Geosynchronous Orbit Satellites Research Articles

SLR validation and evaluation on BDS precise orbits from 2013 to 2018

The objective of this paper is to validate and evaluate the orbit accuracy of the BeiDou Navigation System (BDS) using satellite laser ranging (SLR) data over a 5-year time series. The microwave-based precise orbits of BDS derived from four Analysis Centers (ACs) are validated from 2013 to 2018, including three Multi-GNSS EXperiment (MGEX) ACs from WHU, CODE and GFZ, as well as a fourth AC, known as ISC in China, with the corresponding products designated as WUM, COM, GBM and ISC. The validated orbits of BDS include the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite of C01, the Inclined Geo-Synchronous Orbit (ISGO) satellites of C08, C10, and C13, as well as the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite of C11. In addition, the performances of the BDS orbits during noneclipse, eclipse and Yaw Maneuver (YM) period are evaluated. Finally, the dependencies of SLR residuals on the satellite nadir angle and on the Sun elevation angle β are analyzed in detail. The results demonstrated that (1) the optimal orbit accuracies of C01, C08, C10, C11 and C13 are 522.8 mm from WUM, 53.3 mm from ISC, 54.3 mm from ISC, 38.2 mm from ISC and 51.5 mm from COM, respectively. And the orbits derived from ISC have more stable and excellent accuracy than the other ACs due to the advantages of its orbit combination algorithm. (2) Due to the deficiencies of the Solar Radiation Pressure and the YM modeling for BDS satellites from four ACs, the microwave-based orbit accuracy of BDS IGSO and MEO satellites is significantly deteriorated during the eclipse period, especially in the YM period, while the accuracy of GEO C01 during the eclipse period is better than that during the noneclipse period. (3) The dependency of SLR residuals on the satellite nadir angle has been analyzed, but limited by the number and type of all the validated BDS satellites, the nadir-dependency offset of the SLR residuals cannot be well assigned from the characteristics of the SLR detector system, or the Laser Retro-reflector Arrays. (4) By analyzing the dependency of SLR residuals on the Sun elevation angle β, some commonalities of the patterns derived from four ACs have been found for BDS IGSO and MEO satellites, and the patterns are similar to that of the GLONASS, rather than those of GPS and Galileo.

Investigation of the performance of real-time BDS-only precise point positioning using the IGS real-time service

With the development of China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and the operation of the real-time service (RTS) of the International GNSS service, BDS real-time precise point positioning (RTPPP) has become possible. In this contribution, the RTS product CLK93 is employed for BDS RTPPP, and its quality for BDS orbit and clock corrections is first assessed by availability and accuracy over a period of 24 days. Following this, the convergence time and positioning accuracy of BDS-only RTPPP are evaluated by performing a 24-day processing with ten stations from the multi-GNSS experiment (MGEX) network. Finally, a real-time kinematic test is conducted in an urban environment to further investigate the performance of BDS-only RTPPP. Experimental results show that the average availabilities of the CLK93 corrections are approximately 95% for the inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO) satellites, 90% for the medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites and 65% for the geostationary earth orbit satellites. The mean accuracy of the real-time corrections, which is represented by the signal-in-space ranging error (SISRE) value, is 10 cm for the IGSO and MEO satellites. Furthermore, the average positioning accuracies in the north, east and up components of the ten MGEX stations are approximately 1.7, 2.2 and 2.6 cm, respectively, for the static mode and 10.3, 15.6 and 29.2 cm, respectively, for the kinematic mode. In addition, the average time required to converge to a 20-cm accuracy in the three-dimensional component is approximately 100 and 136 min for BDS-only RTPPP in the static and kinematic modes, respectively. In addition, the positioning accuracy of BDS-only RTPPP in the real-time kinematic test is 0.86, 0.92 and 1.68 m in the east, north and up components, respectively, for the whole solutions during the test, which is obviously worse than that obtained by GPS-only RTPPP.

