Reviews and prospects in satellite range scheduling problem

With the increasing number of space satellites, the demand for satellite communication (including maneuvering, command uploading and data downloading) has also grown significantly. However, the actual communication resources of ground station are relatively limited, which leads to an oversubscribed problem. How to make use of limited ground station resources to complete satellite communication requests more fully and efficiently in the strict visible time is the focus of satellite range scheduling research. This paper reviews and looks forward to the research on Satellite Range Scheduling Problem (SRSP). Firstly, SRSP is defined as the scheduling problem of establishing communication between satellites and ground stations, and the classification and development of SRSP are introduced. Then, this paper analyzes three common problem description models, and establishes a mathematical model based on the analysis of optimization objectives and constraints. Thirdly, this paper classifies and summarizes the common solving methods of SRSP, and analyzes their characteristics and application scenarios. Finally, combined with the work in this paper, the future research direction of SRSP is envisioned.