A Fast and Accurate LEO Satellite-Based Direct Position Determination Assisted by TDOA Measurements

This paper focuses on the trusted vessel position acquisition using passive localization based on the booming low-earth-orbit(LEO) satellites. As the high signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) reception cannot always be guaranteed at LEO satellites, the recently developed direct position determination(DPD)is adopted. For LEO satellite-based passive localization systems, an efficient DPD is challenging due to the excessive exhaustive search range leading from broad satellite coverage. In order to reduce the computational complexity, we propose a time difference of arrival-assisted DPD(TA-DPD) which minimizes the searching area by the time difference of arrival measurements and their variances. In this way, the size of the searching area is determined by both geometrical constraints and qualities of received signals, and signals with higher SNRs can be positioned more efficiently as their searching areas are generally smaller.Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional passive localization simulations using the proposed TA-DPD are provided to demonstrate its efficiency and validity. The superior accuracy performance of the proposed method, especially at low SNRs conditions, is also verified through the comparison to conventional two-step methods. Providing a larger margin in link budget for satellite-based vessel location acquisition,the TA-DPD can be a competitive candidate for trusted marine location service.

Distributed adaptive direct position determination based on diffusion framework

The conventional direct position determination（DPD） algorithm processes all received signals on a single sensor.When sensors have limited computational capabilities or energy storage,it is desirable to distribute the computation among other sensors.A distributed adaptive DPD（DADPD）algorithm based on diffusion framework is proposed for emitter localization.Unlike the corresponding centralized adaptive DPD（CADPD） algorithm,all but one sensor in the proposed algorithm participate in processing the received signals and estimating the common emitter position,respectively.The computational load and energy consumption on a single sensor in the CADPD algorithm is distributed among other computing sensors in a balanced manner.Exactly the same iterative localization algorithm is carried out in each computing sensor,respectively,and the algorithm in each computing sensor exhibits quite similar convergence behavior.The difference of the localization and tracking performance between the proposed distributed algorithm and the corresponding CADPD algorithm is negligible through simulation evaluations.

A direct position determination method with combined TDOA and FDOA based on particle filter

The localization of a stationary transmitter using moving receivers is considered. The original Direct Position Determination （DPD） methods, with combined Time Difference of Arrival （TDOA） and Frequency Difference of Arrival （FDOA）, do not perform well under low Signal-to-Noise Ratio （SNR）, and worse still, the computation cost is difficult to accept when the computational capabilities are limited. To get better positioning performance, we present a new DPD algorithm that proves to be more computationally efficient and more precise for weak signals than the conventional approach. The algorithm partitions the signal received with the same receiver into multiple non-overlapping short-time signal segments, and then uses the TDOA, the FDOA and the coherency among the short-time signals to locate the target. The fast maximum likelihood estimation, one iterative method based on particle filter, is designed to solve the problem of high computation load. A secondary but important result is a derivation of closed-form expressions of the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound （CRLB）. The simulation results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper outperforms the traditional DPD algorithms with more accurate results and higher computational efficiency, and especially at low SNR, it is more close to the CRLB.

Phase Residual Estimations for PCVs of Spaceborne GPS Receiver Antenna and Their Impacts on Precise Orbit Determination of GRACE Satellites

In-flight phase center systematic errors of global positioning system（GPS） receiver antenna are the main restriction for improving the precision of precise orbit determination using dual-frequency GPS.Residual approach is one of the valid methods for in-flight calibration of GPS receiver antenna phase center variations（PCVs） from ground calibration.In this paper,followed by the correction model of spaceborne GPS receiver antenna phase center,ionosphere-free PCVs can be directly estimated by ionosphere-free carrier phase post-fit residuals of reduced dynamic orbit determination.By the data processing of gravity recovery and climate experiment（GRACE） satellites,the following conclusions are drawn.Firstly,the distributions of ionosphere-free carrier phase post-fit residuals from different periods have the similar systematic characteristics.Secondly,simulations show that the influence of phase residual estimations for ionosphere-free PCVs on orbit determination can reach the centimeter level.Finally,it is shown by in-flight data processing that phase residual estimations of current period could not only be used for the calibration for GPS receiver antenna phase center of foretime and current period,but also be used for the forecast of ionosphere-free PCVs in future period,and the accuracy of orbit determination can be well improved.

Basic performance of BeiDou-2 navigation satellite system used in LEO satellites precise orbit determination

The visibility for low earth orbit（LEO） satellites provided by the BeiDou-2 system is analyzed and compared with the global positioning system（GPS）. In addition, the spaceborne receivers＇ observations are simulated by the BeiDou satellites broadcast ephemeris and LEO satellites orbits. The precise orbit determination（POD） results show that the along-track component accuracy is much better over the service area than the non-service area, while the accuracy of the other two directions keeps at the same level over different areas. However, the 3-dimensional（3D） accuracy over the two areas shows almost no difference. Only taking into consideration the observation noise and navigation satellite ephemeris errors, the 3D accuracy of the POD is about30 cm. As for the precise relative orbit determination（PROD）, the 3D accuracy is much better over the eastern hemisphere than that of the western hemisphere. The baseline length accuracy is 3.4 mm over the service area, and it is still better than 1 cm over the non-service area. This paper demonstrates that the BeiDou regional constellation could provide global service to LEO satellites for the POD and the PROD. Finally, the benefit of geostationary earth orbit（GEO） satellites is illustrated for POD.