One of my former students, Aaron Hoskins, and I have done some work on using optimization to improve the ability of satellites to monitor an event (e.g, a wildfire). We developed several different stochastic programming models for locating ground stations that download data from satellites (Hoskins and Medal, 2019) and optimizing the orbital parameters of a constellation of satellites (Hoskins and Medal, 2017). Extending the work of Hoskins and Medal (2017), which only considered data collection during the ascending pass of a satellite’s orbit, we also developed a model for collecting data during both the ascending and descending passes (Hoskins and Medal, 2020)

Selected Publications

  1. Optimization of twice-daily direct flyover data collection for satellite observations at uncertain locations
    AB Hoskins, HR Medal, E Rashidi. AB Hoskins, HR Medal, E Rashidi (2022) Advances in Space Research 70 (4), 1013-1031
    Publication Year: 2022
    [Link to Article]
  2. Stochastic Programming Solution for Placement of Satellite Ground Stations
    Aaron Hoskins, Hugh Medal. To appear in Annals of Operations Research.
    Publication Year: 2019
    Abstract
  3. Satellite Constellation Design for Forest Fire Monitoring Via a Stochastic Programming Approach
    Aaron Hoskins, Hugh Medal, Eghbal Rashidi. To appear in Naval Research Logistics.
    Publication Year: 2017
    Abstract