Patent Document ID: 9132925
Application ID: 12708475
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method that evaluates the performance of remote sensing satellites in satellite constellations orbiting above a planet at an at least one altitude, each satellite including a field of view of the planet comprising a plurality of spatial resolution elements, each element being defined as the smallest feature that can be detected, receiver means for collecting energy from each of the plurality of spatial resolution elements in the field of view, the energy being in the form of solar reflected passive energy, thermal emitted passive energy, a combination of solar reflected and thermal emitted passive energy, or scattered energy reflected from each of the at least one spatial resolution element, the reflected scattered energy originating from a satellite transmitter-receiver means structured and arranged to illuminate each of the at least one spatial resolution elements in the field of view, the receiver co-located with the transmitter on the satellite and coaxially aligned therewith, the method comprising: evaluating the performance of satellites with two different configurations for any satellite altitudes as at least one of: (1) a ratio of the spatial resolution of the two different configurations for a diffraction limited system; (2) a ratio of the spatial resolution of the two different configurations for a signal limited system; (3) a ratio of the spatial resolution of the two different configurations for the same signal to noise ratio for a signal limited system; (4) a ratio of the signal to noise ratio of the two different configurations for a signal limited or a diffraction limited system; or (5) a ratio of the signal to noise ratio of the two different configurations for the same spatial resolution for a signal limited or a diffraction limited system, wherein a signal limited passive satellite system is equivalent to a signal to noise ratio limited system and gives essentially the same result as a noise independent of signal system if the two different configurations of the noise independent of signal system uses a same F number, wherein the F number is defined as the ratio of the focal length of a collector to the diameter of the collector, and evaluating the performance of a full constellation low or intermediate altitude satellite LMAS systems with a number of satellites that provide contiguous/overlapping semi-continuous earth coverage with a geosynchronous or other altitude satellite system that provides earth coverage for the same measurement time, or partial constellation low or intermediate altitude satellite LMAS system having one or more satellites that provide partial earth coverage at a particular time or which may provide full or nearly full earth coverage for some measurement time; and producing an optimized satellite design based on the performance evaluation of the different configurations, where the evaluation is made by a computer, a machine, a processor or any combination thereof.