High Precision Orbit Determination of CHAMP Satellite

The precision orbit determination of challenging minisatellite payload(CHAMP) satellite was done based on position and navigation data analyst(PANDA) software which is developed in Wuhan University, using the onboard GPS data of year 2002 from day 126 to 131. The orbit accuracy was assessed by analyzing the difference from GFZ post-processed science orbits (PSO), the GPS carrier and pseudo-range data residuals and the satellite laser ranging (SLR) residuals.

Impact Analysis of Solar Irradiance Change on Precision Orbit Determination of Navigation Satellites

Solar radiation pressure is the main driving force and error source for precision orbit determination of navigation satellites.It is proportional to the solar irradiance,which is the"sun constant".In regular calculation,the"solar constant"is regard as a constant.However,due to the existence of sunspots,flares,etc.,the solar constant is not fixed,the change in the year is about 1%.To investigate the variation of solar irradiance,we use interpolation and average segment modeling of total solar irradiance data of SORCE,establishing variance solar radiation pressure(VARSRP)model and average solar radiation pressure(AVESRP)model based on the built solar pressure model(SRPM)(constant model).According to observation data of global positioning system(GPS)and Beidou system(BDS)in 2015 and comparing the solar pressure acceleration of VARSRP,AVESRP and SRPM,the magnitude of change can reach 10-10 m/s^2.In addition,according to the satellite precise orbit determination,for GPS satellites,the results of VARSRP and AVESRP are slightly smaller than those of the SRPM model,and the improvement is between 0.1 to 0.5 mm.For geosynchronous orbit(GEO)satellites of BDS,The AVESRP and VARSRP have an improvement of 3.5 mm and 4.0 mm,respectively,based on overlapping arc,and SLR check results show the AVESRP model and the VARSRP model is improved by 2.3 mm and 3.5 mm,respectively.Moreover,the change of inclined geosynchronous orbit(IGSO)satellites and medium earth orbit(MEO)satellites is relatively small,and the improvement is smaller than 0.5 mm.

On simulation of precise orbit determination of HY-2 with centimeter precision based on satellite-borne GPS technique

The HY-2 satellite carrying a satellite-borne GPS receiver is the first Chinese radar altimeter satellite, whose radial orbit determination precision must reach the centimeter level. Now HY-2 is in the test phase so that the observations are not openly released. In order to study the precise orbit determination precision and procedure for HY-2 based on the satellite- borne GPS technique, the satellite-borne GPS data are simulated in this paper. The HY-2 satellite-borne GPS antenna can receive at least seven GPS satellites each epoch, which can validate the GPS receiver and antenna design. What＇s more, the precise orbit determination processing flow is given and precise orbit determination experiments are conducted using the HY-2-borne GPS data with both the reduced-dynamic method and the kinematic geometry method. With the 1 and 3 mm phase data random errors, the radial orbit determination precision can achieve the centimeter level using these two methods and the kinematic orbit accuracy is slightly lower than that of the reduced-dynamic orbit. The earth gravity field model is an important factor which seriously affects the precise orbit determination of altimeter satellites. The reduced-dynamic orbit determination experiments are made with different earth gravity field models, such as EIGEN2, EGM96, TEG4, and GEMT3. Using a large number of high precision satellite-bome GPS data, the HY-2 precise orbit determination can reach the centimeter level with commonly used earth gravity field models up to above 50 degrees and orders.

Influence of higher-order ionospheric delay correction on GPS precise orbit determination and precise positioning

At present, Global Navigation Satellite Systems（GNSS） users usually eliminate the influence of ionospheric delay of the first order items by dual-frequency ionosphere-free combination. But there is still residual ionospheric delay error of higher order term. The influence of the higher-order ionospheric corrections on both GPS precision orbit determination and static Precise Point Positioning（PPP） are studied in this paper. The influence of higher-order corrections on GPS precision orbit determination, GPS observations and static PPP are analyzed by neglecting or considering the higher-order ionospheric corrections by using a globally distributed network which is composed of International GNSS Service（IGS） tracking stations. Numerical experimental results show that, the root mean square（RMS） in three dimensions of satellite orbit is 36.6 mme35.5 mm. The maximal second-order ionospheric correction is 9 cm, and the maximal third-order ionospheric correction is 1 cm. Higher-order corrections are influenced by latitude and station distribution. PPP is within 3 mm in the directions of east and up. Furthermore, the impact is mainly visible in the direction of north, showing a southward migration trend, especially at the lower latitudes where the influence value is likely to be bigger than 3 mm.

