Tracking Moving Targets by Earth Observation Satellites: A Multi-Objective Scheduling Approach

Tracking moving targets using Earth observation satellites stands as a crucial task. It involves frequent obser-vation of these moving targets to prevent loss and to gather detailed information over extended durations. This necessitates two primary objectives: maximizing observation times and ex-tending observation duration. However, there has been limited simultaneous optimization of these objectives in previous studies. In this research, we utilized decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) to optimize this task model. Recognizing the presence of discrete variables (i.e., discrete design variables), we enhanced a well-established decomposition-based MOEA (MOEA/D) specifically for this challenge. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method in optimizing this task model. It generates a diverse and well-converged set of solutions, providing decision-makers with a range of options to consider.