PLANNINGCURRENT2026-04-28

EOS-Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Earth Observation Satellite Scheduling

Qian Yin, Jiaxing Li, Jiaqi Cheng, Qizhang Luo, Annalisa Riccardi, Abhijit Chatterjee, Rafael Vazquez, Carlo Novara, Michalis Mavrovouniotis, Ponnuthurai Nagaratnam Suganthan, Shengzhou Bai, Xiaoxuan Hu, Lining Xing, Ming Xu, Shuang Li, Zixuan Zheng, Xin Shen, Xiaoyu Chen, Yi Gu, Yanjie Song, Witold Pedrycz, Evan L. Kramer, Laio Oriel Seman, Cletah Shoko, Guohua Wu, Xinwei Wang

This paper provides an open-source Simulation & Sim-to-RealBenchmarkA standard test used to compare methods fairly. framework (EOS-Bench) with 13,900 instances for evaluating satellite scheduling algorithms, letting you test Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement. and optimization methods on realistic space mission problems ranging from small validation cases to 1,000-satellite coordination problems. The framework includes orbital Movement, Mechanics & Robot BodyDynamicsThe study of motion including forces, torques, mass, and inertia. Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., multi-metric Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. (profit, completion rate, workload balance, timeliness), and scenario difficulty characterization—enabling fair algorithm comparison and revealing when heuristics beat Imitation & Reinforcement LearningReinforcement Learning (RL)Teaching a robot through trial and error using rewards. (and vice versa).

THE PROBLEM

This paper focuses on Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement.. This paper provides an open-source Simulation & Sim-to-RealBenchmarkA standard test used to compare methods fairly. framework (EOS-Bench) with 13,900 instances for evaluating satellite scheduling algorithms, letting you test Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement. and optimization methods on realistic space mission problems ranging from small validation cases to 1,000-satellite coordination problems. The framework includes orbital Movement, Mechanics & Robot BodyDynamicsThe study of motion including forces, torques, mass, and inertia. Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., multi-metric Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. (profit, completion rate, workload balance, timeliness), and scenario difficulty characterization—enabling fair algorithm comparison and revealing when heuristics beat Imitation & Reinforcement LearningReinforcement Learning (RL)Teaching a robot through trial and error using rewards. (and vice versa). Read the paper by tracking the Core ConceptsTaskThe job the robot is supposed to complete, such as pick-and-place, navigation, or drawer opening. definition, the Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. or data assumptions, and the evidence that supports the claimed improvement.

HOW IT WORKS

1

Task framing

The paper frames the work as Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement.. Start here because it defines what success means and which assumptions the rest of the method inherits.

2

Core method

This paper provides an open-source Simulation & Sim-to-RealBenchmarkA standard test used to compare methods fairly. framework (EOS-Bench) with 13,900 instances for evaluating satellite scheduling algorithms, letting you test Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement. and optimization methods on realistic space mission problems ranging from small validation cases to 1,000-satellite coordination problems. The framework includes orbital Movement, Mechanics & Robot BodyDynamicsThe study of motion including forces, torques, mass, and inertia. Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., multi-metric Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. (profit, completion rate, workload balance, timeliness), and scenario difficulty characterization—enabling fair algorithm comparison and revealing when heuristics beat Imitation & Reinforcement LearningReinforcement Learning (RL)Teaching a robot through trial and error using rewards. (and vice versa). When reading the method section, identify the inputs, the learned or engineered representation, and the Core ConceptsActionA command the robot sends to its motors, controller, or low-level system. or prediction produced by the system.

3

Data and supervision

For robotics work, the data story is part of the method: check whether the system depends on Imitation & Reinforcement LearningTeleoperation (teleop)A human remotely controlling the robot, often to collect demonstrations., Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., internet video, human labels, or Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. rollouts.

4

Evaluation evidence

The paper should be judged through its Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. protocol: what data is used, what Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. or simulator is tested, and which Evaluation & ResearchBaselineA reference method used for comparison. comparisons support the claim. Look for the gap between the headline result and the Simulation & Sim-to-RealDeploymentPutting the trained system on a real robot. setting you would actually care about.

FIGURES

KEY RESULTS

Main contributionConceptual contribution

This paper provides an open-source Simulation & Sim-to-RealBenchmarkA standard test used to compare methods fairly. framework (EOS-Bench) with 13,900 instances for evaluating satellite scheduling algorithms, letting you test Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement. and optimization methods on realistic space mission problems ranging from small validation cases to 1,000-satellite coordination problems. The framework includes orbital Movement, Mechanics & Robot BodyDynamicsThe study of motion including forces, torques, mass, and inertia. Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., multi-metric Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. (profit, completion rate, workload balance, timeliness), and scenario difficulty characterization—enabling fair algorithm comparison and revealing when heuristics beat Imitation & Reinforcement LearningReinforcement Learning (RL)Teaching a robot through trial and error using rewards. (and vice versa).

WHY DEVELOPERS SHOULD CARE

This paper provides an open-source Simulation & Sim-to-RealBenchmarkA standard test used to compare methods fairly. framework (EOS-Bench) with 13,900 instances for evaluating satellite scheduling algorithms, letting you test Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement. and optimization methods on realistic space mission problems ranging from small validation cases to 1,000-satellite coordination problems. The framework includes orbital Movement, Mechanics & Robot BodyDynamicsThe study of motion including forces, torques, mass, and inertia. Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., multi-metric Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. (profit, completion rate, workload balance, timeliness), and scenario difficulty characterization—enabling fair algorithm comparison and revealing when heuristics beat Imitation & Reinforcement LearningReinforcement Learning (RL)Teaching a robot through trial and error using rewards. (and vice versa).

LIMITATIONS

The main limitation to check is whether the claimed behavior holds outside the paper's reported setup. That means testing across different Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. embodiments, scenes, objects, and data distributions.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The practical next step is independent reproduction with clear baselines, ablations, and stress tests. For a developer, the useful follow-up is to map the paper's Control & PlanningPlanningFiguring out what the robot should do before or during movement. assumptions onto a concrete Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. stack, then test the smallest version of the method that could run end to end.

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