Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth

Observation:
SPE 510 Midterm Report
Kelvin Loh (20114534)
Room 3333, Department Of Aerospace Engineering
KAIST
kklloh@kaist.ac.kr
March 31, 2012

Abstract
A suite of MATLAB functions are developed to analyze the Walker-Delta Constellation. Since this is one of the more popular constellations, two cases are
also being thought out to determine if the constellation pattern can be a solution for the cases that require extensive Earth observation. It is shown that
the constellation is sensitive to altitude changes.

Introduction

A constellation is a set of satellites distributed over space intended to work together

to achieve common objectives. The Walker-Delta Constellation is one such popular
constellation design since it is the most symmetric. In order to study the performance
of this type of constellation, a set of computational tools have to be developed. The
theoretical foundations are important as it directly affects the accuracy of the analysis. The functions are tested and the results of the tests are also reported in this
report. Additional models are also included in the code such as low-thrust maneuvers tangential to the spacecraft flight path, but they are only documented in the
comments of the MATLAB functions.

K. Loh

Theoretical Models

This section covers the theoretical basis for the codes used to evaluate the performances of the Walker-Delta constellation to cover a target on Earth for observation.
Proofs of the models used are not provided in this report.

2.1

Equations of relative motion

The two-body equation of motion, namely, Newtons second law and his universal
law of gravitation form the starting point for any study of astrodynamics. Equation
1 describes the motion of a body (satellite) of negligible mass with respect to another
body (Earth) under the influence of a gravitational force. This then assumes that an
inertial frame of reference can be centered at the barycenter of the massive body.
~r
(1)
~r = 2
r r
In Newtons law of gravitation, the gravitational force can be expressed in terms
of the gradient of a scalar gravitational potential function of a body. For a
spherical body

(2)
F~ = =
r
For a non-spherical body, can contain additional terms which can be used to
determine F~ , and subsequently ~r. As the inertial reference frame is centered at the
center of the massive body, Equation 1 is also known as the fundamental equation
of relative two-body motion. The MATLAB function orbit.m uses this equation to
determine the satellite motion.

2.2

Keplerian Orbit Propagation

Keplers laws are derived from Equation 1. The orbital position as a function of
time can be decribed by the mean anomaly, Me . The propagation routines used
in the codes ground track2.m and satellite constellation.m are based on solving the
Keplers equation (Equation 3) for each time step.
Me = E e sin (E)
where E is the eccentric anomaly, and e is the eccentricity.

(3)

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

For elliptical orbits, it can be shown [1] that

Me =

3
2
1 e2 2 t
3
h

(4)

So, Equation 4 becomes

2
t
(5)
T
With this, it can be seen that numerically solving the Keplers equation for each
time step and directly using an Euler forward first-order time-stepping scheme is faster
than directly integrating Equation 1 using a Runge-Kutta (4th-order or higher) fixed
time-step scheme. Therefore, this method is primarily used to propagate the satellite
constellation for this project.
Me =

2.3

Orbit Perturbations

Equation 1 assumes that the revolving body experiences forces only from the central
body. However, this assumption does not hold for actual orbits. In reality, there are
many perturbations to the orbital motion. The equation can then be generalized to
include all the other perturbation forces acting on the body as described by Equation
6.
~r
~r = 2 + ~ap
(6)
r r
As the Earth is not a perfect sphere, the gravitational potential will deviate from
that of a perfect sphere. Due to this effect, the orbital motion will encounter perturbations. This project considers the effects of Earth Gravity Harmonics mainly, the
J2 perturbation on the secular rates of the right ascension of ascending node (),
the argument of perigee (p ), and a small correction to the mean motion of the orbit
(M e ). The rates are computed by the following equations:
2
3 J2 RE
=
n
cos i
2 p2


2
3 J2 RE
5 2
p =
n
2 sin i
2 p2
2



r 
2

3
J
R
3
2
E
2
M e = n
=
1+
1 sin i
1 e2
a30
2 p2
2

(7)
(8)
(9)

K. Loh

with the symbols taking their usual notations. Atmospheric drag perturbation effects
was not included in the simulations since it is assumed that the main propulsion system onboard a satellite will perform the necessary station-keeping maneuvers during
the mission.
For the special perturbation method employed in orbit.m, Cowells method [2]
was used. From Equation 2, it is seen that the gravitational force acting on the
revolving body can be described by the gradient of a potential function. From this,
the potential theory provides a clear picture of the gravity harmonics of the Earth.
The potential function for the primary body due to the J2 perturbation is described
by Equation 10 in the inertial Cartesian coordinate frame (ECI).
1
J2
=
r 2

RE
r

2 
 z 2 
13
r

(10)

p
where r = x2 + y 2 + z 2
It can then be derived from Equation 10 and Equation 2 that

~aJ2

 
 z 2  y 
 z 2  z 
 z 2 >
2
x
3 J2 RE
15
,
15
,
35
=
2 r4
r
r
r
r
r
r

(11)

The acceleration ~aJ2 is then added to the right-hand side of Equation 6 as part of the
perturbation acceleration.

2.4

Earth Coverage

This section will only reference figures from the text used [3] to compute the Earth
target coverage by a satellite. Also, the programs assume that for coverage purposes,
the Earth is a perfect sphere. An area access coordinate frame on the Earths surface
is defined corresponding to the nadir coordinate frame of the spacecraft. Figure 9-2
of the text [3] shows the definition of the access area coordinate frame. The transformation between latitude and longitude and access area coordinates is relatively
straightforward.
For the programs, the maximum Earth Central Angle is given by,
RE
(12)
RE + H
However, to account for the optical sensor resolution, the Earth central angle is
limited by the resolution requirements (Figure 9-3 of the text [3]). From the Rayleigh
0 =

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

criterion and cosine rule,

xres
WL
=
1.220
2h0
Da
0 2
(h ) h2
cos = 1
2RE (RE + H)
sin =

(13)
(14)

The transformation from the latitude and longitude of the target (P) and subsatellite point (SSP) (Figure 9-4 of the text [3])are as follows:
Lat0P = 90 LatP , Lat0SSP = 90 LatSSP

(15)

L = LongSSP LongP

(16)

rP = cos1 [cos Lat0P cos Lat0SSP + sin Lat0P sin Lat0SSP cos L]

(17)

The target will be observable from the spacecraft optical payload if rP min(0 , )

2.5

Walker-Delta constellation

The most symmetric of the satellite patterns is the Walker Constellation. The WalkerDelta Pattern contains a total of T satellites with S satellites evenly distributed
in each of P orbit planes. All of the orbit planes are assumed to be at the same
inclination, i, relative to the equator. The ascending nodes of the P orbit planes

in Walker patterns are uniformly distributed around the equator at intervals of 360
.
P
Within each orbital plane, the S satellites are uniformly distributed at intervals of
360
. The phase difference, , in a constellation is defined as the angle in the
S
direction of motion from the ascending node to the nearest satellite at a time when
a satellite in the next most westerly plane is at its ascending node. must be an

integral multiple, F , of 360

, where 0 < F P 1.
T
Figure 1 shows an example of a Walker-Delta pattern generated by the program
ground track2.m with the satellites at their initial positions. The green cube shows
the seed/first satellite.
Figure 2 shows the classical orbit elements for the satellites in the 45:4/2/1 WalkerDelta constellation as generated by the ground track2.m program.

General Description of the Codes

Several MATLAB functions (mainly, optim main.m, ground track2.m, orbit.m, and
test t.m) were written to analyze the behaviour of the Walker-Delta constellation.

K. Loh

Figure 1: Walker-Delta Pattern 45:4/2/1 at 10,000 km altitude

Figure 2: The initial Walker-Delta Pattern in Classical Orbit Elements

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

The ground track2.m function was written as a tool to test the orbit propagator
(satellite constellation.m) for a perturbed Keplerian orbit used in optim main.m as
well as to visualize the final design parameter chosen for the observation of KAIST.
In general the basic structure of the codes are similar to each other. The first section will be the inputs of the simulation, second function will initialize the spacecraft
state vectors in the ECI (SV) or in the Keplerian orbit elements (COE). After that
each satellite in the constellation are propagated along the same rates, hence, for
the constellation, only the initial condition is important. After the SVs or COEs
are known at each time step from the propagator, the position of the satellites
are then converted into the Earth latitude and longitude coordinate frame. In the
find ra and dec function, this is being done. This makes it easier to obtain the
subsatellite point latitudes and longitudes for coverage determination.
The appendix lists the important codes. The optim main.m code is a wrapper code
which can brute force calculate potentially all the design variables of the Walker-Delta
constellation. It uses the MATLAB parallel toolbox for independent design variable
computations.

