Conjoint Analysis of GPS Based Orbit Determination among Traditional Methods

Abstract

Satellite orbits are subject to change due to external forces. Various data gathering and processing methods exist to determine a perturbed orbit. The operators need to estimate satellite orbits for safe orbital operations. Single station azimuth elevation and range, and range-to-range methods are two flight-proven commonly utilized methods among satellite operators. GPS signals in orbit determination of GEO communication satellite have become more popular recently. Much work validates GPS-based GEO orbit determination in different aspects. The validation of GPS-based orbit determination with flight-proven methods encourage the operator about fast switching utilization of the GPS method. This research evaluates performance of the GPS-based method by comparing it with flight-proven methods. The orbits of three communication satellites at different orbital slots were calculated using GPS-based, RNG-based, and AZEL-based methods. GPS-based determined orbit and RNG-based determined orbit RMSE of 3D differences are 75.887 m, 372.420m, and 768,223 m for Sat A, Sat B, and Sat C, respectively. Similarly, AZEL-based determşden orbit and GPS-based determined orbit RMSE of 3D position differences are 133.287 m, 242.076 m, and 764.866 m for Sat A, Sat B, and Sat C, respectively. The current study confirmed the finding's apparent support for GPS-based orbit determination. Flight-proven RNG and AZEL methods results in which satellite operators' well recognized, demonstrated evidence of the GPS-based orbit determination method. The results are in line with flight-proven AZEL and RNG method's orbit parameters. Finally, the result of our comparison of AZEL vs. GPS and RNG vs. GPS methods encourages the operators to utilize GPS-based navigation to determine communication satellite orbit precisely.