LEO navigation augmentation constellation design with the multi-objective optimization approaches

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite for navigation augmentation applications can significantly reduce the precise positioning convergence time and attract increasing attention recently. A few LEO Navigation Augmentation (LEO-NA) constellations have been proposed, while corresponding constellation design methodologies have not been systematically studied. The LEO-NA constellation generally consists of a huge number of LEO satellites and it strives for multiple optimization purposes. It is essentially different from the communication constellation or earth observing constellation design problem. In this study, we modeled the LEO-NA constellation design problem as a multi-objective optimization problem and solve this problem with the Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm. Three objectives are used to strive for the best tradeoff between the augmentation performance and deployment efficiency, namely the Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP), visible LEO satellites and the orbit altitude. A fuzzy set approach is used to select the final constellation from a set of Pareto optimal solutions given by the MOPSO algorithm. To evaluate the performance of the optimized constellation, we tested two constellations with 144 and 288 satellites and each constellation has three optimization schemes: the polar constellation, the single-layer constellation and the two-layer constellation. The results indicate that the optimized two-layer constellation achieves the best global coverage and is followed by the single-layer constellation. The MOPSO algorithm can help to improve the constellation design and is suitable for solving the LEO-NA constellation design problem.