Precise Orbit Determination for the FY-3C Satellite Using Onboard BDS and GPS Observations from 2013, 2015, and 2017

Using the FengYun-3C(FY-3C)onboard BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS)and Global Positioning System(GPS)data from 2013 to 2017,this study investigates the performance and contribution of BDS to precise orbit determination(POD)for a low-Earth orbit(LEO).The overlap comparison result indicates that code bias correction of BDS can improve the POD accuracy by 12.4%.The multi-year averaged one-dimensional(1D)root mean square(RMS)of the overlapping orbit differences(OODs)for the GPS-only solution is 2.0,1.7,and 1.5 cm,respectively,during the 2013,2015,and 2017 periods.The 1D RMS for the BDS-only solution is 150.9,115.0,and 47.4 cm,respectively,during the 2013,2015,and 2017 periods,which is much worse than the GPS-only solution due to the regional system of BDS and the few BDS channels of the FY-3C receiver.For the BDS and GPS combined solution(also known as the GC combined solution),the averaged 1D RMS is 2.5,2.3,and 1.6 cm,respectively,in 2013,2015,and 2017,while the GC combined POD presents a significant accuracy improvement after the exclusion of geostationary Earth orbit(GEO)satellites.The main reason for the improvement seen after this exclusion is the unfavorable satellite tracking geometry and poor orbit accuracy of GEO satellites.The accuracy of BDS-only and GC combined solutions have gradually improved from 2013 to 2017,thanks to improvements in the accuracy of International GNSS Service(IGS)orbit and clock products in recent years,especially the availability of a high-frequency satellite clock product(30 s sampling interval)since 2015.Moreover,the GC POD(without GEO)was able to achieve slightly better accuracy than the GPS-only POD in 2017,indicating that the fusion of BDS and GPS observations can improve the accuracy of LEO POD.GC combined POD can significantly improve the reliability of LEO POD,simply due to system redundancy.An increased contribution of BDS to LEO POD can be expected with the launch of more BDS satellites and with further improvements in the accuracy of BDS satellite products in the near future.

Reducing Influence of Gravity Model Error in Precise Orbit Determination of Low Earth Orbit Satellites

Based on the orbit integration and orbit fitting method, the influence of the characters of the gravity model, with different precisions, on the movement of low Earth orbit satellites was studied. The way and the effect of absorbing the influence of gravity model error on CHAMP and GRACE satellite orbits, using linear and periodical empirical acceleration models and the so-called "pseudo-stochastic pulses" model, were also analyzed.

Precise orbit determination for low Earth orbit satellites using GNSS:Observations,models,and methods

Spaceborne global navigation satellite system(GNSS)has significantly revolutionized the development of autonomous orbit determination techniques for low Earth orbit satellites for decades.Using a state-of-the-art combination of GNSS observations and satellite dynamics,the absolute orbit determination for a single satellite reached a precision of 1 cm.Relative orbit determination(i.e.,precise baseline determination)for the dual satellites reached a precision of 1 mm.This paper reviews the recent advancements in GNSS products,observation processing,satellite gravitational and non-gravitational force modeling,and precise orbit determination methods.These key aspects have increased the precision of the orbit determination to fulfill the requirements of various scientific objectives.Finally,recommendations are made to further investigate multi-GNSS combinations,satellite high-fidelity geometric models,geometric offset calibration,and comprehensive orbit determination strategies for satellite constellations.