Validation cases

There currently are no test cases to be compared against. However, the author
believes that if the individual functions are working and tested, the results after the
functions are combined can be reliable.

4.1

Initialization and propagation

The first test is the satellite initialization subroutine. The output in Figure 2 shows
that the initialization was done correctly. The orbit was also propagated correctly
with all the outputs showing that the satellites were uniformly propagated. The
final output is shown in Figure 3. Table 1 presents the results of a single satellite
using different propagator models. One is run using orbit.m and the other using
ground track2.m. As can be seen, the results show not a large difference between
the RK5 and Kepler propagator model, with the exception that the Kepler model is
faster to run but the disadvantage is that it assumes an elliptical orbit.

K. Loh

Figure 3: Final output

Table 1: Results of FOM for single satellite using different propagator models
Method of propagation Average altitude (km) % Coverage Mean response time (s)
RK5 - Newton
392.75
0.255
27987
Kepler
400
0.301
27667

4.2

Earth coverage

Unfortunately, there is no known standard test case to be run for the calculation of
the earth coverage.

4.3

Figure-of-Merit

The calculation of the coverage FOM by the subroutine test t.m is particularly important to establish the performance of the design of the constellation. Hence the
percentage coverage and mean response time calculations must be validated. For the
test case, the observation patterns for case A is reproduced with varying number of
timesteps for the same length. The first is that shown by the text [3] with dt = 1
time unit. The second case gives a dt = 0.1 time unit. The third case gives dt = 0.01
time unit.
The percent coverage and mean response time matches well with the FOM given
out by the text (Page 485 in [3]). When the time steps are refined, however, the
mean response time differs by quite a significant value. The second case A with a
finer time step of 0.1 time unit, gives a mean response time of 0.32 time unit instead
of 0.5 as quoted by the text. Figures 4 to 6 show the case A observation histogram
with increasingly finer timesteps.
The third case A with the finest time step of 0.01 time unit gave a mean response
time of 0.302 time unit with a percent coverage of 60%. Figure 7 shows the results
from the test t.m for the mean response time as a function of dt. It shows that
the actual mean response time as dt gets closer to 0 is 0.3 time unit instead of the
given 0.5 by the text. However, after reading up on the text and checking the code

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

Figure 4: First case A (dt = 1)

Figure 5: Second case A (dt = 0.1)

Figure 6: Third case A (dt = 0.01)

10

K. Loh

several times, the author believes that the way to calculate the mean response time
by the subroutine test t.m was correct and attributes the difference in the results by
temporal refinement issues.

Figure 7: Mean response time as a function of dt

5
5.1

Results and Discussion

Case 1 - Observation of the city of Patna

Patna is the capital of the Indian state Bihar. It is situated at 25.611 N, and 85.144
E. It is a growing state in India therefore, there is a need for remote sensing from
space to help city planners in building the city. As such, this case serves as a first
test for both the code and also the idea of having remote sensing satellites to aid in
city planning. The requirements are laid out such that a ground resolution is no more
than 5 m. Also, the number of satellites should be no more than 10.
The design chosen to test is a Walker-Delta constellation of 26:10/5/1. The altitude is given at 1000 km. The percent coverage obtained for a 24 hour simulation was
48.3% and the mean response time was shown to be 33.1 s with a maximum response
time of 419.9 s. Figures 8 to 10 shows the constellation configuration along with the
orbit, ground track, and the observation histogram for a single revolution.

5.2

Case 2 - Observation of KAIST

KAIST is South Koreas first research oriented science and engineering institution.
Naturally, as South Koreas foremost center for strategic research and development,

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

Figure 8: Case 1 - Initial constellation configuration

Figure 9: Case 1 - Ground track for 1 revolution

11

12

K. Loh

Figure 10: Case 1 - Observation histogram for 1 revolution

the safety of the institute is of paramount importance. In order to help safeguard this
institution, it is required that a constellation of remote sensing satellites be placed in
orbit with a ground resolution of 1.1 m, and the camera payload aperture diameter
at 1 m. The inclination of the orbit has to be 60 and the total number of satellites
must not be more than 30 due to cost considerations. The percent coverage is of
utmost priority and has to be maximized for a duration of 1 day.

Figure 11: as a function of altitude, h, and ground resolution, xres

Figure 11 shows the contour plot of the Earth Central Angle limitation imposed

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

13

by Rayleighs Criterion as a function of altitude and ground resolution requirements.

For the aperture diameter of 1 m, the limited Earth central angle is at 5 with an
altitude of 700 km. This also imposes an altitude limitation in which the satellite
altitudes must not go above 1000 km.
For the case of observing KAIST, the optim main.m code was used to determine
the design variables which gives the maximum percent coverage. The brute force
searching technique was used. Figure 12 provides an indication of the percent coverage
variation with respect to the total number of satellites (T) parameter and the altitude.
For this case, the number of planes (P) is set at the maximum which is equal to T.
The discontinuous looking pattern is very likely due to the discrete nature of the
variable T, and also, the simulation for observing the ground, the time step might be
too large in that it might have skipped a few points on the ground, thereby causing
the percent coverage plot to be rather irregular. However, a pattern can be seen,
which shows that the percent coverage increases with decreasing altitude. This is
probably due to the increasing limited Earth Central Angle imposed by the Rayleigh
criterion. Of particular interest is shown in Figure 13 that increasing or decreasing
the number of planes with a maximum number of satellites (T = 30) does not change
the percent coverage by a significant amount. What is clear from the plot is that the
largest difference comes again yet from changing altitude. This can only be explained
by performance plateaus which is affected by altitude and inclination as described by
the text [3].
As can be seen from Figure 14, changing the initial east longitude of the first
satellite makes no difference to the percent coverage FOM.
Using the information gained, the constellation 60:30/5/1 is chosen as the final
design point to maximize the percent coverage to observe KAIST. The constellation
will have an altitude of 400 km and the initial longitude of the first satellite at t=0 is
at 0 . The estimated performance of this constellation design is a percentage coverage
of 8.54%, a mean response time of 200.44 s, and a maximum response time of 1019.76
s. Figures 15 to 17 shows the configuration, ground track, and observation histogram
respectively for the satellite constellation for a time length of 1 orbital period.
The results show that the ground resolution, and inclination requirements have
to be relaxed to attain a more feasible solution.

14

K. Loh

Figure 12: Contour map of percent coverage as a function of altitude and number of
satellites

Figure 13: Contour map of percent coverage as a function of altitude and number of
planes

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

15

Figure 14: Percent coverage as a function of initial longitude of seed/first satellite

and number of satellites

Figure 15: Initial satellite constellation (60:30/5/1 configuration)

16

K. Loh

Figure 16: Ground track for the constellation after 1 period

Figure 17: Observation histogram for the constellation observing KAIST in 1 period

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

17

Summary

A suite of MATLAB functions was developed to analyze the behaviour of WalkerDelta Constellations. Two propagator models were compared, and both models considered the oblateness of the Earth (J2 perturbation effects). The functions were
validated and the functions were used to analyze the performance of such constellations in observing primarily, KAIST, and Patna. The results show that the design
requirements are quite tight for the KAIST case while the imaginary Patna case seem
to be feasible.

Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Prof. Ahn Jaemyung for his lectures and out-of-class technical discussion which were necessary to complete this project. The author acknowledges the use of the algorithms as structured by one of the text used [1].

References
[1] Curtis, H. Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students, 2nd Ed. (Elsevier Ltd,
Oxford, UK, 2010).
[2] Chobotov, V. Orbital Mechanics, 2nd Ed. (AIAA Education Series, Reston, VA,
USA 1996).
[3] Wertz, J. Mission Geometry: Orbit and Constellation Design and Management,
1st Ed. (Space Technology Library, Microcosm Press, CA, USA, 2001).