Accurate and Rapid Broadcast Ephemerides for Beidou-Maneuvered Satellites

The geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites of the Beidou navigation satellite system are maneuvered frequently. The broadcast ephemeris can be interrupted for several hours after the maneuver. The orbit-only signal-in-space ranging errors (SISREs) of broadcast ephemerides available after the interruption are over two times larger than the errors during normal periods. To shorten the interruption period and improve the ephemeris accuracy, we propose a two-step orbit recovery strategy based on a piecewise linear thrust model. The turning points of the thrust model are firstly determined by comparison of the kinematic orbit with an integrated orbit free from maneuver; afterward, precise orbit determination (POD) is conducted for the maneuvered satellite by estimating satellite orbital and thrust parameters simultaneously. The observations from the IGS Multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Experiment (MGEX) network and ultra-rapid products of the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) are used for orbit determination of maneuvered satellites from Sep to Nov 2017. The results show that for the rapidly recovered ephemerides, the average orbit-only SISREs are 1.15 and 1.0 m 1 h after maneuvering for GEO and IGSO respectively, which is comparable to the accuracy of Beidou broadcast ephemerides in normal cases.

Performance of BDS-3: satellite visibility and dilution of precision

We describe a method to assess the performance of the third-generation BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS-3), in terms of satellite visibility and dilution of precision (DOP), on global and regional scales. Different from traditional methods, this method estimates the satellite visibility and DOP without requiring real or simulated ephemerides. Validated by the reference values derived from real ephemerides of GPS and GLONASS, the estimated number of visible satellites achieves an accuracy better than 0.15, and the estimated DOP values are lower than their reference values by less than 10% on average. Applying this method to BDS-3, with a 5° cutoff elevation angle, results show that the geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites of BDS-3 together contribute 3–6 visible satellites in the area of 60°S–60°N and 50°E–170°E. In this area, the number of visible BDS-3 satellites is 11–14, which is more than GPS and Galileo by 1–3, and GLONASS by 3–7. With better satellite visibility, the average BDS-3 horizontal, vertical, and time DOPs over this area are 0.74, 1.08, and 0.67, which are, respectively, 5%, 9%, and 3% lower than those of GPS and Galileo, 14%, 16%, and 21% lower than those of GLONASS, and 16%, 19% and 14% lower than those of the 24-MEO-only BDS-3.

Robust Kalman Filter Aided GEO/IGSO/GPS Raw-PPP/INS Tight Integration.

Reliable and continuous navigation solutions are essential for high-accuracy location-based services. Currently, the real-time kinematic (RTK) based Global Positioning System (GPS) is widely utilized to satisfy such requirements. However, RTK’s accuracy and continuity are limited by the insufficient number of the visible satellites and the increasing length of base-lines between reference-stations and rovers. Recently, benefiting from the development of precise point positioning (PPP) and BeiDou satellite navigation systems (BDS), the issues existing in GPS RTK can be mitigated by using GPS and BDS together. However, the visible satellite number of GPS + BDS may decrease in dynamic environments. Therefore, the inertial navigation system (INS) is adopted to bridge GPS + BDS PPP solutions during signal outage periods. Meanwhile, because the quality of BDS geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) satellites is much lower than that of inclined geo-synchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites, the predicted observation residual based robust extended Kalman filter (R-EKF) is adopted to adjust the weight of GEO and IGSO data. In this paper, the mathematical model of the R-EKF aided GEO/IGSO/GPS PPP/INS tight integration, which uses the raw observations of GPS + BDS, is presented. Then, the influences of GEO, IGSO, INS, and R-EKF on PPP are evaluated by processing land-borne vehicle data. Results indicate that (1) both GEO and IGSO can provide accuracy improvement on GPS PPP; however, the contribution of IGSO is much more visible than that of GEO; (2) PPP’s accuracy and stability can be further improved by using INS; (3) the R-EKF is helpful to adjust the weight of GEO and IGSO in the GEO/IGSO/GPS PPP/INS tight integration and provide significantly higher positioning accuracy.

