Scheduling and rescheduling of imaging satellite based on ant colony optimization

This paper aims at the rescheduling of observing spacecraft imaging plan under uncertainty using ant colony algorithm. First, this paper provides a brief analysis about the uncertainties in spacecraft observation scheduling. And then, this paper establishes the mathematical model and manages to solve the rescheduling problem by ant colony algorithm. Finally, the above method is applied to solve the rescheduling problem of a certain type of earth observing satellite. The computation of the example shows that the approach is feasible and effective in dealing with the uncertainties in spacecraft observation scheduling. © 2013 Binary Information Press.