A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Listing of code - optim main.m

clear a l l ; close a l l ; clc ;

m a t l a b p o o l ( 3 ) ; %Comment o u t i f no p a r a l l e l t o o l b o x i n s t a l l e d
deg = pi / 1 8 0 ;
mu = 3 9 8 6 0 0 ;
J2 = 0 . 0 0 1 0 8 2 6 3 ;
Re = 6 3 7 8 ;
we = ( 2 pi + 2 pi / 3 6 5 . 2 6 ) / ( 2 4 3 6 0 0 ) ;
%Walker c o n s t e l l a t i o n d e s i g n v a r i a b l e s

18
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

40
41

42
43
44

K. Loh

i n c l w = 60 deg ; %I n c l i n a t i o n o f t h e p l a n e s
Nsat = 1 : 3 0 ; %t t o t a l number o f s a t e l l i t e s
Nplane = Nsat ; %p t o t a l number o f p l a n e s
f = 1 ; %f p ha s e m u l t i p l i e r
% . . . Seed / F i r s t s a t e l l i t e p a r a m e t e r s
Alt = 4 0 0 ;
hP1 = Alt ;
hA1 = Alt ;
TAo1 = 0 deg ;
Woi = ( 0 : 5 : 3 6 0 ) deg ;
wpo1 = 0 deg ;
%Case S i m u l a t i o n l e n g t h and t i m e s t e p s
dt = 2 0 ;
to = 0 ;
t f = 1 2 4 3 6 0 0 ; % Ts i n a s s i g n m e n t paper
%T a r g e t l a t i t u d e and l o n g i t u d e
l a t T = 3 6 . 3 7 2 deg ; %3 6 . 3 7 2 deg ;
longT = 1 2 7 . 3 6 3 deg ; %1 2 7 . 3 6 3 deg ;
%S a t e l l i t e p a y l o a d p a r a m e t e r s
Da = 1 ;
WL = 5 e 7;
x res = 1.1;
KA = 2 0 6 2 6 . 4 8 0 6 ; % f o r IAA area i n deg 2
f o r k = 1 : length ( Nsat )
p a r f o r i = 1 : length ( Woi ) %Change p a r f o r t o f o r i f no p a r a l l e l
toolbox is installed
[ t SEE ] = s a t e l l i t e c o n s t e l l a t i o n (mu, J2 , Re , we , i n c l w , Nsat ( k ) ,
Nplane ( k ) , f , hP1 , hA1 , TAo1 , Woi ( i ) , wpo1 , dt , to , t f , latT , longT , Da ,
WL, x r e s ,KA) ;
[ p c o v e r ( k , i ) m e a n r e s p o n s e ( k , i ) m a x r e s p on s e ( k , i ) ] = t e s t t (SEE
,t);
% f p r i n t f ( \ n A l t i t u d e = %g km | P e r c e n t a g e c o v e r a g e = %g
p e r c e n t | Mean r e s p o n s e time = %g s e c o n d s | Max r e s p o n s e
time = %g s e c o n d s \n , A l t ( i ) , p c o v e r 100 , mean response ,
m ax r es p on s e )
drawnow ;
end
end

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

19

45
46 m a t l a b p o o l c l o s e ; %Comment o u t i f no p a r a l l e l t o o l b o x i n s t a l l e d
47
48 c o n t o u r f ( Woi , Nsat , p c o v e r 1 0 0 , k ) ;

Listing of code - satellite constellation.m

1 %
2 function [ t X] = s a t e l l i t e c o n s t e l l a t i o n (mu, J2 , Re , we , i n c l w , Nsat , Nplane , f
, hP1 , hA1 , TAo1 , Woi , wpo1 , dt , to , t f , latT , longT , Da ,WL, x r e s ,KA)
3 %
4
5 %c l e a r a l l ; c l o s e a l l ; c l c
6 global r a dec n c u r v e s RA Dec
7 %m a t l a b p o o l ( 4 ) %Only used i f p a r a l l e l t o o l b o x i s i n s t a l l e d
8 deg = pi / 1 8 0 ;
9 hours = 3600;
10 %C a l c u l a t e P a t t e r n Unit f o r Walker c o n s t e l l a t i o n
11 PU = 360 deg / Nsat ;
12 %C a l c u l a t e Number o f s a t e l l i t e s i n a p l a n e
13 NSsat = Nsat / Nplane ;
14 %Angle d i v i s i o n b e t w e e n s a t e l l i t e s i n t h e p l a n e
15 beta = PU Nplane ;
16 %RAAN s p a c i n g
17 dRAAN = PU NSsat ;
18 % . . . Seed / F i r s t s a t e l l i t e p a r a m e t e r s
19 hP ( 1 : Nsat ) = hP1 ;
20 hA ( 1 : Nsat ) = hA1 ;
21 rP1 = hP1 + Re ; rP ( 1 : Nsat ) = rP1 ;
22 rA1 = hA1 + Re ; rA ( 1 : Nsat ) = rA1 ;
23 i n c l 1 = i n c l w ; i n c l ( 1 : Nsat ) =i n c l 1 ;
24 TAo ( 1 : Nsat ) = TAo1 ;
25 Wo1 ( 1 : Nsat ) = Woi ;
26 wp ( 1 : Nsat ) = wpo1 ;
27
28 f p r i n t f ( I n i t i a l s a t e l l i t e c o n s t e l l a t i o n p r o p e r t i e s \n )
29 f o r i =1: Nsat
30
pindex ( i ) = c e i l ( i / NSsat ) ;
31
Spindex ( i ) = i ( pindex ( i ) 1 ) NSsat 1 ;
32
f s a t i n d e x ( i ) = abs(1 sign ( Spindex ( i ) ) ) ;
33
TAo( i ) = TAo1 + Spindex ( i ) beta + ( pindex ( i ) 1) f PU;

20

K. Loh

34
W( i ) = Wo1( i ) + ( pindex ( i ) 1 ) dRAAN;
35 end
36
37 %C a l c u l a t e Earth c e n t r a l a n g l e from p a y l o a d p a r a m e t e r s
38 h prime = Da x r e s 1 e 3/(2.440WL) ; %From R a y l e i g h o p t i c a l r e s o l u t i o n (
km)
39 % . . . End d a t a d e c l a r a t i o n
40
41 % . . . Compute t h e r a t e s o f node r e g r e s s i o n and p e r i g e e advance
42 a = ( rA + rP ) / 2 ; %1 : Nsat
43 T = 2 pi / sqrt (mu) . a . ( 3 / 2 ) ; %1 : Nsat
44 e = ( rA rP ) . / ( rA + rP ) ; %1 : Nsat
45 h = sqrt (mu. a . ( 1 e . 2 ) ) ; %1 : Nsat
46 Eo = 2 atan ( tan (TAo/ 2 ) . sqrt ((1 e ) ./(1+ e ) ) ) ; %1 : Nsat
47 M = Eo e . sin ( Eo ) ; %1 : Nsat
48 P = a .(1 e . 2 ) ;
49 f a c = 3/2 J2 ( Re . / P) . 2 ;
50 Mdot = ( 2 pi . /T) . ( 1 + f a c . sqrt (1 e . 2 ) . ( 1 ( 3 / 2 ) . sin ( i n c l ) . 2 ) ) ; %
From Chobotov
51 Wdot = Mdot . f a c . cos ( i n c l ) ;
52 wpdot = f a c . Mdot.( 5/2 sin ( i n c l ) . 2 + 2 ) ;
53
54
55 % f o r i =1: Nsat
56 %
f p r i n t f ( \ n Sat # = %d , h = %g km , i = %g deg , Wo = %g deg ,
wpo = %g deg , TAo = %g deg , Mo = %g deg \n , i , hP( i ) , i n c l ( i ) / deg ,
W( i ) / deg , wp ( i ) / deg , TAo( i ) / deg , M( i ) / deg ) ;
57 % end
58 t i m e s=t o : dt : t f ;
59 r a ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat ) = 0 ;
60 dec ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat ) = 0 ;
61 t h e t a = 0 ;
62 r r e l m a g ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat ) = 0 ;
63 f o r i = 1 : length ( t i m e s )
64
t ( i ) = times ( i ) ;
65
f o r i i = 1 : Nsat
66
M( i i ) = M( i i ) + Mdot ( i i ) dt ;
67
E( i i ) = k e p l e r E ( e ( i i ) ,M( i i ) ) ;
68
TA( i i ) = 2 atan ( tan (E( i i ) / 2 ) sqrt ((1+ e ( i i ) ) /(1 e ( i i ) ) ) ) ;
69
r = h ( i i ) 2/mu/ ( 1 + e ( i i ) cos (TA( i i ) ) ) [ cos (TA( i i ) ) sin (TA( i i ) ) 0 ] ;
70
71 W( i i ) = W( i i ) + Wdot( i i ) dt ;