Precise orbit determination for Tianwen-1 during mapping phase

The mapping phase is a key stage of the Tianwen-1 orbiter. It has the longest exploration time and gathers abundant radio tracking data via the Chinese deep space network. Thus, it also provides opportunities for radio science research topics such as the Mars gravity field model, ephemeris, and radio occultation experiments. At this stage, the need for imaging takes the highest priority, leading to frequent attitude adjustments for the spacecraft, which presents challenges for Precise Orbit Determination (POD). To improve the accuracy of the spacecraft’s orbit, this study analyzes the effects of arc length, the empirical acceleration, and the solar radiation pressure parameters on POD, considering the limited number of radio tracking observations. For one-day arcs, the POD is not able to adequately account for wheel off-loading and a few unknown forces with limited observations, but reasonable fitting is performed for the wheel off-loading occurring during tracking periods or the gap between two tracking periods. When extending the POD arc to three days, the estimated empirical acceleration can be well-fitted and reflects the aggregation feature, but the solar radiation pressure parameter has little impact on POD results. The root mean square of two-way range-rate residuals after POD is about 0.18-0.35 mm/s;the orbital position accuracy of 60% of the arcs is better than 100 m.

Consistency of MGEX Orbit and Clock Products

The analysis centers of the Multi-GNSS Pilot Project of the International GNSS Service provide orbit and clock products for the global navigation satellite systems(GNSSs)Global Positioning System(GPS),GLONASS,Galileo,and BeiDou,as well as for the Japanese regional Quasi-Zenith Satellite System(QZSS).Due to improved solar radiation pressure modeling and other more sophisticated models,the consistency of these products has improved in recent years.The current orbit consistency between different analysis centers is on the level of a few centimeters for GPS,around one decimeter for GLONASS and Galileo,a few decimeters for BeiDou-2,and several decimeters for QZSS.The clock consistency is about 2 cm for GPS,5 cm for GLONASS and Galileo,and 10 cm for BeiDou-2.In terms of carrier phase modeling error for precise point positioning,the various products exhibit consistencies of 2–3 cm for GPS,6–14 cm for GLONASS,3–10 cm for Galileo,and 10–17 cm for BeiDou-2.

Design of Geodetic SVLBI Satellite Orbit and Its Tracking Network

SVLBI （space very long baseline interferometry） has some important potential applications in geodesy and geodynamics, for which one of the most difficult tasks is to precisely determine the orbit of an SVLBI satellite. This work studies several technologies that will possibly be able to determine the orbit of a space VLBI satellite. Then, according to the types and charac- teristics of the satellite and the requirements for geodetic study and the geometry of the GNSS （GPS, GALILEO） satellite to track the space VLBI satellite, the six Keplerian elements of the SVLBI satellite （TEST-SVLBI） are determined. A program is designed to analyze the coverage area of space of different altitudes by the stations of the network, with which the tracking network of TEST-SVLBI is designed. The efficiency of tracking TEST-SVLBI by the network is studied, and the results are presented.

Precise orbit determination of Haiyang‑2D using onboard BDS‑3 B1C/B2a observations with ambiguity resolution

The Haiyang-2D altimetry mission of China is one of the first Low Earth Orbit(LEO)satellites that can receive new B1C/B2a signals from the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System(BDS-3)for Precise Orbit Determination(POD).In this work,the achievable accuracy of the single-receiver ambiguity resolution for onboard LEO satellites is studied based on the real measurements of new BDS-3 frequencies.Under normal conditions,six BDS-3 satellites on average are visible.However,the multipath of the B1C/B2a code observations presents some patchy patterns that cause near-field variations with an amplitude of approximately 40 cm and deteriorate the ambiguity-fixed rate.By modeling those errors,for the B2a code,a remarkable reduction of 53%in the Root Mean Square(RMS)is achieved at high elevations,along with an increase of 8%in the ambiguity-fixed rates.Additionally,an analysis of the onboard antenna’s phase center offsets reveals that when compared to the solutions with float ambiguities,the estimated values in the antenna’s Z direction in the solutions with fixed ambiguities are notably smaller.The independent validation of the resulting POD using satellite laser ranging at 16 selected high-performance stations shows that the residuals are reduced by a minimum of 15.4%for ambiguity-fixed solutions with an RMS consistency of approximately 2.2 cm.Furthermore,when compared to the DORIS-derived orbits,a 4.3 cm 3D RMS consistency is achieved for the BDS-3-derived orbits,and the along-track bias is reduced from 2.9 to 0.4 cm using ambiguity fixing.