High Speed Laser Based Intersatellite Link Systems for Harsh Environment of Space

This paper will focus on the trends for the space-based lasers, optics and terminals used in the intersatellite networks. Reviewed and evaluate the recent development in the space-based laser technologies and the critical parameters that are employed for successful high-speed intersatellite communications systems. Fiber optics and photonics technology including lasers increasingly being used in aerospace applications and many challenges are involved, since designing for aerospace is very different than for the earth environment. Satellites are much more challenging and for their intersatellite solutions have to contemplate more specific requirements such as space radiation attacks, operation in harsh environment of space and achieving weight, power requirements and reliability for space are few to consider. Therefore it is important to design a system to defend against the radiation from ionizing, gamma, and other attacks. There are numerous methods to protect them from radiation, including shielding, error correction, and using radiation resistance shielding and radiation hardening. Building laser for high speed communications network for the harsh environment of space using optical links in space has proven to be complicated task and many such schemes were tried without success in the past. Space-based optical communications using satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) and Geo-synchronous orbits (GEO) hold great promise for the proposed Internet in the Sky network of the future. However in the last few years, there has been impressive progress made to bring the concept of laser-based intersatellite systems to fruition in civilian and government-non classified projects. Laser communications offer a viable alternative to established RF communications for inter-satellite links and other applications where high performance links are a necessity. High data rate, small antenna size, narrow beam divergence, and a narrow field of view are characteristics of laser-based systems and they are just few numbers of potential advantages for system design over radio frequency communication.

Relativistic effects to the onboard BeiDou satellite clocks

The relationship between the proper time of a satellite clock and the geocentric coordinate time (TCG) is discussed in the framework of general relativity. The influences of Earth's shape and the tidal potentials of the Sun and Moon are analyzed for onboard satellite clocks in different orbits. The results show that the influence of the shape of the Earth on Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite reaches the level of 4.0 × 10-15, and it may be the direct cause of the half orbital-period variation in the clock frequency. The influences of the tidal potentials of the Sun and the Moon are relatively smaller. These influences on the frequencies of the clocks in the BeiDou MEO and GEO/IGSO (Geosynchronous Earth Orbit/Inclined Geosynchronous Satellite Orbit) satellites are 5.9 × 10-16 and 1.2 × 10-15, respectively, and appear to be half-day periodic variations. Therefore, these effects need to be considered in the precise assessment and application of BeiDou satellite clocks.

A New Geosynchronous SAR Constellation and its Signal Characteristics

The Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Radar (GEO SAR) has a long synthetic aperture time. The temporal decoherence and azimuth variance characteristics of echo are significant, that brings great challenges to signal to process. In order to reduce the synthetic aperture time and thus improve the observation flexibility and efficiency, this paper proposes a SAR system mounted on a special satellite in reverse equatorial geosynchronous orbit, so-called the reverse equatorial GEO SAR. The orbit is nearly circular and the orbital plane coincides with the equatorial plane. The satellite flies against the direction of the Earth's rotation. The relative velocity is accelerated twice and the synthetic aperture time is shorter. The satellite does not drift in latitude direction and drifts uniformly in longitude direction. The echo has azimuth invariance property. Meanwhile, the 24-hour continuous observation can be achieved for areas with a certain range of latitude by means of large squint technique and constellation design. As the GEO SAR has high orbit, large delay, large squint angle, and wide pulse width, the complex modulation effects are generated by continuous motion between the satellite and target during the imaging period. In this paper, the uniform acceleration curve motion is used to describe the motion of both satellite and target, and the linear approximation is used to describe the slant range change in the process of transmitting and receiving one pulse. Accordingly, an accurate signal model for the reverse equatorial GEO SAR is established, which provides a theoretical model for signal characteristics analysis and imaging algorithms development.

Impact of Hardware Impairments on Outage Performance of Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Relay Systems

The hardware impairments of transceiver nodes that generate signal distortions degrade the reliability performance of communication systems. This paper investigates the impact of hardware imperfections on the outage performance of hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay systems (HSTRS), where a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite transmits its data to the terrestrial destination with the help of decode-and-forward (DF) terrestrial relays. We consider that all network nodes are subjected to hardware impairments and propose a multi-relay selection (MRS) scheme to enhance the outage performance of the HSTRS. The traditional single-relay selection (SRS) scheme is also considered for comparison purposes. We derive closed-form outage probability expressions for both the SRS and MRS schemes. Moreover, an asymptotic outage probability analysis is carried for both the SRS and MRS schemes in the high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) region. The simulation results show that the outage performance of the HSTRS can be enhanced under the MRS scheme with a certain level of hardware impairments at the HSTRS. Compared to the condition of ideal hardware, the outage probability of HSTRS increases for both the SRS and MRS schemes if the hardware is not ideal. When the amplify-and-forward (AF) protocol is employed at relays, the outage performance of HSTRS degrades compared to that of DF for both the SRS and MRS schemes.