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

72
wp( i i ) = wp( i i ) + wpdot ( i i ) dt ;
73
Rone = R3(W( i i ) ) ;
74
Rtwo = R1( i n c l ( i i ) ) ;
75
Rthree = R3(wp( i i ) ) ;
76
QxX = ( Rthree RtwoRone ) ;
77
R = QxX r ;
78
79
t h e t a = we ( t ( i ) t o ) ;
80
Q = R3( t h e t a ) ;
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r r e l = QR;
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r r e l m a g ( i , i i ) = norm( r r e l ) ;
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[ alpha d e l t a ] = r a a n d d e c f r o m r ( r r e l ) ;
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ra ( i , i i ) = alpha ;
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dec ( i , i i ) = d e l t a ;
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end
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91 f o r i = 1 : length ( t i m e s )
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t i = times ( i ) ;
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f o r i i = 1 : Nsat
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a l t = r r e l m a g ( i , i i ) Re ;
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clambda = 1( h prime 2 a l t 2 ) / ( 2 Re ( Re + a l t ) ) ; %Cos lambda
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IAA = KA. ( 1 clambda ) ;
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l a t P p r i m e = pi /2 l a t T ; %T r a n s f o r m a t i o n from l a t l o n g t o
a c c e s s are a c o o r d i n a t e s ( S e c t i o n 9 . 1 M i ss i o n Geometry (
Wertz ) )
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l a t S S P p r i m e = pi /2 dec ( i , i i ) ;
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d e l t a L = r a ( i , i i ) deg longT ;
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lambda ( i , i i ) = a c o s d ( clambda ) ;
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lambda0 ( i , i i ) = a c o s d ( Re / ( Re + a l t ) ) ;
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rlambda ( i , i i ) = a c o s d ( cos ( l a t P p r i m e ) cos ( l a t S S P p r i m e ) + sin (
l a t P p r i m e ) sin ( l a t S S P p r i m e ) cos ( d e l t a L ) ) ; %Angular
D i s t a n c e from t a r g e t t o s u b s a t e l l i t e p o i n t , D i t t o Eqn 99
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i f ( rlambda ( i , i i ) > 1 8 0 )
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rlambda ( i , i i ) = 360 rlambda ( i , i i ) ;
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end
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i f ( rlambda ( i , i i ) <= min( lambda ( i , i i ) , lambda0 ( i , i i ) ) )
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SEE( i , i i ) = 1 ; %I f t a r g e t i s w i t h i n t h e minimum o f e i t h e r
lambda or lambda0 , then , i t i s c o v e r e d by t h e i i t h
satellite

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end
end
SEE( i , Nsat +1) = sign (sum(SEE( i , 1 : Nsat ) ) ) ; %As l o n g as t h e r e i s one
s a t e l l i t e c o v e r e d , t h e n t h e t a r g e t i s c o v e r e d by t h e
constellation
end
% form separate curves
% plot ground track
% print orbital data
% f i g u r e (3)
% p l o t ( t / hours , SEE ( : , Nsat +1) , k ) ;
X = SEE ( : , Nsat +1) ;
%[ p c o v e r mean response ma x r es p on s e ] = t e s t t (SEE ( : , Nsat +1) , t ) ;
% f i g u r e (4)
% p l o t ( t / hours , a l t , k ) ;
%r e t u r n
end %g r o u n d t r a c k
%

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Listing of code - ground track2.m

%
function g r o u n d t r a c k 2
%
clear a l l ; close a l l ; clc
global r a dec n c u r v e s RA Dec
%m a t l a b p o o l ( 4 ) %Only used i f p a r a l l e l t o o l b o x i s i n s t a l l e d
deg = pi / 1 8 0 ;
hours = 3600;
mu = 3 9 8 6 0 0 ;
J2 = 0 . 0 0 1 0 8 2 6 3 ;
Re = 6 3 7 8 ;
we = ( 2 pi + 2 pi / 3 6 5 . 2 6 ) / ( 2 4 3 6 0 0 ) ;
%Walker c o n s t e l l a t i o n d e s i g n v a r i a b l e s
i n c l w = 60 deg ; %I n c l i n a t i o n o f t h e p l a n e s
Nsat = 3 0 ; %t t o t a l number o f s a t e l l i t e s
Nplane = 5 ; %p t o t a l number o f p l a n e s
f = 1 ; %f p ha s e m u l t i p l i e r

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%C a l c u l a t e P a t t e r n Unit f o r Walker c o n s t e l l a t i o n
PU = 360 deg / Nsat ;
%C a l c u l a t e Number o f s a t e l l i t e s i n a p l a n e
NSsat = Nsat / Nplane ;
%Angle d i v i s i o n b e t w e e n s a t e l l i t e s i n t h e p l a n e
beta = PU Nplane ;
%RAAN s p a c i n g
dRAAN = PU NSsat ;
%A l t i t u d e ( i n km)
H = 400;
%L o n g i t u d e o f t h e f i r s t s a t e l l i t e i n t h e f i r s t p l a n e a t t =0
Lon0 = 0 ;
% . . . Seed / F i r s t s a t e l l i t e p a r a m e t e r s
hP1 = H; hP ( 1 : Nsat ) = hP1 ;
hA1 = H; hA ( 1 : Nsat ) = hA1 ;
rP1 = hP1 + Re ; rP ( 1 : Nsat ) = rP1 ;
rA1 = hA1 + Re ; rA ( 1 : Nsat ) = rA1 ;
i n c l 1 = i n c l w ; i n c l ( 1 : Nsat ) =i n c l 1 ;
TAo1 = 0 deg ; TAo ( 1 : Nsat ) = TAo1 ;
Wo1 = Lon0 deg ; Wo1 ( 1 : Nsat ) = Wo1 ;
wpo1 = 0 deg ; wp ( 1 : Nsat ) = wpo1 ;
initialize walker
dt = 2 0 ;
%T a r g e t l a t i t u d e and l o n g i t u d e ( on t h e ground )
l a t T = 3 6 . 3 7 2 deg ;%2 5 . 6 1 1 deg ;%
longT = 1 2 7 . 3 6 3 deg ;%8 5 . 1 4 4 deg ;%
%S a t e l l i t e p a y l o a d p a r a m e t e r s
Da = 1 ;
WL = 5 e 7;
x res = 1.1;
KA = 2 0 6 2 6 . 4 8 0 6 ; % f o r IAA area i n deg 2
%C a l c u l a t e Earth c e n t r a l a n g l e from p a y l o a d p a r a m e t e r s
h prime = Da x r e s 1 e 3/(2.440WL) ; %From R a y l e i g h o p t i c a l r e s o l u t i o n (
km)
52 % . . . End d a t a d e c l a r a t i o n
53
54 % . . . Compute t h e r a t e s o f node r e g r e s s i o n and p e r i g e e advance
55 a = ( rA + rP ) / 2 ; %1 : Nsat
56 T = 2 pi / sqrt (mu) . a . ( 3 / 2 ) ; %1 : Nsat
57 e = ( rA rP ) . / ( rA + rP ) ; %1 : Nsat
58 h = sqrt (mu. a . ( 1 e . 2 ) ) ; %1 : Nsat
59 Eo = 2 atan ( tan (TAo/ 2 ) . sqrt ((1 e ) ./(1+ e ) ) ) ; %1 : Nsat

