Antenna for precise orbit determination

The ESA SWARM mission will consist of three satellites that will measure the Earth magnetic field. The system calls for metre accuracy knowledge of the measurement locations. To achieve this a GPS receiver is used. At least four GPS signals are tracked to determine the code and carrier ranges, from which the position can be derived. The accuracy improves when using more GPS satellites and by averaging over many measurements. The latter is achieved in ground processing with a model-based orbit prediction, resulting in cm accuracy. The main error contributions in the processing are often measurement errors due to satellite multi-path effects. The multipath effects are characterized by measuring the antenna on a 1.5 m mock-up, representing the 9 m long satellite. In order to verify that the mock-up is representative, extensive electromagnetic simulations were made. The simulations included the antenna and the complete satellite and were then reduced to the antenna and a section of the satellite. The actual design of the antenna was performed with several levels of software. First, a fast bodies-of-revolution simulation found a geometry with the right coverage. Then, a finite element method simulation allowed us to match the antenna at two frequencies simultaneously.     

实现海洋测高卫星厘米级定轨精度的策略分析

基于对多种飞机的机载GPS测量实践,提出我国海洋二号（HY-2）卫星实现厘米级精度的星载GPS定轨测量的基本要求：1）选择适合天线,捕获多颗在视GPS卫星;2）注重天线安装位置,减弱多路径效应影响;3）选用适合的GPS信号接收机,确保星载GPS测量数据优质。     

Antenna radiation effects on the orbits of GPS and INTELSAT satellites

A large number of disturbances add to the main force exerted by Earth's gravitational field and affect the actual orbital trajectory of artificial satellites. They possess antennas with specific purposes, such as telecommunication systems operating at specific ranges of frequencies and radiated power. For instance, the antennas used in the GPS and INTELSAT satellites are quadrifilar helix and parabolic reflectors respectively. The radiation emitted by the antennas produces a radiation reaction force on the satellite making its orbital elements deviate from their expected values. Using a mathematical model for the radiation reaction force caused by the antenna, derived from the electromagnetic theory and the energy-momentum conservation law, the perturbation effects on the orbits of the GPS and INTELSAT satellites were studied. The numerical integrator used to solve the satellite equations of motion is based on the Runge–Kutta method of fourth and fifth orders. The theoretical model of antenna radiation reaction takes into account the satellite mass, antenna radiated power and maximum gain of the antenna.     

Flight performance analysis of GRACE K-band ranging instrument with simulation data

A dual one-way ranging (DOWR) system provides very high accuracy range measurements between two satellites. The GRACE satellite mission implements the DOWR, called KBR (K-band ranging), to measure very small inter-satellite range change in order to map the Earth gravity field. The flight performance of the KBR is analyzed by using a hybrid software simulator that incorporates actual satellite orbit data into a comprehensive KBR simulator, which was earlier used for computing the GRACE baseline accuracy. Three types of experiments were performed. First is the comparison of the flight data with the simulated data in spectral domain. Second is the comparison of double differenced noise level. Third is the comparison of the range-rate difference with GPS clock estimates. The analysis shows a good agreement with the simulation model except some excessive high frequency noise, e.g. 10⁻⁴ m/√Hz at 0.1 Hz. The range-rate difference shows 0.003 cyc/s discrepancy with the clock estimates. These analyses are helpful to refine the DOWR simulation model and can be benefit to future DOWR instrument development.     

Flight performance analysis of GRACE K-band ranging instrument with simulation data

A dual one-way ranging (DOWR) system provides very high accuracy range measurements between two satellites. The GRACE satellite mission implements the DOWR, called KBR (K-band ranging), to measure very small inter-satellite range change in order to map the Earth gravity field. The flight performance of the KBR is analyzed by using a hybrid software simulator that incorporates actual satellite orbit data into a comprehensive KBR simulator, which was earlier used for computing the GRACE baseline accuracy. Three types of experiments were performed. First is the comparison of the flight data with the simulated data in spectral domain. Second is the comparison of double differenced noise level. Third is the comparison of the range-rate difference with GPS clock estimates. The analysis shows a good agreement with the simulation model except some excessive high frequency noise, e.g. 10⁻⁴ m/√Hz at 0.1 Hz. The range-rate difference shows 0.003 cyc/s discrepancy with the clock estimates. These analyses are helpful to refine the DOWR simulation model and can be benefit to future DOWR instrument development.     