A triple-frequency cycle slip detection and correction method based on modified HMW combinations applied on GPS and BDS

By taking advantage of the additional combined signals introduced by triple-frequency GNSS, we propose a cycle slip detection and correction method based on the traditional extra-wide-lane Hatch–Melbourne–Wubbena (HMW) combination and also modified HMW combinations. Instead of using the combined code signals directly in the traditional HMW combination, the modified HMW combination adopts the original code signals and one combined phase signal with corrected cycle slips to eliminate the ionospheric bias and reduce the effect of the noise induced by the code measurement. To determine the optimally combined signals and the corresponding coefficients in the modified HMW combination, four constrained conditions are proposed based on the maximum acceptable ionospheric bias and measurement noise of the combination in the process of cycle slip detection. Two optimally combined signals are selected; however, the second best signal cannot maintain a 100% success rate when epoch intervals are increased, due to the effect of the remaining ionospheric bias. To solve this problem, a scale factor is introduced to balance the corrected percentage of the ionospheric bias and the amplification of the measurement noise. These selected signals are further tested with real triple-frequency GPS and BDS observations. Results show that the proposed method can provide a 100% success rate in detecting cycle slips in the observations with large epoch intervals (up to 30 s) from medium earth orbit satellites with elevation angles above 5°, as well as inclined geosynchronous orbit and geostationary orbit satellites with elevation angles above 20°.

Effect of GEO satellite explosion on space environment

The distribution status of spatial targets in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) is analysed, and the GEO orbital space environment model with space debris above 10 cm in feature size is established. The debris situation after the fragmentation of the satellite explosion in the orbit is simulated, and the safety of the space environment under the current conditions is analysed.

A Simplified BDS Broadcast Ephemeris and State Space Representative (SSR) Matching Method for BDS-Only Real-Time Precise Point Positioning (PPP)

As opposed to the GPS real-time precise point positioning (PPP) with sophisticated orbit/clock recovery method, BDS real-time PPP applications were limited by the fact that no internationally recognized BDS issue of data (IOD) calculation and matching method was defined. This paper proposes a simplified BDS broadcast ephemeris and state space representative (SSR) matching method for the BDS precise orbit and clock recovery in real time. Unlike the existing method, the proposed method does not need to perform IOD calculation which involves several bitwise operations. Instead, it only needs to monitor the BDS SSR IOD updating status. Comparison result shows that the proposed method can reduce 6.97% computational time for the 24-hour real-time orbit/clock product recovery. Using the proposed matching method, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) BDS real-time orbit and clock product from day of year (DOY) 119 to 128 2018 were evaluated. By comparing the 10-day dataset with German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam (GFZ) final products, we could see that BDS real-time orbit accuracies were greatly improved, i.e. 1.644-6.143 m real-time precise orbit for Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, 0.059-0.286 m for Inclined Geosynchronous Satellite Orbit (IGSO)/Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. In the meantime, 0.12-2.32 ns real-time clock precision was obtained. Both static and kinematic tests were adopted to evaluate BDS-only real-time PPP using CNES real-time corrections. The results indicated that cm-level horizontal and < 0.1 m vertical precisions were obtained in static experiment. As for the kinematic test, < 0.1 m horizontal and dm-level vertical precisions were obtained in an unmanned aerial vehicle experiment.

Correction model of BDS satellite-induced code bias and its impact on precise point positioning

There are code biases on the pseudo-range observations of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) that range in size from several decimeters to larger than one meter. These biases can be divided into two categories, which are the code biases in the pseudo-range observations of Inclined Geo-Synchronous Orbit (IGSO) satellites and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites and the code biases in the pseudo-range observations of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites. In view of the code bias of the IGSO/MEO satellites, the code bias correction model is established using the weighted least square curve fitting method. After the correction, the code biases of the IGSO and MEO satellites are clearly mitigated. A methodology of correcting GEO code bias is proposed based on the empirical mode decomposition (EMD)-wavelet transform (WT) coupled model. The accuracies of the GEO multipath combination of the B1, B2 and B3 frequencies are improved by 39.9%, 17.9%, and 29.4%, respectively. Based on the corrections above, the ten days observations of three Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) stations are processed. The results indicate that the convergence time of the precise point positioning (PPP) can be improved remarkably by applying a code bias. The mean convergence time can be improved by 14.67% after the IGSO/MEO code bias correction. By applying the GEO code bias, the mean convergence time can be further improved by 17.42%.

