Coverage Analysis for Elliptical-Orbit Satellites Based on 2-D Map

This article proposes a geometric-based method of the ground-point visibility from a satellite or satellite constellation in elliptical orbit considering the J ₂ perturbation. First, the field-element equations describing the relationship between the elliptical satellite orbit, field parameters, and ground point are introduced and can be solved semi-analytically. Also, using a 2-D map composed of the mean argument of latitude and geographic longitude of the ascending node, the problem of calculating visible intervals is transformed into a simple intersection problem of a group of parallel lines and a time-invariant region generated by the field-element equations. Furthermore, based on the geometric relationship between any two satellites, the relative field mapping and constellation field mapping are described, which can simplify the multisatellite coverage problem to a single-satellite coverage problem and can be used to obtain the coverage performance of the constellation analytically and rapidly for the target. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is rapid, efficient, intuitive, and accurate, suggesting its wide applications in constellation studies.