NEW METHOD OF FORMATION DESIGN FOR BOTH GMTI AND INSAR USING DISTRIBUTED SATELLITES

This letter proposes a method for designing a specific formation of satellites where the flying motion only exists in a circle orbit plane of the reference satellite, which means that the orbit eccentricity is zero. This method combines the Hill equation, the Kepler equation, and the geometrical inea~ing of orbit elements. It creates the redundancy condition to simplify the deducing process, utilizes multiple conditions to solve the orbit elements for the satellite formation, and obtains the analytical relationship of the orbit elements for the formation satellites with the formation parameters and the orbit elements of the reference satellite. Using these formulations, the orbit elements and formation parameters for the formation satellites can be solved for the given orbit elements of the reference satellite. The letter describes the proposed double-ellipse formation for both GMTI and InSAR, and the validity of the formation is demonstrated via simulation.