Abstract
This paper presents a concept, “Cookie,” for a satellite particularly suited for dense spatial sampling by future Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) remote sensing constellations. Solely based on the reception of the direct and reflected signals transmitted by the GNSS, the satellite can provide observations of the Earth useful for a wide range of scientific and operational applications. The Cookie is capable of receiving direct and reflected signals, in both right- and left-hand circular polarizations, from any of the GNSS systems, and from virtually any arrival direction in both the upper and lower field-of-view hemispheres, i.e., providing nearly full 4 π spherical coverage toward any navigation satellite not eclipsed by the Earth. The on-board remote sensing payload produces interferometric observables, e.g., the auto- and cross-correlation of several adequate combinations of the received signals. The interferometric processing is general, the same, and transparent, with respect to any of the signals transmitted by the current or planned GNSS systems. The instrument can implement any other suitable processing schemes too. Such payload can provide, in parallel, accurate GNSS Radio-Occultation (GNSS-RO) observations of the atmosphere and forward and backward GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R) measurements from the Earth surface. Several Cookies can be piled up inside the fairing of a rocket minimizing the launch cost of a constellation. A constellation of three Cookies has been simulated and its sampling performance characterized. The key concepts of the Cookie payload could be demonstrated through ESA's GNSS Reflectometry, Radio-Occultation, and Scatterometry experiment on board the International Space Station (GEROS-ISS).
Highlights
A S early as in the 1980s and in parallel to the development of GPS and GLONASS, the first scientific applications using the navigation signals of the newly-born Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) were conceived
The first one, in the field of concern to us, i.e., Earth remote sensing from space, was atmospheric sounding through radio-occultation (GNSSRO), proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1988 [1], Manuscript received June 12, 2015; revised May 31, 2016; accepted June 17, 2016
The original concept of passive reflectometry and interferometry system (PARIS) with GNSS signals in [5] describes a system in which the direct signal is, after being shifted in time and Doppler properly, cross correlated against the reflected signal collected by a beamforming antenna
Summary
A S early as in the 1980s and in parallel to the development of GPS and GLONASS, the first scientific applications using the navigation signals of the newly-born Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) were conceived. The original concept of passive reflectometry and interferometry system (PARIS) with GNSS signals in [5] describes a system in which the direct signal is, after being shifted in time and Doppler properly, cross correlated against the reflected signal collected by a beamforming antenna This idea, referred to as interferometric GNSS-R, or GNSS-Ri, was only tested experimentally from a bridge in July 2010 [29], and, more importantly, from an aircraft over the Baltic Sea in November 2011 [30]. Of the different processing techniques, the GNSS-Ri interferometric technique is the one proposed for the Cookie, which can in addition incorporate other approaches based on clean code replicas or semi-codeless techniques, to improve performance in specific applications, or to better counteract radio-frequency effects from radar services sharing the navigation frequency bands. MARTIN-NEIRA et al.: “COOKIE”: A SATELLITE CONCEPT FOR GNSS REMOTE SENSING CONSTELLATIONS
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