Tools for Satellite Ground Track and Coverage Analysis

More and more we are relying on satellites. With the advancements in technology, we will soon be using satellites for things never dreamed of before. In todays world, some of these advancements will be tied to saving money in other areas. This forms the foundation of many projects looking into offboard sensor technology. The goal is to save money by using space assets to replace ore supplement sensors on aircraft, ships, or any other system. The author has worked on several projects relating to offboard sensors. The software we are presenting here has been a valuable tool. This software package is written for Microsoft Excel. It enable the user to enter orbital information and viewing angles of a satellite. The program will then provide several plots. These plots include the satellite ground track, the coverage region of the satellite over a time interval, and the instantaneous field of view for any time. Additionally the user can enter a square target region of any size with its center at a particular latitude and longitude. With this software package the user will be able to look at various orbits and viewing characteristics and easily see the impact of the choices on the coverage of different geographic regions. This is very helpful for the initial stages of designing an orbit for a satellite system. It is also helpful in analyzing the coverage of existing satellites for different regions. Finally, this software package can be useful for students just entering the study of Astrodynamics