order to overcome these issues, this paper presents a Multi-Agent based modeling of satellite systems. The satellites are modeled as autonomous agents and can collaborate with other satellite agents in the multi-agent system. The tasks can thereby be allocated and executed by the agents, without repetitive involvement of ground stations. The allocation of tasks by the agents is modeled as a distributed constraint optimization problem. A distributed iterative algorithm, suited to the satellite domain, has been proposed to solve the optimization problem. The paper also presents an algorithm for agent coordination and negotiation. The multi-agent model along with the proposed algorithms eliminate the requirement of ground station control. This has been evaluated empirically and the results have been presented.

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