SS/TDMA SCHEDULING FOR SATELLITE CLUSTERS

In this paper we present a novel approach for the optimal time-slot assignment problem for a general SS/TDMA satellite cluster with intersatellite links interconnection. The proposed allocation algorithm accounts for the following: 1) systems with any number of satellites, 2) each satellite covers an arbitrary number of zones, 3) no onboard buffering at the satellites, and 4) intersatellite links (ISL) with arbitrary capacities. We present an analogy between the satellite cluster scheduling problem and the modified openshop scheduling problem. Using this analogy we introduce a heuristic algorithm and an optimal branch-and-bound algorithm. We investigate the performance of the proposed heuristic both by theoretical bounds and by comparing the simulation results produced by the heuristic with the optimal results. In all cases the heuristic algorithm results are within 10% from the optimum.