| There is considerable interest in the use of satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit for many applications. A particular type of constellation of interest is one that provides only partial coverage of specific regions, allowing some gaps in coverage. Previous approaches to designing such constellations involved systematic variation of the constellation parameters, which requires significant CPU and time investment. Analytic approaches are presented for designing constellations for partial coverage. Improvements to some basic analytic techniques that are needed for analysis of constellations are given. Optimization techniques for both symmetric, Walker constellations and non-symmetric constellations are given. Results show that the new techniques offer significant CPU savings over conventional methods, allowing users to quickly answer partial coverage constellation questions. |
