Abstract

Precise orbit products are essential and a prerequisite for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) applications, which, however, are unavailable or unusable when satellites are undertaking maneuvers. We propose a clock-constrained reverse precise point positioning (RPPP) method to generate the rather precise orbits for GNSS maneuvering satellites. In this method, the precise clock estimates generated by the dynamic precise orbit determination (POD) processing before maneuvering are modeled and predicted to the maneuvering periods and they constrain the RPPP POD during maneuvering. The prediction model is developed according to different clock types, of which the 2-h prediction error is 0.31 ns and 1.07 ns for global positioning system (GPS) Rubidium (Rb) and Cesium (Cs) clocks, and 0.45 ns and 0.60 ns for the Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS) geostationary orbit (GEO) and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO)/Median Earth orbit (MEO) satellite clocks, respectively. The performance of this proposed method is first evaluated using the normal observations without maneuvers. Experiment results show that, without clock-constraint, the average root mean square (RMS) of RPPP orbit solutions in the radial, cross-track and along-track directions is 69.3 cm, 5.4 cm and 5.7 cm for GPS satellites and 153.9 cm, 12.8 cm and 10.0 cm for BDS satellites. When the constraint of predicted satellite clocks is introduced, the average RMS is dramatically reduced in the radial direction by a factor of 7–11, with the value of 9.7 cm and 13.4 cm for GPS and BDS satellites. At last, the proposed method is further tested on the actual GPS and BDS maneuver events. The clock-constrained RPPP POD solution is compared to the forward and backward integration orbits of the dynamic POD solution. The resulting orbit differences are less than 20 cm in all three directions for GPS satellite, and less than 30 cm in the radial and cross-track directions and up to 100 cm in the along-track direction for BDS satellites. From the orbit differences, the maneuver start and end time is detected, which reveals that the maneuver duration of GPS satellites is less than 2 min, and the maneuver events last from 22.5 min to 107 min for different BDS satellites.

Highlights

  • A satellite in space tends to drift gradually from its designed orbit because of various perturbations

  • The clock-constrained reverse precise point positioning (RPPP) method is proposed for precise orbit determination (POD) of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellites undertaking maneuvers, in which the precise clock estimates from the dynamic POD processing before maneuvering are modeled and predicted to the maneuvering periods to impose a constraint on the satellite clock parameters in RPPP POD during maneuvers

  • The comparison with dynamic POD solution shows that the accuracy of the unconstrained RPPP POD solution is 69.3 cm, 5.4 cm and 5.7 cm in the radial, cross-track and along-track directions for global positioning system (GPS) satellites, and 153.9 cm, 12.8 cm and 10.0 cm for Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS) satellites, respectively

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Summary

Introduction

A satellite in space tends to drift gradually from its designed orbit because of various perturbations. The common approach is introducing pseudo-stochastic parameters to model maneuvers in precise orbit determination (POD), e.g., instantaneous velocity changes at specific maneuvering epochs [13], piecewise constant accelerations over a processing interval [14] or piecewise linear and continuous accelerations at each epoch [15] These approaches are rather effective to handle maneuvers of satellites in the low Earth orbit (LEO) because of their quick movement and good geometry conditions. Considering that GNSS satellites are generally equipped with atomic clocks that are usually not affected by orbit maneuvers and have high stability and accuracy for short-term prediction [20], we propose a kinematic POD method, the clock-constrained reverse precise point positioning (RPPP), to improve the orbit solutions during maneuvering periods.

Methodology
Clock Prediction Model
Constraining of Predicted Clock
Clock-Constrained Precise Orbit Determination
Experiment Analysis
Data Collection and Processing Configuration
Conclusions
Full Text
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