Hybrid GEO and IGSO Satellite Constellation Design with Ground Supporting Constraint for Space Information Networks

In space information networks, satellites are generally in high speed orbit motion. In order to obtain better spacial and temporal coverage performance, satellites should cooperate with each other as a constellation. Previous works on constellations mainly focus on global seamless coverage using fewer satellites. However, like most countries, it is hard for China to build ground stations in overseas, and the geostationary Earth orbit position resource is scarce. In this paper, we investigate the constellation design problem with restricted ground supporting. We first proposes a “backbone network + enhanced network” hybrid constellation design approach. Then a hybrid “4GEO+SIGSO” constellation is designed using the proposed approach, and the coverage performance of this constellation is analyzed in detail. Simulation results show the proposed approach can realize global seamless coverage only using a small number of satellites. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid constellation meets the coverage demand only relies on ground stations inside China.