Abstract
In order to provide better service for the Asia-Pacific region, the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) is designed as a constellation containing medium earth orbit (MEO), geostationary earth orbit (GEO), and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO). However, the multi-orbit configuration brings great challenges for orbit determination. When orbit maneuvering, the orbital elements of the maneuvered satellites from broadcast ephemeris are unusable for several hours, which makes it difficult to estimate the initial orbit in the process of precise orbit determination. In addition, the maneuvered force information is unknown, which brings systematic orbit integral errors. In order to avoid these errors, observation data are removed from the iterative adjustment. For the above reasons, the precise orbit products of maneuvered satellites are missing from IGS (international GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) service) and iGMAS (international GNSS monitoring and assessment system). This study proposes a method to determine the precise orbits of maneuvered satellites for BeiDou GEO and IGSO. The initial orbits of maneuvered satellites could be backward forecasted according to the precise orbit products. The systematic errors caused by unmodeled maneuvered force are absorbed by estimated pseudo-stochastic pulses. The proposed method for determining the precise orbits of maneuvered satellites is validated by analyzing data of stations from the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX). The results show that the precise orbits of maneuvered satellites can be estimated correctly when orbit maneuvering, which could supplement the precise products from the analysis centers of IGS and iGMAS. It can significantly improve the integrality and continuity of the precise products and subsequently provide better precise products for users.
Highlights
The constellations of BeiDou-2 and BeiDou-3 are designed to contain geostationary earth orbit (GEO), inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), and medium earth orbit (MEO)
The variation of velocity in the along-track, cross-track, and radial directions caused by maneuvers are unknown in advance, so the intervals and constraint differences for estimating pseudo-stochastic pulses are not discussed in this paper
GPS orbits are only estimated by Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE), and the precise orbit products of BeiDou satellite system (BDS) are missing from all International GNSS Service (IGS) and International GNSS Monitoring and Assessment System (iGMAS) analysis centers
Summary
The constellations of BeiDou-2 and BeiDou-3 are designed to contain geostationary earth orbit (GEO), inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), and medium earth orbit (MEO). It is necessary to study orbit determination for maneuvered satellites to improve the service performance of the precise products for users. Kelecy and Jah determined the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite orbit for low thrust maneuvers, but post-maneuver data are required for maneuver reconstruction and the method is not suitable for GEO/IGSO [18]. Li et al used two-way satellite–station observations to determine GEO satellite orbits by adding empiric force and maneuver force modeling, which needed the information of maneuver thrust. It is necessary to study orbit determination for maneuvered satellites using public data, which does not need to rely too much on thrust information about orbit maneuvers. This paper presents a method to determine orbits for maneuvered BDS satellites by adding pseudo-stochastic pulses
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