Precise orbit determination for TH02-02 satellites based on BDS3 and GPS observations

The Tianhui-202(TH02-02)satellite formation,as a supplement to the microwave mapping satellite system Tianhui-201(TH02-01),is the first Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar(InSAR)satellite formation-flying system that supports the tracking of BeiDou global navigation Satellite system(BDS3)new B1C and B2a signals.Meanwhile,the twin TH02-02 satellites also support the tracking of Global Positioning System(GPS)L1&L2 and BDS B1I&B3I signals.As the spaceborne receiver employs two independent boards to track the Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)satellites,we design an orbit determination strategy by estimating independent receiver clock offsets epoch by epoch for each GNSS to realize the multi-GNSS data fusion from different boards.The performance of the spaceborne receiver is evaluated and the contribution of BDS3 to the kinematic and reduced-dynamic Precise Orbit Determination(POD)of TH02-02 satellites is investigated.The tracking data onboard shows that the average number of available BDS3 and GPS satellites are 8.7 and 9.1,respectively.The carrier-to-noise ratio and carrier phase noise of BDS3 B1C and B2a signals are comparable to those of GPS.However,strong azimuth-related systematic biases are recognized in the pseudorange multipath errors of B1C and B3I.The pseudorange noise of BDS3 signals is better than that of GPS after eliminating the multipath errors from specific signals.Taking the GPS-based reduced-dynamic orbit with single-receiver ambiguity fixing technique as a reference,the results of BDS3-only and BDS3+GPS combined POD are assessed.The Root Mean Square(RMS)of orbit comparison of BDS3-based kinematic and reduced-dynamic POD with reference orbit are better than 7 cm and 3 cm in three-Dimensional direction(3D).The POD performance based on B1C&B2a data is comparable to that based on B1I&B3I.The precision of BDS3+GPS combined kinematic orbit can reach up to 3 cm(3D RMS),which has a more than 25%improvement relative to the GPS-only solution.In addition,the consistency between the BDS3+GPS combined reduced-dynamic orbit and the GPS-based ambiguity-fixed orbit is better than 1.5 cm(3D RMS).

Orbit and clock products for quad-system satellites with undifferenced ambiguity fixing approach

Integer Ambiguity Resolution(IAR)can significantly improve the accuracy of GNSS Precise Orbit Determination(POD).Traditionally,the IAR in POD is achieved at the Double Differenced(DD)level.In this contribution,we develop an Un-Differenced(UD)IAR method for Global Positioning System(GPS)+BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS)+Galileo navigation satellite system(Galileo)+Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema(GLONASS)quad-system POD by calibrating UD ambiguities in the raw carrier phase and generating the so-called carrier range.Based on this method,we generate the UD ambiguity-fixed orbit and clock products for the Wuhan Innovation Application Center(IAC)of the International GNSS Monitoring and Assessment System(iGMAS).One-year observations in 2020 from 150 stations are employed to investigate performance of orbit and clock products.Notably,the UD Ambiguity Resolution(AR)yields more resolved integer ambiguities than the traditional DD AR,scaling up to 9%,attributable to its avoidance of station baseline formation.Benefiting from the removal of ambiguity parameters,the computational efficiency of parameter estimation undergoes a substantial 70%improvement.Compared with the float solution,the orbit consistencies of UD AR solution achieve the accuracy of 1.9,5.2,2.8,2.1,and 2.7 cm for GPS,BeiDou-2 Navigation Satellite System(BDS-2),BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System(BDS-3),Galileo,and GLONASS satellites respectively,reflecting enhancements of 40%,24%,54%,34%,and 42%.Moreover,the standard deviations of Satellite Laser Ranging(SLR)residuals are spanning 2.5–3.5 cm,underscoring a comparable accuracy to the DD AR solution,with discrepancies below 5%.A notable advantage of UD AR lies in its capability to produce the Integer Recovered Clock(IRC),facilitating Precise Point Positioning(PPP)AR without requiring additional Uncalibrated Phase Delay(UPD)products.To assess the performance of quad-system kinematic PPP based on IRC,a network comprising 120 stations is utilized.In comparison to the float solution,the IRC-based PPP AR accelerates convergence time by 31%and enhance positioning accuracy in the east component by 54%.

