GNSS receiver for Q-Sat and its analysis of precise orbit determination

Abstract

The Earth's gravity field and upper atmosphere are very important scientific information and their mechanical models can be obtained by inversion of the satellite precision orbit. It would be ideal to develop a constellation of satellites distributed with different orbits to measure atmospheric drag and gravity. Based on this idea, Tsinghua University developed a microsatellite Q-Sat for measuring the gravity field and the density of the upper atmosphere. Low-cost, high-precision measurements can greatly improve the cost effectiveness of scientific missions. In this paper, a spatial modification method for GNSS receivers based on commercial off-the-shelf was proposed. The base module of the receiver is a ground-based general-purpose device, and this modification method allows for the space-batch modification of industrial-grade devices. The modified receiver was successfully applied to the Q-Sat and a large amount of continuous on-orbit data were obtained. Data analysis results show that the receiver can simultaneously receive GPS-L1\\L2 and BD1\\BD2 multifrequency navigation satellite signals in the highly dynamic spatial environment. To reduce the precision orbit determination error, the GNSS observations were corrected by antenna center modelling, and the long-term orbit determination accuracy is stabilized at the centimeter level. The commercial off-the-shelf based GNSS receiver modification method and precision orbit determination strategy can provide a reference for low-cost and high-precision microsatellites.