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M = Eo e . sin ( Eo ) ; %1 : Nsat
c o e 0 = [ h e W / deg i n c l / deg wp / deg TAo / deg ] ;
to = 0 ;
t f = t o + T ;%1 2 4 3 6 0 0 ;
t i m e s=t o : dt : t f ;
P = a .(1 e . 2 ) ;
f a c = 3/2 J2 ( Re . / P) . 2 ;
Mdot = ( 2 pi . /T) . ( 1 + f a c . sqrt (1 e . 2 ) . ( 1 ( 3 / 2 ) . sin ( i n c l ) . 2 ) ) ;
Wdot = Mdot . f a c . cos ( i n c l ) ;
wpdot = f a c . Mdot.( 5/2 sin ( i n c l ) . 2 + 2 ) ;
f o r i =1: Nsat
[ R0 V0 ] = s v f r o m c o e ( c o e 0 ( i , : ) ,mu) ;
Rplot ( 1 , : , i ) = [ R0 V0 ] ;
f p r i n t f ( \n Sat # = %d , h = %g km, i = %g deg , Wo = %g deg , wpo = %g
deg , TAo = %g deg , Mo = %g deg \n , i , hP( i ) , i n c l ( i ) / deg , W( i ) /
deg , wp( i ) / deg , TAo( i ) / deg , M( i ) / deg ) ;
end
find ra and dec
figure (2)
ground map
f o r i i = 1 : Nsat
form separate curves
plot ground track
end
% print orbital data
figure (1)
output
figure (3)
plot ( t / hours , SEE ( : , Nsat +1) , k ) ;
axis ( [ t ( 1 ) / h o u r s t ( end ) / h o u r s 0 1 . 1 ] ) ;
xlabel ( Time ( Hours ) ) ; ylabel ( O b s e r v a t i o n ) ;
fprintf ( Final o r b i t a l elements ) ;
f o r i =1: Nsat
f p r i n t f ( \n Sat # = %d , h = %g km, i = %g deg , Wo = %g deg , wpo = %g
deg , TAo = %g deg , Mo = %g deg \n , i , hP( i ) , i n c l ( i ) / deg , W( i ) /
deg , wp( i ) / deg , TA( i ) / deg , M( i ) / deg ) ;
end
[ p c o v e r m e a n r e s p o n s e m a x r e s p on s e ] = t e s t t (SEE ( : , Nsat +1) , t ) ;
f p r i n t f ( \n P e r c e n t a g e c o v e r a g e = %g p e r c e n t | Mean r e s p o n s e time = %g
s e c o n d s | Max r e s p o n s e time = %g s e c o n d s \n , p c o v e r 1 0 0 ,
mean response , m a x r e s p on s e )

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% f i g u r e (4)
% p l o t ( t / hours , a l t , k ) ;
return
function i n i t i a l i z e w a l k e r
f p r i n t f ( I n i t i a l s a t e l l i t e c o n s t e l l a t i o n p r o p e r t i e s \n )
f o r i =1: Nsat
pindex ( i ) = c e i l ( i / NSsat ) ;
Spindex ( i ) = i ( pindex ( i ) 1 ) NSsat 1 ;
f s a t i n d e x ( i ) = abs(1 sign ( Spindex ( i ) ) ) ;
TAo( i ) = TAo1 + Spindex ( i ) beta + ( pindex ( i ) 1) f PU;
W( i ) = Wo1( i ) + ( pindex ( i ) 1 ) dRAAN;
end
end
function f i n d r a a n d d e c %Get s u b s a t e l l i t e p o i n t and a l s o d e t e r m i n e i f
s a t e l l i t e can s e e t h e t a r g e t
r a ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat ) = 0 ;
dec ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat ) = 0 ;
theta = 0;
r r e l m a g ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat ) = 0 ;
f o r i = 1 : length ( t i m e s )
t ( i ) = times ( i ) ;
f o r i i = 1 : Nsat
M( i i ) = M( i i ) + Mdot ( i i ) dt ;
E( i i ) = k e p l e r E ( e ( i i ) ,M( i i ) ) ;
TA( i i ) = 2 atan ( tan (E( i i ) / 2 ) sqrt ((1+ e ( i i ) ) /(1 e ( i i ) ) ) ) ;
r = h ( i i ) 2/mu/ ( 1 + e ( i i ) cos (TA( i i ) ) ) [ cos (TA( i i ) ) sin (TA( i i ) ) 0 ] ;
W( i i ) = W( i i ) + Wdot( i i ) dt ;
wp( i i ) = wp( i i ) + wpdot ( i i ) dt ;
c o e 0 = [ h ( i i ) e ( i i ) W( i i ) i n c l ( i i ) wp( i i ) TA( i i ) ] ;
[ R0 V0 ] = s v f r o m c o e ( coe0 ,mu) ; %Obtain R, V f o r p l o t t i n g
Rplot ( i , : , i i ) = [ R0 V0 ] ;
Rone = R3(W( i i ) ) ;
Rtwo = R1( i n c l ( i i ) ) ;
Rthree = R3(wp( i i ) ) ;
QxX = ( Rthree RtwoRone ) ;
R = QxX r ;
t h e t a = we ( t ( i ) t o ) ;

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Q = R3( t h e t a ) ;
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r r e l = QR;
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r r e l m a g ( i , i i ) = norm( r r e l ) ;
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[ alpha d e l t a ] = r a a n d d e c f r o m r ( r r e l ) ;
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ra ( i , i i ) = alpha ;
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dec ( i , i i ) = d e l t a ;
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end
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147 SEE ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) , 1 : Nsat +1) = 0 ;
148 f o r i = 1 : length ( t i m e s )
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t i = times ( i ) ;
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f o r i i = 1 : Nsat
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a l t = r r e l m a g ( i , i i ) Re ;
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clambda = 1( h prime 2 a l t 2 ) / ( 2 Re ( Re + a l t ) ) ; %Cos lambda
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IAA = KA. ( 1 clambda ) ;
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l a t P p r i m e = pi /2 l a t T ; %T r a n s f o r m a t i o n from l a t l o n g t o
a c c e s s are a c o o r d i n a t e s ( S e c t i o n 9 . 1 M i ss i o n Geometry (
Wertz )
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l a t S S P p r i m e = pi /2 dec ( i , i i ) ;
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d e l t a L = r a ( i , i i ) deg longT ;
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lambda ( i , i i ) = a c o s d ( clambda ) ;
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lambda0 ( i , i i ) = a c o s d ( Re / ( Re + a l t ) ) ;
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rlambda ( i , i i ) = a c o s d ( cos ( l a t P p r i m e ) cos ( l a t S S P p r i m e ) + sin (
l a t P p r i m e ) sin ( l a t S S P p r i m e ) cos ( d e l t a L ) ) ; %Angular
D i s t a n c e from t a r g e t t o s u b s a t e l l i t e p o i n t , D i t t o Eqn 99
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i f ( rlambda ( i , i i ) > 1 8 0 )
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rlambda ( i , i i ) = 360 rlambda ( i , i i ) ;
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end
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i f ( rlambda ( i , i i ) <= min( lambda ( i , i i ) , lambda0 ( i , i i ) ) )
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SEE( i , i i ) = 1 ; %I f t a r g e t i s w i t h i n t h e minimum o f e i t h e r
lambda or lambda0 , then , i t i s c o v e r e d by t h e i i t h
satellite
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end
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end
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SEE( i , Nsat +1) = sign (sum(SEE( i , 1 : Nsat ) ) ) ; %As l o n g as t h e r e i s one
s a t e l l i t e c o v e r e d , t h e n t h e t a r g e t i s c o v e r e d by t h e
constellation
168 end
169
170 end %f i n d r a a n d d e c

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%
function f o r m s e p a r a t e c u r v e s
%
% Breaks t h e ground t r a c k up i n t o s e p a r a t e c u r v e s which s t a r t
% and t e r m i n a t e a t r i g h t a s c e n s i o n s i n t h e range [ 0 , 3 6 0 deg ] .
%
tol = 100;
curve no = 1;
n curves = 1;
k = 0;
ra prev = ra (1 , i i ) ;
f o r i = 1 : length ( r a )
i f abs ( r a ( i ) r a p r e v ) > t o l
curve no = curve no + 1;
n curves = n curves + 1;
k = 0;
end
k = k + 1;
RA{ c u r v e n o } ( k ) = r a ( i , i i ) ;
Dec{ c u r v e n o } ( k ) = dec ( i , i i ) ;
ra prev = ra ( i , i i ) ;
end
end %f o r m s e p a r a t e c u r v e s
%
function p l o t g r o u n d t r a c k
%
for i = 1 : n curves
plot (RA{ i } , Dec{ i } , . r , M ar k e r S i z e , 4 )
end
plot ( longT / deg , l a t T / deg , ow ) ;
% a x i s ( [ 0 360 90 9 0 ] )
text ( P o s i t i o n , [ r a ( 1 , i i ) dec ( 1 , i i ) ] , S t r i n g , [ o S t a r t num2str ( i i )
])
text ( P o s i t i o n , [ r a ( end , i i ) dec ( end , i i ) ] , S t r i n g , [ o F i n i s h num2str
( ii ) ])
text ( P o s i t i o n , [ longT / deg , l a t T / deg ] , S t r i n g , Target , F o n t S i z e ,
12 , Color , white )
l i n e ( [ min( r a ( : , i i ) ) max( r a ( : , i i ) ) ] , [ 0 0 ] , C o l o r , k ) %t h e e q u a t o r
end %p l o t g r o u n d t r a c k

