  We address the multi-satellite scheduling problem with limited observation
capacities that arises from the need to observe a set of targets on the Earth's
surface using imaging resources installed on a set of satellites. We define and
analyze the conflict indicators of all available visible time windows of
missions, as well as the feasible time intervals of resources. The problem is
then formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model, in which
constraints are derived from a careful analysis of the interdependency between
feasible time intervals that are eligible for observations. We apply the
proposed model to several different problem instances that reflect real-world
situations. The computational results verify that our approach is effective for
obtaining optimum solutions or solutions with a very good quality.
