A rapid satellite-ground coverage analysis method based on elevation view element model

The technology of satellite-ground coverage analysis plays an important role in the tasks such as satellite communication, navigation, and Earth observation. Considering the demand for ground coverage by satellite payloads, this paper proposes a fast coverage analysis method with the constraints of the ground elevation angle. The view element equation of the ground elevation angle is established, and the analytical solution expression for the equation is derived. The trajectory intersection method is used to quickly solve for the visible window of the ground elevation field of view to the satellite, namely, the time interval during which the satellite satisfies the ground elevation constraints. Subsequently, an adaptive search method is designed to rapidly determine the visible window. Through simulation experiments, it can be found that the calculation error of the visible window with the proposed method is on the order of 0.01 s and the computational efficiency is improved by 89.7% as compared to traditional numerical methods, verifying the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model and method.