I've used bubblesort when simulating LEO satellite constellations, calculating which satellite is closest to a location. I used one single backwards pass of bubblesort, so O(n) every k timesteps to bring the closest to the head of the array, then every timestep just do one backwards bubblesort pass over the first few in the array. Given satellites move smoothly, if you initialize right (a few full passes at the start to get the closest few at the front) and get the constants right so a satellite outside the front few in the array can't have moved far enough to become closest without being promoted to the front few by a periodic full pass, then you always maintain the closest at the front of the array very cheaply. And this has the advantage of also being very simple to code.