Scheduling model and heuristic algorithm for tracking and data relay satellite considering breakpoint transmission

To improve the efficiency of the tracking and data relay systems and increase the completion rate of tracking and data relay tasks, this paper investigates the breakpoint transmission mode in the scheduling of the tracking and data relay satellites. In the breakpoint transmission mode, a single data transmission task can be reasonably split into several subtasks that can be completed in multiple time windows. First, a mathematical model of the scheduling problem of TDRSs is constructed. Second, a conflict degree calculation method based on conflict risk assessment is proposed, and a two-stage scheduling algorithm considering breakpoint transmission is further designed. Finally, a large number of simulation experiments are carried out. And the algorithm is compared with the greedy algorithm, the heuristic algorithm based on minimum conflict, and the heuristic algorithm based on task priority, which do not consider breakpoint transmission. The experimental results show that in contrast to the three comparative heuristic algorithms, the proposed method can improve the task completion rate by 7.67%, 6.34% and 8.67%. © 2019, Press of Chinese Journal of Aeronautics. All right reserved.