Real-Time Precise Orbit Determination of Low Earth Orbit Satellites Based on GPS and BDS-3 PPP B2b Service

Abstract

This study investigates and verifies the feasibility of the precise point positioning (PPP)-B2b enhanced real-time (RT) precise orbit determination (POD) of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. The principles and characteristics of matching various PPP-B2b corrections are introduced and analyzed. The performance and accuracy of broadcast ephemeris and PPP-B2b signals are compared and evaluated by referring to the precise ephemeris. The root mean square (RMS) errors in the Global Positioning System (GPS) and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)-3 broadcast ephemeris orbits in the along direction are larger than those in the other two (radial and cross) directions, and correspondingly, the along component PPP-B2b corrections are greatest. The continuity and smoothness of the GPS and BDS-3 broadcast ephemeris orbits and clock offsets are improved with the PPP-B2b corrections. The availability of PPP-B2b corrections is comprehensively analyzed for the TJU-01 satellite. Several comparative schemes are adopted for the RT POD of the TJU-01 satellite using the broadcast ephemeris and PPP-B2b corrections. The RT POD performance is improved considerably with the broadcast ephemeris corrected by the PPP-B2b signals. The RMS of the RT orbital errors in the radial, along, and cross directions is 0.10, 0.13, and 0.09 m, respectively, using BDS-3 and GPS PPP-B2b corrections, with reference to the solutions calculated with the precise ephemeris. The accuracy is improved by 5.1%, 43.9%, and 28.7% in the three directions, respectively, relative to that achieved with the broadcast ephemeris. It is concluded that a greater proportion of received PPP-B2b satellite signals corresponds to a greater improvement in the accuracy of the RT POD of the LEO satellite.