HDBSCAN-based orbit model simplification method for mega-constellations

doi:10.7523/j.ucas.2025.024

Abstract

Abstract:

With the surge in the number of satellites in mega-constellations， the computational resources required for constellation orbit simulation and visualization have increased dramatically. To address the issue of inefficient visualization of mega-constellations on mobile devices with limited storage and computational power， this paper proposes an orbit model simplification method based on the HDBSCAN algorithm. This method employs a two-step clustering strategy： first， categorizing the constellation orbits， and then further subdividing the orbital planes within each category， using the cluster centers as simplified representations. Using the Starlink constellation as an example， experiments show that the orbit data is compressed from 6 778 to 279 tracks. Under the experimental hardware environment， the visualization frame rate is significantly improved， and the simplified orbit model effectively retains the structural characteristics of the mega-constellation.

Key words: mega-constellation, orbit visualization, orbit simplification, HDBSCAN, Starlink

CLC Number:

TP399

Shuaizhang ZHANG, Yaping LI. HDBSCAN-based orbit model simplification method for mega-constellations[J]. Journal of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2026, 43(5): 687-693.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig.1 Kepler orbit elements used for satellite orbit

Fig.2 Satellite orbit clustering flowchart

Fig.3 Comparison of clustering results

Fig.4 Satellite orbit type cluster visualization

Table 1 Clustering results of orbit types

轨道类型	卫星数量	平均半长轴/km	平均轨道倾角/（°）
1	231	6 938	97.68
2	396	6 948	70.00
3	705	6 833	43.01
4	1 342	6 939	43.01
5	388	6 733	53.15
6	969	6 841	53.14
7	2 476	6 921	53.15
噪声	271	-	-

Table 2 Clustering results of orbit planes

轨道类型	轨道面数量	噪声数量
1	5	0
2	21	0
3	28	40
4	35	1
5	22	31
6	37	88
7	131	81

Fig.5 Comparison of Starlink satellite orbit models before and after simplification

Fig.6 Comparison of frames per second

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