Real-time satellite signature suppression shield attitude planning based on improved adaptive genetic algorithm

This paper explores the satellite shield attitude planning for low observable satellites equipped with signature suppression shields. The on-orbit satellite´s operational effectiveness and survivability are coupled with its radar cross section (RCS) and laser cross section (LCS) in threat directions, which are determined by the shield´s attitude. This paper presents a real-time satellite shield attitude planning algorithm (RSSAPA), which aims to reduce the satellite´s RCS and LCS in threat directions by limited satellite shield attitude control in real-time. The algorithm establishes a new mathematical model based on satellite orbit, threat distribution and earth curvature directly, and develops an improved adaptive genetic algorithm (IAGA) with novel crossover and mutation strategies, to reduce the computational complexity and ensure the real-time performance. Also, curved surface pixel method (CSPM) is introduced in RSSAPA to calculate satellite´s RCS, and a refined CSPM is developed to complete the satellite´s LCS calculation at the same time. According to the simulation results, the algorithm is proved to be efficient.