Satellite Laser Ranging System at Geochang Station

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developing the space optical and laser tracking (SOLT) system for space geodesy, space situational awareness, and Korean space missions. The SOLT system comprises satellite laser ranging (SLR), adaptive optics (AO), and debris laser tracking (DLT) systems, which share numerous subsystems, such as an optical telescope and tracking mount. It is designed to be capable of laser ranging up to geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites with a laser retro-reflector array, space objects imaging brighter than magnitude 10, and laser tracking low Earth orbit space debris of uncooperative targets. For the realization of multiple functions in a novel configuration, the SOLT system employs a switching mirror that is installed inside the telescope pedestal and feeds the beam path to each system. The SLR and AO systems have already been established at the Geochang station, whereas the DLT system is currently under development and the AO system is being prepared for testing. In this study, the design and development of the SOLT system are addressed and the SLR data quality is evaluated compared to the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) tracking stations in terms of single-shot ranging precision. The analysis results indicate that the SLR system has a good ranging performance, to a few millimeters precision. Therefore, it is expected that the SLR system will not only play an important role as a member of the ILRS tracking network, but also contribute to future Korean space missions.

Traffic Modelling and Simulation of Broadband LEO Satellite Communication System

Due to the rapid development of small satellite technology and the advantages of low earth orbit satellite (LEO) with low delay and low propagation loss as compared with the traditional geosynchronous orbit satellite (GEO), the broadband LEO constellation satellite communication system has gradually become one of the most important hot spots in the field of satellite communications. Many countries and satellite communication companies in the world are formulating the project of broadband satellite communication system. In view of the actual demand of China, in order to construct the broadband LEO constellation satellite communication system reasonably and effectively, and to research an efficient networking scheme, it is necessary to analyse traffic demand. This paper constructs the location-based traffic model and time-based traffic model. A method to simulate the traffic of broadband LEO constellation satellite communication system is proposed. And the traffic in one satellite and one orbit of the broadband LEO constellation satellite communication system are simulated respectively by using STK and MATLAB simulation software.

Strategy Design and Sensor Scheduling for Optical Navigation of Low Earth Orbit Satellites

Space-based optical (SBO) sensor is a special kind of star sensor, which can be used in not only the space-based observation for space objects but also satellite navigation, called optical navigation in this paper. The aim of this paper is to design optical navigation strategy for low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, including the selection of beacon objects, and the sensor scheduling for improving navigation accuracy. The processing and observation geometry of space-based optical observation is illustrated first. Based on the characteristics of the space-based optical observation, the distribution of beacon geosynchronous orbit satellites is designed for optical navigation of LEO satellites. And the sensor scheduling criterion for optical navigation is deduced to analyze the characteristics of optical navigation and schedule the navigation mission. It is found that an efficient way to improve the optical navigation accuracy is to add an additional sensor to track other beacon objects, whose line of sight (LOS) should be perpendicular to the original LOS of the sensor as far as possible. Therefore, global positioning system satellites are used as the supplement of beacon objects. Finally, based on the sensor scheduling criterion, navigation for a LEO satellite with two SBO sensors is scheduled, which obtains more accurate results and converges more rapidly.

Design and Transmission Performance Analysis of Satellite Constellation for Broadband LEO Constellation Satellite Communication System Based On High Elevation Angle

Because of the rapid development of small satellite technology and the advantages of low earth orbit satellite (LEO) satellites compared with traditional geosynchronous orbit satellite (GEO) satellites such as low time delay low propagation loss broadband, LEO constellation satellite communication system has gradually become one of the hot spots in the field of satellite communication. At present, many countries and satellite communication companies in the world are working on broadband satellite communication system programmes. In view of the actual needs of our country, through link computation and comparing the complexity of satellite implementation at different communication elevation angles to meet the terminal rate requirements, the assumption of constructing broadband LEO constellation satellite communication system with high elevation is put forward. The transmission characteristics of OneWeb constellation are simulated by STK and Matlab simulation software.

