Optimal Layout Design of a Satellite Module Using a Coevolutionary Method with Heuristic Rules

The layout design of a satellite module belongs to a three-dimensional (3D) packing problem with mutual-conflicting performance constraints. Taking the layout design of a simplified commercial communication satellite as a background, based on the cooperative coevolutionary framework, this paper presents a coevolutionary method with heuristic rules for the optimal layout design of a satellite module. First, a whole satellite module layout problem is decomposed into several sublayout problems according to the multisubphysical structure of a satellite module. Second, a relaxation model is adopted to distribute all objects among subspaces. Third, a coevolutionary genetic algorithm is adopted to solve the detailed layout design within the subspaces. Finally, a heuristic combination-rotation (CR) method is adopted to adjust the constraints to obtain the final whole layout scheme. Compared with the coevolutionary approach and the all-at-once optimization approaches, computational results show that the CR method can improve the computational accuracy of solutions and the proposed heuristic coevolutionary method can produces better solutions within short running times.