Satellite Geolocation Direct Method in the Presence of Phase Distortions

Abstract

The paper presents two methods with ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ decisions about the radio source coordinates based on the results of multiple measurements in satellite geolocation. These methods are based on modified direct localization method. We analyze methods in the presence of phase distortions, which can be caused both by the specifics of the satellite transponder equipment and by the peculiarities of the physical propagation channel. We consider multiple measurements on the analysis interval, dividing it on sufficiently small partial intervals to ensure a small phase change over these intervals. The paper analyzes the efficiency of the methods with ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ decisions for different values of signal attenuation in the adjacent channels and two values of the signal-to-noise ratio in the primary channel. This analysis showed the highest efficiency of the method with ‘soft’ decisions in the most difficult conditions of signal reception.