Reconfigurable Phased Array Antenna Consisting of High-Gain High-Tilt Circularly Polarized Four-Arm Curl Elements for Near Horizon Scanning Satellite Applications

A 2 × 2 phased array consisting of beam reconfigurable four-arm right-handed circularly polarized (RHCP) curl unit elements antenna is presented. This array is designed at test frequency of 5.2 GHz and can undertake a high-gain near-the-horizon scanning with low grating lobes. Each curl antenna element has four ports and can provide four RHCP tilted-beams ( θ = 48°) with a gain of 8.3 dBic. By switching the feeding ports, the curl element can reconfigure/switch these unit element beams in four different quadrants in space. The array exploits these high-gain high-tilt switchable beams for generating an extremely wide scanning range from −80° ≤ θ ≤ +80°. For the 2 × 2 array, in this range, the beam has a maximum gain of 12.4 dBic at θ = 40°. More importantly, the array provides RHCP beams with a gain of 10.5 dBic at near-the-horizon angles of θ ≍ 70° and provides a lower gain of 6.5 dBic in the zenith direction. This has promising applications in communications on the move using a flat panel antenna to geosynchronous orbit satellites. Here, when operating at high latitudes require high-gain at near-the-horizon angles.

A new approach of orbit determination for LEO satellites based on optical tracking of GEO satellites

Ability of autonomous orbit determination (OD) for a satellite is receiving increasing interests due to its considerable value in engineering application. A new OD approach for low earth orbit (LEO) satellites based on tracking geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites using space-based optical tracking approach is proposed which can improve the autonomy of LEO satellites and reduce their dependence on ground facilities. Based on the information support of Space Surveillance Network (SSN), several GEO satellites are selected as guidance and calibration functions like beacons for LEO satellites equipped with space-based optical (SBO) sensors, as they are called beacon GEO satellites in this paper. LEO satellites can determine their own orbits by tracking these GEO objects without measures of ground facilities, which only need to provide necessary information of beacon objects for them. Unlike traditional space-based observation, long arcs and high-frequency measurements, which are more beneficial to determine orbit precisely, are possibly obtained. This paper focuses on demonstrating the feasibility and performance of proposed approach. To determine orbits, batch least-squares (LS) estimator with Tschauner–Hempel (T–H) equation state-transition matrix to estimate the propagation of initial errors is used. Different scenarios are simulated and results show that tracklet length, measurement frequency, and measurement errors are the main factors that influence the accuracy of OD.

Characteristics of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) Code Observations for Different Receiver Types and Their Influence on Wide-Lane Ambiguity Resolution.

The Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has been an important constitute of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and the combination of GPS and BDS shows significant improvements when compared with single GPS system for real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning, and improves on availability and fixing rates, especially in the East Asian area. While network RTK might have different types of receivers, both for global and regional networks, different types of receiver may adopt different internal multipath mitigation methods and other techniques that result in different pseudorange characteristics, especially for a multipath. Then, the performance of wide-lane ambiguity resolution (WL AR) is affected. In this study, we first analyze and compare the characteristics of BDS dual-frequency observations for different types of receivers, including Trimble, Leica, Javad, and Septentrio, based on multipath (MP) observables, and then we assess their influence on double-differenced (DD) WL AR. The numerical results show that an obvious low-frequency component exists in MP observables of BDS geostationary earth-orbit satellites (GEOs) for Leica receivers, while its high-frequency measurement noise is very small. For geosynchronous orbit satellites (IGSOs) and medium earth-orbit satellites (MEOs), a slight fluctuation can also be observed that is similar to that of GPS satellites, except for the satellite-included code bias. In Trimble, Javad, and Septentrio receivers, the MP series are dominated by high-frequency measurement noise, both for GEOs and non-GEOs, except for satellite-included code bias. Furthermore, the characteristic of Leica receivers for BDS GEOs seriously affects WL AR and, even for a short baseline, it takes a long time for WL ambiguities to converge, or not converge for many GEO-related DD WL ambiguities, while Trimble, Javad, and Septentrio receivers perform well for short and medium baselines. Then, a time-difference method is proposed to mitigate the multipath of BDS GEOs for a Leica receiver. After applying the proposed method, WL ambiguity fixing rates of GEO-related satellite pairs are improved significantly and the convergence time is shortened from several hours to ten minutes.