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function ground map

load ( topo . mat , topo , topomap1 ) ;
contour ( 0 : 3 5 9 , 8 9 : 9 0 , topo , [ 0 0 ] , b )
axis e q u a l
box on
set ( gca , XLim , [ 0 3 6 0 ] , YLim ,[ 90 9 0 ] , . . .
XTick , [ 0 60 120 180 240 300 3 6 0 ] , . . .
Y t i c k ,[ 90 60 30 0 30 60 9 0 ] ) ;
hold on
image ( [ 0 3 6 0 ] , [ 9 0 9 0 ] , topo , CDataMapping , s c a l e d ) ;
colormap ( topomap1 ) ;
xlabel ( East l o n g i t u d e ( d e g r e e s ) )
ylabel ( L a t i t u d e ( d e g r e e s ) )
axis e q u a l
grid on
end %ground map
function output
%. . . Plot the r e s u l t s :
% Draw t h e p l a n e t
load ( topo . mat , topo , topomap1 ) ;
[ xx , yy , z z ] = sphere ( 1 0 0 ) ;
c l a reset
p r o p s . AmbientStrength = 0 . 1 ;
props . D i f f u s e S t r e n g t h = 1 ;
props . S p e c u l a r C o l o r R e f l e c t a n c e = . 5 ;
p r o p s . SpecularExponent = 2 0 ;
props . SpecularStrength = 1 ;
p r o p s . FaceColor= t e x t u r e ;
p r o p s . EdgeColor = none ;
p r o p s . F a c e L i g h t i n g = phong ;
p r o p s . Cdata = topo ;
s f = surface ( Rexx , Reyy , Re zz , p r o p s ) ;% f a c e c o l o r , texturemap , cdata
, topo ) ;
f o r r t = 1 : 1 0 0 %Reo r i e n t t o p o map t o l o n g i t u d e e a s t 0 a t GMT
rotate ( s f , [ 0 , 0 , 1 ] , 4 5 ) ;
end
%
sf ;
%colormap ( l i g h t g r a y )
caxis ([ Re/10 Re / 1 0 ] )
%s h a d i n g i n t e r p
% Draw and l a b e l t h e X, Y and Z a x e s

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l i n e ( [ 0 2Re ] , [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 0 ] ) ; text ( 2 Re , 0 , 0 , X )
l i n e ( [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 2Re ] , [ 0 0 ] ) ; text ( 0 , 2Re , 0 , Y )
l i n e ( [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 2Re ] ) ; text ( 0 , 0 , 2Re , Z )
% P l o t t h e o r b i t , draw a r a d i a l t o t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t
% and l a b e l t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t ( o ) and t h e f i n a l p o i n t ( f )
hold on
f o r i i =1: Nsat
plot3 ( Rplot ( : , 1 , i i ) , Rplot ( : , 2 , i i ) , Rplot ( : , 3 , i i ) , k )
%
l i n e ( [ 0 r0 ( 1 ) ] , [ 0 r0 ( 2 ) ] , [ 0 r0 ( 3 ) ] )
i f ( i i ==1)
d r a w s a t ( Rplot ( 1 , 1 : 3 , i i ) , [ 3 5 0 350 3 5 0 ] , g , 1 ) ;
else
d r a w s a t ( Rplot ( 1 , 1 : 3 , i i ) , [ 3 5 0 350 3 5 0 ] , r , 1 ) ;
end
end
% S e l e c t a v i e w d i r e c t i o n ( a v e c t o r d i r e c t e d outward from t h e o r i g i n )
view ( [ 1 , 1 , . 4 ] )
% S p e c i f y some p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e graph
grid on
axis e q u a l
xlabel ( km )
ylabel ( km )
z l a b e l ( km )
end %o u t p u t
%
function p r i n t o r b i t a l d a t a
%
c o e = [ h e Wo i n c l wpo TAo ] ;
[ ro , vo ] = s v f r o m c o e ( coe , mu) ;
f p r i n t f ( \n \n )
f p r i n t f ( \n Angular momentum = %g km2/ s , h )
f p r i n t f ( \n E c c e n t r i c i t y = %g , e )
f p r i n t f ( \n Semimajor a x i s = %g km , a )
f p r i n t f ( \n P e r i g e e r a d i u s = %g km , rP )
f p r i n t f ( \n Apogee r a d i u s = %g km , rA )
f p r i n t f ( \n P e r i o d = %g h o u r s , T/ 3 6 0 0 )
f p r i n t f ( \n I n c l i n a t i o n = %g deg , i n c l / deg )
f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l t r u e anomaly = %g deg , TAo/ deg )
f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l RA = %g deg , Wo/ deg )
f p r i n t f ( \n RA dot = %g deg / day , Wdot/ deg ( t f t o ) )
f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l wp = %g deg , wpo/ deg )

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fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (

\n wp dot = %g deg / p e r i o d , wpdot/ deg T)

\n )
\n r 0 = [%12g , %12g , %12g ] (km) , r o ( 1 ) , r o ( 2 ) , r o ( 3 ) )
\n magnitude = %g km\n , norm( r o ) )
\n v0 = [%12g , %12g , %12g ] (km) , vo ( 1 ) , vo ( 2 ) , vo ( 3 ) )
\n magnitude = %g km/ s \n , norm( vo ) )
\n \n )

end %p r i n t o r b i t a l d a t a
end %g r o u n d t r a c k
%

Listing of code - orbit.m

1 function o r b i t %s i m i l a r t o g r o u n d t r a c k .m e x c e p t t h a t s t a t e v e c t o r i s
p r o p a g a t e d i n s t e a d u s i n g Newton s law
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clc ; close a l l ; clear a l l
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global r a dec n c u r v e s RA Dec
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hours = 3600;
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deg = pi / 1 8 0 ;
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%. . . Input data :
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% Earth :
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R = 6378;
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mu = 3 9 8 6 0 0 ;
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we = ( 2 pi + 2 pi / 3 6 5 . 2 6 ) / ( 2 4 3 6 0 0 ) ;
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%P h y s i c a l model i n p u t
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J 2 i n c = 1 ; %I n c l u d e J2 p e r t u r b a t i o n e f f e c t s ? 1 yes , 0 f o r no
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l o w t h r u s t = 0 ; %I n c l u d e low t h r u s t t a n g e n t i a l t o o r b i t p a t h ? 1 yes ,
0 no
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a t t h r u s t = 5 e 6;
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Atmos drag = 0 ; %I n c l u d e a t m o s p h e r i c drag ? 1 yes , 0 no
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b a l l c o e f f = 1 5 0 ; % B a l l i s t i c c o e f f i c i e n t Used f o r a t m o s p h e r i c dr ag
calculations
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%S i m u l a t i o n Parameters
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t0 = 0 ;
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t f = 124 h o u r s ;
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dt = 2 0 ; %i n s e c o n d s f o r ode4 r o u t i n e
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%I n i t i a l O r b i t p a r a m e t e r s
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hP = 4 0 0 ;
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hA = 4 0 0 ;
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TAo = 0 deg ;

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Wo = 0 deg ;
i n c l = 5 1 . 4 3 deg ;
wpo = 0 deg ;
%T a r g e t l a t i t u d e and l o n g i t u d e
l a t T = 2 5 . 6 1 1 deg ; %3 6 . 3 7 2 deg ;
longT = 8 5 . 1 4 4 deg ;%1 2 7 . 3 6 3 deg ;
%S a t e l l i t e p a y l o a d p a r a m e t e r s
Da = 1 ;
WL = 1 . 1 1 e 2;
x res = 1.1;
KA = 2 0 6 2 6 . 4 8 0 6 ; % f o r IAA area i n deg 2
% . . . End i n p u t d a t a
%C a l c u l a t e Earth c e n t r a l a n g l e from p a y l o a d p a r a m e t e r s
h prime = Da x r e s 1 e 3/(2.440WL) ; %From R a y l e i g h o p t i c a l r e s o l u t i o n
(km)

