Reinforcement Learning-Guided Evolutionary Policy Optimization for Preference-Adjustable Heterogeneous Agile Earth Observation Satellite Scheduling

Abstract:Heterogeneous agile Earth observation satellite (AEOS) scheduling requires task selection, satellite assignment, and observation sequencing under satellite-dependent visibility windows, attitude maneuvering requirements, energy consumption, and onboard storage constraints. Since satellites differ in orbital access, maneuvering capability, and payload resources, the same task may have different feasible windows, transition costs, and resource-consumption patterns on different platforms, which increases the difficulty of unified modeling and efficient optimization. To address this problem, this paper proposes an evolutionary policy optimization framework for heterogeneous AEOS scheduling with preference-adjustable weighted objectives. In the modeling layer, assignment-based indirect encoding is combined with decoder-based equivalent-cost evaluation to retain satellite-dependent constraints while integrating task gain, energy saving, and load balance into an interpretable scalar utility. In the optimization layer, schedule decoding, population-based search, and online actor-critic operator control are decoupled, so that reinforcement learning selects high-level search operators rather than constructing schedules directly. Based on this framework, a reinforcement-learning-assisted operator-selection memetic evolutionary algorithm (RLOSMEA) is developed to coordinate global exploration, feasibility recovery, and local refinement under a limited function-evaluation budget. Experiments on different heterogeneous AEOS scenarios show that RLOSMEA achieves higher overall weighted utility and more stable convergence than representative metaheuristic baselines. Sensitivity and learning-behavior analyses further confirm the robustness of the proposed method and the effectiveness of reinforcement-learning-guided operator selection.

Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)

arXiv:2608.24470 [cs.AI]

(or arXiv:2608.24470v1 [cs.AI] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.24470 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.