Precise orbit determination of Beidou Satellites with precise positioning

Chinese Beidou satellite navigation system constellation currently consists of eight Beidou satellites and can provide preliminary service of navigation and positioning in the Asia-Pacific Region.Based on the self-developed software Position And Navigation Data Analysis(PANDA) and Beidou Experimental Tracking Stations (BETS),which are built by Wuhan University,the study of Beidou precise orbit determination,static precise point positioning (PPP),and high precision relative positioning,and differential positioning are carried out comprehensively.Results show that the radial precision of the Beidou satellite orbit determination is better than 10 centimeters.The RMS of static PPP can reach several centimeters to even millimeters for baseline relative positioning.The precision of kinematic pseudo-range differential positioning and RTK mode positioning are 2-4 m and 5-10 cm respectively,which are close to the level of GPS precise positioning.Research in this paper verifies that,with support of ground reference station network,Beidou satellite navigation system can provide precise positioning from several decimeters to meters in the wide area and several centimeters in the regional area.These promising results would be helpful for the implementation and applications of Beidou satellite navigation system.

Quality assessment of onboard GPS receiver and its combination with DORIS and SLR for Haiyang 2A precise orbit determination

The GPS,DORIS,and SLR instruments are installed on Haiyang 2A(HY2A)altimetry satellite for Precise Orbit Determination(POD).Among these instruments,the codeless GPS receiver is the state-of-art Chinese indigenous onboard receiver,and it is the first one successfully used for Low Earth Orbit(LEO)satellite.Firstly,the contribution assesses the performance of the receiver through an analysis of data integrity,numbers of all tracked and valid measurements as well as multipath errors.The receiver generally shows good performance and quality despite a few flaws.For example,L2 observations are often missing in low elevations,particularly during the ascent of GPS satellites,and the multipath errors of P1 show a slightly abnormal pattern.Secondly,the PCO(Phase Center Offset)and PCV(Phase Center Variation)of the antenna of the GPS receiver are determined in this contribution.A significant leap for Z-component of PCO up to-1.2 cm has been found on 10 October 2011.Thirdly,the obtained PCO and PCV maps are used for GPS only POD solutions.The post-fit residuals of ionosphere-free phase combinations reduce almost 50%,and the radial orbit differences with respect to CNES(Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales)Precise Orbit Ephemeris(POEs)improve about 13.9%.The orbits are validated using the SLR data,and the RMS of SLR Observed minus Computed(O-C)residuals reduces from 17.5 to 15.9 mm.These improvements are with respect to the orbits determined without PCO and PCV.Fourthly,six types of solutions are determined for HY2A satellite using different combinations of GPS,DORIS,and SLR data.Statistics of SLR O-C residuals and cross-comparison of orbits obtained in the contribution and the CNES POEs indicate that the radial accuracy of these orbits is at the 1.0 cm level for HY2A orbit solutions,which is much better than the scientific requirements of this mission.It is noticed that the GPS observations dominate the achievable accuracy of POD,and the combination of multiple types of observations can reduce orbit errors caused by data gaps and maintain more stable and continuous orbits.