GPS-based relative navigation for the Proba-3 formation flying mission

The primary objective of the Proba-3 mission is to build a solar coronagraph composed of two satellites flying in close formation on a high elliptical orbit and tightly controlled at apogee. Both spacecraft will embark a low-cost GPS receiver, originally designed for low-Earth orbits, to support the mission operations and planning during the perigee passage, when the GPS constellation is visible. The paper demonstrates the possibility of extending the utilization range of the GPS-based navigation system to serve as sensor for formation acquisition and coarse formation keeping. The results presented in the paper aim at achieving an unprecedented degree of realism using a high-fidelity simulation environment with hardware-in-the-loop capabilities. A modified version of the flight-proven PRISMA navigation system, composed of two single-frequency Phoenix GPS receivers and an advanced real-time onboard navigation filter, has been retained for this analysis. For several-day long simulations, the GPS receivers are replaced by software emulation to accelerate the simulation process. Special attention has been paid to the receiver link budget and to the selection of a proper attitude profile. Overall the paper demonstrates that, despite a limited GPS tracking time, the onboard navigation filter gets enough measurements to perform a relative orbit determination accurate at the centimeter level at perigee. Afterwards, the orbit prediction performance depends mainly on the quality of the onboard modeling of the differential solar radiation pressure acting on the satellites. When not taken into account, this perturbation is responsible for relative navigation errors at apogee up to 50 m. The errors can be reduced to only 10 m if the navigation filter is able to model this disturbance with 70% fidelity.     

Design and implementation of the GPS subsystem for the Radio Aurora eXplorer

This paper presents the design and implementation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) subsystem for the Radio Aurora eXplorer (RAX) CubeSat. The GPS subsystem provides accurate temporal and spatial information necessary to satisfy the science objectives of the RAX mission. There are many challenges in the successful design and implementation of a GPS subsystem for a CubeSat-based mission, including power, size, mass, and financial constraints. This paper presents an approach for selecting and testing the individual and integrated GPS subsystem components, including the receiver, antenna, low noise amplifier, and supporting circuitry. The procedures to numerically evaluate the GPS link budget and test the subsystem components at various stages of system integration are described. Performance results for simulated tests in the terrestrial and orbital environments are provided, including start-up times, carrier-to-noise ratios, and orbital position accuracy. Preliminary on-orbit GPS results from the RAX-1 and RAX-2 spacecraft are presented to validate the design process and pre-flight simulations. Overall, this paper provides a systematic approach to aid future satellite designers in implementing and verifying GPS subsystems for resource-constrained small satellites.     

一种卫星间跟瞄方向的控制策略与实现

进行自由空间的光通信或空间对抗，需要在卫星间实现精确的跟踪与瞄准。因为地面测控站的设置非常有限，指令与数据注入的范围受到很多限制，所以要求这种跟瞄在很多时候是无主控制状态下完成的。提出了一种利用在地面测控站的范围内向星上数管中心注入目标卫星、本体卫星的轨道参数，其它时间依靠自主导航飞行和GPS修正的方法，结合本体星的姿态测量、振动测量实现卫星瞄准指向的方位角与俯仰角的精确控制的方法，提高了在地面站无法注入指令与数据时卫星的捕获概率。通过仿真，将计算结果与卫星仿真工具软件STK的数据进行比较，结果一致。最后在嵌入式DSP平台上实现了这一策略。     

高低轨双星时频差无源定位精度

高低轨卫星联合定位是提高地面辐射源无源定位精度的有效方法。从时差基线、速度差增加方面分析了高低轨双星定位精度相对同轨卫星定位精度高的原因,推导出高低轨双星时频差定位误差分布表达式,分析了高低轨联合定位适用的时频差测量方法及其测量精度。仿真分析结果表明:在低轨卫星星下点附近较大范围内,定位精度达到百米量级。验证了双星相对位置变化、时频差测量误差、高低轨卫星自身位置速度测量误差等因素对高低轨双星定位精度的影响。     

飞行器姿态对高动态GPS卫星信号模拟器输出信号的影响

利用 GPS测量空间飞行器飞行轨迹时 ,常因载体姿态变化 ,导致某些 GPS卫星信号中断。如果利用高动态 GPS卫星信号模拟器进行仿真 ,必须考虑这种影响。文中结合飞行器姿态、GPS天线方向图 ,提出一种新的 GPS可见卫星判断和模拟器发射信号电平确定方法 ,适用于火箭、飞机等目标的仿真     

提高光学遥感卫星图像几何精度总体设计分析

针对如何提高我国光学遥感卫星图像几何定位精度问题,从影响几何成像质量的关键要素——内外方位元素出发,介绍地面几何处理方法,并基于多颗卫星研制、地面量测试验及在轨验证情况,对高分辨率光学遥感卫星和多线阵观测卫星的几何精度的星-地全链路影响误差项进行对比分析,通过理论分析找出了约束我国高分辨率遥感卫星几何精度的关键问题,最后探讨了如何通过星上设计配合地面处理提高高分辨率遥感卫星的几何精度。     

A vectorial bootstrapping approach for integrated GNSS-based relative positioning and attitude determination of spacecraft

Traditionally in multi-spacecraft missions (e.g. formation flying, rendezvous) the GNSS-based relative positioning and attitude determination problem are treated as independent. In this contribution we will investigate the possibility to use multi-antenna data from each spacecraft, not only for attitude determination, but also to improve the relative positioning between spacecraft. Both for ambiguity resolution and accuracy of the baseline solution, we will show the theoretical improvement achievable as a function of the number of antennas on each platform. We concentrate on ambiguity resolution as the key to precise relative positioning and attitude determination and will show the theoretical limit of this kind of approach. We will use mission parameters of the European Proba-3 satellites in a software-based algorithm verification and a hardware-in-the-loop simulation. The software simulations indicated that this approach can improve single epoch ambiguity resolution up to 50% for relative positioning applying the typical antenna configurations for attitude determination. The hardware-in-the-loop simulations show that for the same antenna configurations, the accuracy of the relative positioning solution can improve up to 40%.     

