Benefits of satellite clock modeling in BDS and Galileo orbit determination

Abstract

In the process of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) satellite orbit determination, satellite clocks are typically estimated as epoch-wise white noise in addition to the satellite orbit parameters. This results in high correlation between the satellite clock estimates and the satellite orbits, especially the radial component. In this paper, an appropriate clock model is proposed to constrain the satellite clock estimates in order to improve the accuracy of satellite orbits. SLR residuals and Day Boundary Discontinuities (DBDs) were used to assess the orbit quality. The benefits of satellite clock modeling in BDS and Galileo orbit determination is validated by experimental data sets. The results show that for satellites equipped with highly stable clocks, employing an appropriate linear model constraint for the clock estimates in orbit determination can result in an improved orbit consistency as well as accuracy. In detail, for Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, C12, C14, E11, E12 and E19, the improvements of DBDs range from 10% to 20%. Furthermore, the Standard Deviation (STD) of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) residuals were improved up to 30% for the Galileo satellites (using a passive hydrogen maser clock).