GEO and IGSO joint precise orbit determination

Experiments and analyses are carried out for GEO and joint GEO/IGSO precise orbit determination using data recorded by China's regional tracking network.Results show that joint GEO/IGSO orbit determination effectively solves the problem of poor observation geometry for GEO satellites.The laser radial evaluation thus confirms that precision is as good as less than 0.1 m.In the case of joint orbit determination,solving the empirical acceleration can reduce errors introduced by the imprecise solar radiation pressure model used for Chinese satellites.This method also improves the accuracy of orbit prediction in the radial direction.The ephemeris accuracy is thus improved and the ephemeris can provide a better service to users with navigation and positioning requirements.

Integrating BDS and GPS for precise relative orbit determination of LEO formation flying

Low-Earth-Orbit（LEO） formation-flying satellites have been widely applied in many kinds of space geodesy. Precise Relative Orbit Determination（PROD） is an essential prerequisite for the LEO formation-flying satellites to complete their mission in space. The contribution of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System（BDS） to the accuracy and reliability of PROD of LEO formation-flying satellites based on a Global Positioning System（GPS） is studied using a simulation method. Firstly, when BDS is added to GPS, the mean number of visible satellites increases from9.71 to 21.58. Secondly, the results show that the 3-Dimensional（3 D） accuracy of PROD, based on BDS-only, GPS-only and BDS ＋ GPS, is 0.74 mm, 0.66 mm and 0.52 mm, respectively. When BDS co-works with GPS, the accuracy increases by 29.73%. Geostationary-Earth-Orbit（GEO） satellites and Inclined Geosynchronous-Orbit（IGSO） satellites are only distributed over the Asia-Pacific region; however, they could provide a global improvement to PROD. The difference in PROD results between the Asia-Pacific region and the non-Asia-Pacific region is not apparent. Furthermore, the value of the Ambiguity Dilution Of Precision（ADOP）, based on BDS ＋ GPS, decreases by 7.50% and 8.26%, respectively, compared with BDS-only and GPS-only. Finally, if the relative position between satellites is only a few kilometres, the effect of ephemeris errors on PROD could be ignored. However, for a several-hundred-kilometre separation of the LEO satellites, the SingleDifference（SD） ephemeris errors of GEO satellites would be on the order of centimetres. The experimental results show that when IGSO satellites and Medium-Earth-Orbit（MEO） satellites co-work with GEO satellites, the accuracy decreases by 17.02%.

A review of real-time multi-GNSS precise orbit determination based on the filter method

Stable and reliable high-precision satellite orbit products are the prerequisites for the positioning services with high performance.In general,the positioning accuracy depends strongly on the quality of satellite orbit and clock products,especially for absolute positioning modes,such as Precise Point Positioning(PPP).With the development of real-time services,real-time Precise Orbit Determination(POD)is indispensable and mainly includes two methods:the ultra-rapid orbit prediction and the real-time filtering orbit determination.The real-time filtering method has a great potential to obtain more stable and reliable products than the ultra-rapid orbit prediction method and thus has attracted increasing attention in commercial companies and research institutes.However,several key issues should be resolved,including the refinement of satellite dynamic stochastic models,adaptive filtering for irregular satellite motions,rapid convergence,and real-time Ambiguity Resolution(AR).This paper reviews and summarizes the current research progress in real-time filtering POD with a focus on the aforementioned issues.In addition,the real-time filtering orbit determination software developed by our group is introduced,and some of the latest results are evaluated.The Three-Dimensional(3D)real-time orbit accuracy of GPS and Galileo satellites is better than 5 cm with AR.In terms of the convergence time and accuracy of kinematic PPP AR,the better performance of the filter orbit products is validated compared to the ultra-rapid orbit products.

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.

Integrated precise orbit determination of Shenzhou IV unmanned spacecraft

Considering the characteristic orbit of Shenzhou IV spacecraft and the advantages and disadvantages of several types of domestic orbit measurements, a scheme of IPOD is determined, which uses GPS, SLR and USB observation data jointly plus precise ionosphere corrections to GPS observation data. IPOD system and mathematic models of OD are introduced. The results of different joint OD are analyzed using true observation data, and show that radial accuracy is better than 2 m.