Extending the SPeAD-M86 Model: Incorporating the Effects of F_10.7 Variations on Atmospheric Density

Abstract

This paper presents an extension to the SPeAD-M86 model by Kedare & Ulrich (2015) by incorporating variations in atmospheric density resulting from the 11-year solar cycle, as quantified using the F10.7 index. It focuses on utilizing sinusoidal and exponential piece-wise functions to estimate temporal density changes in the atmosphere at geometric altitudes ranging from 0-1000 km. The model is validated against data from existing analytical and empirical atmospheric models. It is then implemented in a Matlab-Simulink orbit and attitude propagation environment to assess its stability, validity, and computational footprint at various instances in the solar cycle. The orbital elements from each simulation were compared against those obtained from baseline "truth" simulations run using the Naval Research Lab (NRL) MSISE-00 model. Results indicate improvements in accuracy compared to the SPeAD-M86 model with minimal increase in computational run time.