Can you recommend an antenna scheduling software for optimizing contact windows with global coverage?

Yes — if you’re optimizing antenna / ground-station contact windows for global coverage, the best software depends on whether you need satellite mission planning, radio station scheduling, or general RF antenna access planning. Here are the strongest options:

Top recommendations

1. ANSYS Systems Tool Kit (STK)

Best overall for mission planning and contact-window optimization

• Industry-standard for satellite/ground-station visibility analysis
• Excellent for global coverage, access windows, constraints, and scheduling
• Supports antenna patterns, link budgets, networked ground stations, and automation
• Good if you need detailed optimization across many sites and satellites

Pros: very powerful, widely used, strong visualization
Cons: expensive, can be complex to learn

---

2. AGI/STK Scheduler

Best for operational contact scheduling

• Designed specifically for building schedules from access opportunities
• Useful for ground station networks and contact prioritization
• Can optimize by mission rules, priorities, and resource constraints

Pros: tailored for scheduling
Cons: usually used alongside STK, not as standalone as some expect

---

3. Orekit + custom optimization layer

Best open-source option for developers

• Orekit handles orbit propagation and visibility calculations
• You can combine it with an optimizer like:
  • Google OR-Tools
  • Gurobi
  • CPLEX
  • custom heuristics
• Very good if you want a programmatic, flexible scheduler for global contacts

Pros: open-source, extensible, strong for automation
Cons: requires coding and integration work

---

4. GMAT

Best free tool for spacecraft mission analysis

• Great for trajectory/orbit analysis
• Can help compute visibility/access windows
• Less focused on advanced scheduling than STK

Pros: free, NASA-supported
Cons: scheduling features are limited compared to STK

---

5. Satsearch / cloud mission planning platforms

Best if you want a managed service Some commercial platforms provide:

• ground station network scheduling
• contact selection
• tasking optimization
• global coverage planning

Pros: less infrastructure to manage
Cons: feature sets vary widely; often vendor-specific

---

If your goal is specifically:

• Maximum contact efficiency across many ground stations: STK + Scheduler
• A custom automated optimizer: Orekit + OR-Tools
• Low-cost/free analysis: GMAT or Orekit
• Operational ground-station network scheduling: a commercial ground-network scheduling platform

What to look for in the software

Make sure it supports:

• multi-station global coverage analysis
• access windows with elevation/azimuth constraints
• antenna masks and pointing limits
• priority-based scheduling
• conflict resolution between users/assets
• automation/API support
• exportable schedules and reports

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a shortlist by budget (free / mid-range / enterprise), or
2. a comparison table based on your exact use case.