Satellite orbit determination by transfer with differenced ranges

Abstract

The original idea of orbit determination called "determination of satellite orbit by transfer" was proposed by the National Time Service Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It shows that the system is very stable and the orbit determination accuracy is improved greatly. A new observation mode called "differenced ranges between master station and slave stations by transfer" is introduced. It is the development of "determination of satellite orbit by transfer". In principle, the differenced ranges between master station and slave stations have a high angular resolution, and strongly constrains in the transverse direction of satellite orbit, perpendicular to the line-of-sight. The principle of "differenced ranges between master station and slave stations by transfer" is discussed in detail. And differenced ranges in combination with ranging data were used to determine satellite's orbit and orbit prediction under different arc observations. It shows that orbit determination accuracy for orbit prediction can be improved with differenced ranges in combination with ranging data. The developing Chinese area positioning system (CAPS) is a regional satellite navigation system. Its space segment consists of some geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites and 2-3 inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites [1,2]. The orbit determination of GEO satellites and IGSO satellites with high precision and accuracy is a key to construct such a satellite positioning system. As a conventional satellite tracking technique, united S-band ranging (USB) system generally attains orbit determination accuracy of hundred-meter-level with ranging biases of 3-5 m. But a meter-level accuracy of precise orbit determination (POD) is required for the navigation system. The orbital period of the GEO matches the period of the Earth's rotation, so the relative motion of GEO satellites to the ground is smaller. The usual techniques of orbit determination are not able to obtain the precise orbit of the GEO satellites. Although the ranging accuracy for laser ranging satellite (LRS) is very high, about 1 cm, but the observations are limited by a weather condition, if the ranging stations are in the area of China, and the coverage of observation for the GEO is limited. It is not suitable for regular observations of orbit determination of GEO satellites [3,4]. Obviously, it is demanded to develop a new kind of tracking techniques.The two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) is a technique of time transfer with high accuracy. Based on high accuracy of TWSTFT technique, an original method for accuracy and precise determination of pseudo range, called "orbit determination by transfer" was proposed by the National Time Service Center, the Chinese Academy of Sciences [3]. The principle for "determination of satellite orbit by transfer" is that precise time signals from atomic clocks of ground stations modeled with different pseudo-noise code sequence are disseminated with the same carrier frequencies. The time signals are transferred via satel...

Satellite orbit determination combining C-band ranging and differenced ranges by transfer

“…The precision of the station coordinates is better than 5 mm, while the corresponding precision of baselines is better than 1 cm [2]. The residual of POD with ranging data by transfer with 1 day arc is 6.5 cm, while the residual of POD with differenced ranges by transfer with 1 day arc is 9.4 cm [2]. The observation precision of differenced ranges by transfer is 16.5 mas on the baseline of 1177451.2031 m between Lintong and Shanghai.…”

“…The detailed principle of differenced ranges between master station and slave stations by transfer can be referred to [2].…”

“…It can provide strongly constrain in the transverse direction of the satellite orbit, perpendicular to the line-of-sight. The improvement of orbit prediction accuracy combining differenced ranges and ranging by transfer has been implemented with short-arc data [2].In order to explaining the constraint in the transverse direction of satellite orbit by differenced ranges in theory, the relation between the measurement error of angular observation and satellite orbit is analyzed in detail. The experiments of orbital overlapping and orbit prediction are carried out to validate the improvement in accuracy of orbit determination and prediction with differenced ranges.…”

“…It can provide strongly constrain in the transverse direction of the satellite orbit, perpendicular to the line-of-sight. The improvement of orbit prediction accuracy combining differenced ranges and ranging by transfer has been implemented with short-arc data [2].…”

Orbit Determination of Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite by Transfer with Differenced Ranges between Slave-Slave Stations

“…It has been shown that POD and prediction of precision using the combination of the "receiving own stationdisseminated signals" data (ranging data) and the "differenced ranges between masterslave stations" data is higher than one using only ranging observation Yang et al, 2012). It has been shown that POD and prediction of precision using the combination of the "receiving own stationdisseminated signals" data (ranging data) and the "differenced ranges between masterslave stations" data is higher than one using only ranging observation Yang et al, 2012).…”