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%Numerical c o n d i t i o n s
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rkr45 int = 0;
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% Obtain R0 and V0 v e c t o r s from coe d a t a
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rP = hP + R; rA = hA + R;
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a = ( rA + rP ) / 2 ;
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T = 2 pi / sqrt (mu) a ( 3 / 2 ) ;
46 %
t f = 0 . 5 T;
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e = ( rA rP ) / ( rA + rP ) ;
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h = sqrt (mua ( 1 e 2 ) ) ;
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c o e = [ h e Wo i n c l wpo TAo ] ;
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coe0 = coe ;
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[ r 0 v0 ] = s v f r o m c o e ( coe ,mu) ;
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% . . . Numerical i n t e g r a t i o n :
54 %
mu = G(m1 + m2) ;
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t h e t a = 0 ; %Earth r e v o l u t i o n
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y0 = [ r 0 v0 t h e t a ] ;
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i f ( r k r 4 5 i n t == 1 )
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[ t , y ] = r k f 4 5 ( @rates , [ t 0 t f ] , y0 ) ;
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else
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t = t 0 : dt : t f ;
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[ y ] = ode5 ( @rates , t , y0 ) ;
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end
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c o e 1 = c o e f r o m s v ( y ( end , 1 : 3 ) , y ( end , 4 : 6 ) ,mu) ;
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% . . . Output t h e r e s u l t s :
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figure (1)

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output
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find ra and dec
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figure (2)
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form separate curves
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plot ground track
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print orbital data
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figure (3)
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plot ( t / hours , SEE , k ) ;
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figure (4)
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plot ( t / hours , a l t , k ) ;
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77 [ p c o v e r m e a n r e s p o n s e m a x r e s p on s e ] = t e s t t (SEE , t ) ;
78 m e a n a l t = mean( a l t ) ;
79 f p r i n t f ( \n A l t i t u d e = %g km | P e r c e n t a g e c o v e r a g e = %g p e r c e n t | Mean
r e s p o n s e time = %g s e c o n d s | Max r e s p o n s e time = %g s e c o n d s \n ,
mean alt , p c o v e r 1 0 0 , mean response , m a x r e s p on s e )
80 %
a x i s ( [ 0 t f / hours 0 1 . 1 ] ) ;
81 return
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83 function dydt = r a t e s ( t , f )
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x = f (1) ;
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y = f (2) ;
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z = f (3) ;
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vx = f ( 4 ) ;
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vy = f ( 5 ) ;
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vz = f ( 6 ) ;
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we = 0 ; %(2 p i + 2 p i / 3 6 5 . 2 6 ) / ( 2 4 3 6 0 0 ) ;
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r = norm ( [ x y z ] ) ;
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i f ( ( J 2 i n c == 1 ) && ( i n c l = 0 ) )
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%To c a l c u l a t e J2 o r b i t p e r t u r b a t i o n from Chobotov Q u e s t i o n 1 0 . 5 J2
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%p e r t u r b a t i o n i n C a r t e s i a n c o o r d i n a t e s
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J2 = 0 . 0 0 1 0 8 2 6 3 ;
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f a c = (mu/ r 2 ) ( 3 / 2 ) J2 (R/ r ) 2 ;
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px = f a c ( x/ r ) (1 5( z / r ) 2 ) ;
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py = f a c ( y/ r ) (1 5( z / r ) 2 ) ;
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pz = f a c ( z / r ) (3 5( z / r ) 2 ) ;
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else
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P( 1 : 3 ) = 0;
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px = 0 ;
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py = 0 ;
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pz = 0 ;
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end

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

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i f ( l o w t h r u s t == 1 )
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T vec = [ vx vy vx ] /norm ( [ vx vy vz ] ) ;
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H vec = cross ( [ x y z ] , [ vx vy vz ] ) ;
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W vec = H vec /norm( H vec ) ;
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N vec = cross ( T vec , W vec ) ;
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Qmat = [ N vec T vec W vec ] ;
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at = a t t h r u s t ;
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AT = a t [ 0 ; 1 ; 0 ] ;
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AT = QmatAT;
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else
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AT( 1 : 3 ) = 0 ;
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end
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ax = mux/ r 3 + px + AT( 1 ) ;
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ay = muy/ r 3 + py + AT( 2 ) ;
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az = mu z / r 3 + pz + AT( 3 ) ;
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dydt = [ vx vy vz ax ay az we ] ;
124 end %r a t e s
125
126 function f i n d r a a n d d e c %Get s u b s a t e l l i t e p o i n t and a l s o d e t e r m i n e i f
s a t e l l i t e can s e e t h e t a r g e t
127 t i m e s=t ;
128 r a = [ ] ;
129 dec = [ ] ;
130 t h e t a = 0 ;
131 f o r i = 1 : length ( t i m e s )
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t i = times ( i ) ;
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r = [ y( i ,1) y( i ,2) y( i ,3) ] ;
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v = [ y( i ,4) y( i ,5) y( i ,6) ] ;
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c o e 1 = c o e f r o m s v ( r , v ,mu) ;
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Rr = r ;
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Q = R3( y ( i , 7 ) ) ;
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r r e l = QRr ;
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[ alpha d e l t a ] = r a a n d d e c f r o m r ( r r e l ) ;
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ra = [ ra ; alpha ] ;
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dec = [ dec ; d e l t a ] ;
143 end
144 SEE ( 1 : length ( t i m e s ) ) = 0 ;
145 f o r i i = 1 : length ( t i m e s )
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t i = times ( i i ) ;

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r = [ y( ii ,1) y( ii ,2) y( ii ,3) ] ;
a l t ( i i ) = norm( r ) R;
clambda ( i i ) = 1( h prime 2 a l t ( i i ) 2 ) / ( 2 R (R + a l t ( i i ) ) ) ;
IAA = KA. ( 1 clambda ) ;
l a t P p r i m e = pi /2 l a t T ;
l a t S S P p r i m e = pi /2 dec ( i i ) ;
d e l t a L = r a ( i i ) deg longT ;
lambda ( i i ) = a c o s d ( clambda ( i i ) ) ;
lambda0 ( i i ) = a c o s d (R/ (R + hP) ) ;
rlambda ( i i ) = a c o s d ( cos ( l a t P p r i m e ) cos ( l a t S S P p r i m e ) + sin (
l a t P p r i m e ) sin ( l a t S S P p r i m e ) cos ( d e l t a L ) ) ;
i f ( rlambda ( i i ) > 1 8 0 )
rlambda ( i i ) = 360 rlambda ( i i ) ;
end
i f ( rlambda ( i i ) <= min( lambda ( i i ) , lambda0 ( i i ) ) )
SEE( i i ) = 1 ;
end

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163 end
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165 end %f i n d r a a n d d e c
166
167 function output
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f o r i = 1 : length ( t )
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r ( i ) = norm ( [ y ( i , 1 ) y ( i , 2 ) y ( i , 3 ) ] ) ;
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end
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[ rmax imax ] = max( r ) ;
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[ rmin imin ] = min( r ) ;
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v a t r m a x = norm ( [ y ( imax , 4 ) y ( imax , 5 ) y ( imax , 6 ) ] ) ;
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v a t r m i n = norm ( [ y ( imin , 4 ) y ( imin , 5 ) y ( imin , 6 ) ] ) ;
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f p r i n t f ( \n\n\
n)
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f p r i n t f ( \n Earth O r b i t \n )
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f p r i n t f ( %s \n , d a t e s t r ( now ) )
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f p r i n t f ( \n The i n i t i a l p o s i t i o n i s [%g , %g , %g ] (km) . , . . .
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r0 (1) , r0 (2) ,
r0 (3) )
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f p r i n t f ( \n Magnitude = %g km\n , norm( r 0 ) )
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f p r i n t f ( \n The i n i t i a l v e l o c i t y i s [%g , %g , %g ] (km/ s ) . , . . .
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v0 ( 1 ) , v0 ( 2 ) ,
v0 ( 3 ) )
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f p r i n t f ( \n Magnitude = %g km/ s \n , norm( v0 ) )
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f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l time = %g h . \ n F i n a l time = %g h . \ n , 0 , t f / h o u r s )

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

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f p r i n t f ( \n The minimum a l t i t u d e i s %g km a t time = %g h . , . . .

