BeiDou Satellites Assistant Determination by Receiving Other GNSS Downlink Signals

Lei Chen,Gang Ou,Yangbo Huang,Xiangwei Zhu,Huicui Liu,Ke Zhang

doi:10.1155/2016/1413401

Abstract

GNSS’s orbit determinations always rely on ground station or intersatellite links (ISL). In the emergency of satellite-to-ground links and ISL break-off, BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) satellites cannot determine their orbits. In this paper, we propose to add a spaceborne annular beam antenna for receiving the global positioning system (GPS) and global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals; therefore, the BDS satellites may be capable of determining their orbits by GPS/GLONASS signals. Firstly, the spectrum selection, the power isolation, the range of Doppler frequency shift, and changing rate are taken into account for the feasibility. Specifically, the L2 band signals are chosen for receiving and processing in order to prevent the overlapping of the receiving and transmitting signals. Secondly, the minimum number of visible satellites (MNVS), carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N0), dilution of precision (GDOP), and geometric distance root-mean-square (gdrms) are evaluated for acquiring the effective receiving antennas’ coverage ranges. Finally, the scheme of deploying 3 receiving antennas is proved to be optimal by analysis and simulations over the middle earth orbit (MEO), geostationary earth orbit (GEO), and the inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO). The antennas’ structures and patterns are designed to draw a conclusion that installing GPS and GLONASS receivers on BDS satellites for emergent orbits determination is cost-effective.

Highlights

With the rapid developing of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), satellites’ orbit determination becomes a problem as it can only be measured from ground-station observing systems (GSOS) including the United X-band tracking telemetering and control system (UXB) and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI)
To possess the ability of orbit determination without supporting by the GSOS and intersatellite links (ISL), we propose to install onboard GNSS receiver on BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) satellites for receiving navigation signals from other GNSSs
We propose to address the above-mentioned two challenges in this paper, where the BDS satellites operate on geostationary earth orbit (GEO), inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO), and middle earth orbit (MEO); the feasibility of GNSS side lobe signals received by BDS satellites on the 3 orbits is analyzed

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid developing of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), satellites’ orbit determination becomes a problem as it can only be measured from ground-station observing systems (GSOS) including the United X-band tracking telemetering and control system (UXB) and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). The proposed scheme, BDS orbit determination by GPS/GLONASS (BODGG), requires simpler maintenance, lower cost than the GSOS/ISL solutions. E5a earth orbit (GEO) satellites and the inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO) satellites can hardly receive GPS’s or others GNSS’s downlink signals since they are higher than the navigation satellites, and a solution is to receive the leaked signals from the side lobe beams of the GPS satellite’s transmitting antennas. We propose to address the above-mentioned two challenges in this paper, where the BDS satellites operate on GEO, IGSO, and MEO; the feasibility of GNSS side lobe signals received by BDS satellites on the 3 orbits is analyzed.

Spectrum Selection and Isolation Analysis

Signal Receiving Performance Analysis

Simulation and Parameters Optimization

Designs of BDS Satellites’ Receiving Antennas

Summary