rminR, t ( imin ) /
hours )
f p r i n t f ( \n The s p e e d a t t h a t p o i n t i s %g km/ s . \ n , v a t r m i n )
f p r i n t f ( \n The maximum a l t i t u d e i s %g km a t time = %g h . , . . .
rmaxR, t ( imax ) /
hours )
f p r i n t f ( \n The s p e e d a t t h a t p o i n t i s %g km/ s \n , v a t r m a x )
f p r i n t f ( \n\n\
n)
%. . . Plot the r e s u l t s :
% Draw t h e p l a n e t
load ( topo . mat , topo , topomap1 ) ;
[ xx , yy , z z ] = sphere ( 1 0 0 ) ;
c l a reset
p r o p s . AmbientStrength = 0 . 1 ;
props . D i f f u s e S t r e n g t h = 1 ;
props . S p e c u l a r C o l o r R e f l e c t a n c e = . 5 ;
p r o p s . SpecularExponent = 2 0 ;
props . SpecularStrength = 1 ;
p r o p s . FaceColor= t e x t u r e ;
p r o p s . EdgeColor = none ;
p r o p s . F a c e L i g h t i n g = phong ;
p r o p s . Cdata = topo ;
s f = surface (Rxx ,Ryy ,R zz , p r o p s ) ;% f a c e c o l o r , texturemap , cdata ,
topo ) ;
f o r r t = 1 : 1 0 0 %Reo r i e n t t o p o map t o l o n g i t u d e e a s t 0 a t GMT
rotate ( s f , [ 0 , 0 , 1 ] , 4 5 ) ;
end
caxis ([ R/5 R/ 5 ] )
%s h a d i n g i n t e r p
% Draw and l a b e l t h e X, Y and Z a x e s
l i n e ( [ 0 2R] , [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 0 ] ) ; text ( 2 R, 0 , 0 , X )
l i n e ( [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 2R] , [ 0 0 ] ) ; text ( 0 , 2R, 0 , Y )
l i n e ( [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 0 ] , [ 0 2R ] ) ; text ( 0 , 0 , 2R, Z )
% P l o t t h e o r b i t , draw a r a d i a l t o t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t
% and l a b e l t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t ( o ) and t h e f i n a l p o i n t ( f )
hold on
plot3 ( y ( : , 1 ) , y ( : , 2 ) , y ( : , 3 ) , k )
d r a w s a t ( [ y ( 1 , 1 ) y ( 1 , 2 ) y ( 1 , 3 ) ] , [ 1 0 0 0 1000 1 0 0 0 ] , g , 1 ) ;
line ( [ 0 r0 (1) ] , [ 0 r0 (2) ] , [ 0 r0 (3) ] )
text ( y ( 1 , 1 ) , y ( 1 , 2 ) , y ( 1 , 3 ) , o )

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text ( y ( end , 1 ) , y ( end , 2 ) , y ( end , 3 ) , f )

% S e l e c t a v i e w d i r e c t i o n ( a v e c t o r d i r e c t e d outward from t h e o r i g i n )
view ( [ 0 , 0 , 1 ] )
% S p e c i f y some p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e graph
grid on
axis e q u a l
xlabel ( km )
ylabel ( km )
z l a b e l ( km )
%
end %o u t p u t
%
%
function f o r m s e p a r a t e c u r v e s
%
% Breaks t h e ground t r a c k up i n t o s e p a r a t e c u r v e s which s t a r t
% and t e r m i n a t e a t r i g h t a s c e n s i o n s i n t h e range [ 0 , 3 6 0 deg ] .
%
tol = 100;
curve no = 1;
n curves = 1;
k = 0;
ra prev = ra (1) ;
f o r i = 1 : length ( r a )
i f abs ( r a ( i ) r a p r e v ) > t o l
curve no = curve no + 1;
n curves = n curves + 1;
k = 0;
end
k = k + 1;
RA{ c u r v e n o } ( k ) = r a ( i ) ;
Dec{ c u r v e n o } ( k ) = dec ( i ) ;
ra prev = ra ( i ) ;
end
end %f o r m s e p a r a t e c u r v e s
%
function p l o t g r o u n d t r a c k
%
load ( topo . mat , topo , topomap1 ) ;
contour ( 0 : 3 5 9 , 8 9 : 9 0 , topo , [ 0 0 ] , b )

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axis e q u a l
box on
set ( gca , XLim , [ 0 3 6 0 ] , YLim ,[ 90 9 0 ] , . . .
XTick , [ 0 60 120 180 240 300 3 6 0 ] , . . .
Y t i c k ,[ 90 60 30 0 30 60 9 0 ] ) ;
hold on
image ( [ 0 3 6 0 ] , [ 9 0 9 0 ] , topo , CDataMapping , s c a l e d ) ;
colormap ( topomap1 ) ;
xlabel ( East l o n g i t u d e ( d e g r e e s ) )
ylabel ( L a t i t u d e ( d e g r e e s ) )
axis e q u a l
grid on
for i = 1 : n curves
plot (RA{ i } , Dec{ i } , r )
end
plot ( longT / deg , l a t T / deg , o r ) ;
% a x i s ( [ 0 360 90 9 0 ] )
text ( r a ( 1 ) , dec ( 1 ) , o S t a r t )
text ( r a ( end ) , dec ( end ) , o F i n i s h )
text ( longT / deg , l a t T / deg , Target )
l i n e ( [ min( r a ) max( r a ) ] , [ 0 0 ] , C o l o r , k ) %t h e e q u a t o r
end %p l o t g r o u n d t r a c k
%
function p r i n t o r b i t a l d a t a
%
c o e = [ h e Wo i n c l wpo TAo ] ;
[ ro , vo ] = s v f r o m c o e ( coe , mu) ;
f p r i n t f ( \n \n )
f p r i n t f ( \n Angular momentum = %g km2/ s , h )
f p r i n t f ( \n E c c e n t r i c i t y = %g , e )
f p r i n t f ( \n Semimajor a x i s = %g km , a )
f p r i n t f ( \n P e r i g e e r a d i u s = %g km , rP )
f p r i n t f ( \n Apogee r a d i u s = %g km , rA )
f p r i n t f ( \n P e r i o d = %g h o u r s , T/ 3 6 0 0 )
f p r i n t f ( \n I n c l i n a t i o n = %g deg , i n c l / deg )
f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l t r u e anomaly = %g deg , TAo/ deg )
% f p r i n t f ( \ n Time s i n c e p e r i g e e = %g hours , t o /3600)
f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l RA = %g deg , Wo/ deg )
% f p r i n t f ( \ n RA dot = %g deg / p e r i o d , Wdot/ deg T)
f p r i n t f ( \n I n i t i a l wp = %g deg , wpo/ deg )
% f p r i n t f ( \ n w p d o t = %g deg / p e r i o d , wpdot / deg T)

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fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (
fprintf (

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\n )
\n r 0 = [%12g , %12g , %12g ] (km) , r o ( 1 ) , r o ( 2 ) , r o ( 3 ) )
\n magnitude = %g km\n , norm( r o ) )
\n v0 = [%12g , %12g , %12g ] (km) , vo ( 1 ) , vo ( 2 ) , vo ( 3 ) )
\n magnitude = %g km\n , norm( vo ) )
\n \n )

end %p r i n t o r b i t a l d a t a
end %o r b i t
%

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Listing of code - test t.m

function [ p c o v e r m e a n r e s p o n s e m a x r e s p on s e m i n r e s p o n s e ] = t e s t t ( x , t )
dt = ( t ( end ) t ( 1 ) ) / ( length ( t ) ) ;
p c o v e r = sum( x ) / length ( x ) ;
t r e s p o n s e ( 1 : length ( t ) ) = 0 ;
f o r i =1: length ( t )
i f ( x ( i ) > 0)
t response ( i ) = 0;
e l s e i f ( i =length ( t ) )
ii = i ;
while ( ( x ( i i ) <= x ( i i +1) )&&(x ( i i ) < 1 ) ) %End o f Gap r e a c h e d when
x ( i i ) == 1
t r e s p o n s e ( i ) = t r e s p o n s e ( i ) + dt ;
i i = i i + 1;
i f ( i i == length ( t ) )
break
end
end
else
t r e s p o n s e ( i ) = t r e s p o n s e ( i ) + dt ; %A l r e a d y a t t h e end , and i t
i s a gap , so , add d t
end
end
n t r e s p o n s e = nonzeros ( t r e s p o n s e ) ;
t o t a l r e s p o n s e = sum( t r e s p o n s e ) ;
m a x r e s p on s e = max( n t r e s p o n s e ) ;
m i n r e s p o n s e = min( n t r e s p o n s e ) ;
m e a n r e s p o n s e = t o t a l r e s p o n s e / length ( t ) ;

Walker-Delta Satellite Constellation for Earth Observation

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