基于INS辅助的GPS接收机完善性监测算法研究

以惯性导航系统输出的数据作为辅助信息 ,对 GPS完善性监测算法进行了研究。该法以卡尔曼滤波新息序列为依据 ,对 GPS卫星的伪距测量值是否出现故障进行的检测 ,并给出了计算机仿真算例。仿真结果表明 :该方法能够及时准确地检测出 GPS故障星     

适用于CEI的GEO卫星相时延解算方法及试验

为解决在实际航天任务中利用连线干涉测量(CEI)技术进行高精度GEO卫星定轨以及共位GEO卫星相对定位时面临的载波相位整周模糊度难题，提出了一种基于卫星下行信号的多弧段融合相位模糊度解算方法，它通过相邻多弧段载波相位值和窄带信号群时延值的融合处理可精确获得无模糊载波相时延观测量。对提出的方法进行了性能仿真和实际外场试验验证，结果表明：在20 km基线上，利用北斗GEO卫星的伪码测距信号和天链卫星的测控信号均成功实现了S频段解载波整周相位模糊，相时延测量精度优于0.1ns，对应GEO卫星定轨精度优于54 m。该方法在国内首次实现了在几十km基线量级上利用几百kHz窄带测控信号获得无模糊载波相时延，具有较好的工程应用前景。     

地球同步轨道区域电磁频谱监视效能分析

地球同步轨道区域电磁频谱的监视效能进行了分析和仿真。首先针对目标卫星主瓣,进行了频谱监视的目标覆盖率与监视概率分析,结果表明通过主瓣方式实现频谱监视的可行性较差;进而提出基于目标卫星副瓣进行频谱监视的方法。理论分析得到了实现同步轨道目标卫星全覆盖的轨道高度差、监视角及监视距离之间的关系;最后以实际在轨的同步轨道卫星作为目标样本库,进行目标覆盖率仿真分析,结果验证了基于目标卫星副瓣进行地球同步轨道区域电磁频谱监视是可行的。     

卫星厘米级定轨的实施建议

对我国实现卫星厘米级定轨的技术途径 ,提出了下列建议 :利用我国在国外的卫星观测站和在国内的 IGS跟踪站 ,建立 GPS国际基准观测网 ,进行星载 GPS双频动态载波相位测量定轨 ;注重大气阻力摄动对低轨卫星定轨的精度损失 ,不仅要安装性能优良的星载 GPS双频接收机 ,而且要装备卫星加速度计 ;采用星载 GPS信号接收机 /激光后向反射镜阵列协同定轨法 ,确保卫星定轨测量的径向误差达到厘米级     

星载大型空间天线的一种解耦控制方法

针对星载大型空间可展开天线与卫星平台之间的动力学耦合问题提出一种三自由度驱动与测量机构用于连接天线臂与卫星平台。该机构以驱动电机来控制天线臂转动,通过角度传感器对天线臂转角的测量来实现反馈控制,同时在卫星姿态控制系统中引入前馈控制进行反作用力矩补偿,实现卫星平台与天线之间的解耦控制、抑制天线的振动、提高卫星姿态控制系统的性能。通过姿态稳定状态下卫星-天线系统解耦动力学模型的建立、控制系统的设计、姿态控制的仿真分析,表明解耦机构能大幅增加天线振动的阻尼,有效提高卫星稳定性和天线指向精度。     

低轨道卫星GPS精密定轨动力学方法的研究

结合低轨卫星简化动力学定轨算法,以及不同几何信息精度条件下的纯几何定轨和动力定轨精度比较,定量分析星载双频GPS实现精密定轨过程中的主要因素,得到星载GPS接收机性能设计所需的关键技术指标,为卫星精密定轨系统的顶层设计提供了科学合理的参考依据。     

Design of a 40/50 GHz satellite ground station for fade mitigation experiments

Due to the increasing demand in satellite capacity, driven by applications such as high-definition television (HDTV), 3D-TV and interactive broadband services, higher frequency bands will have to be exploited. The capacity on Ku-band is already becoming scarce and Ka-band systems are more commonly used. It can be expected that 40 and 50 GHz (Q and V band) will have to be used in the future. At these frequencies the wave propagation effects have a significant impact on the performance. The traditional approach of implementing large fade margins in the system design is not suitable as it leads to expensive ground terminals. Fade mitigation by adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) is a cost-efficient method. To investigate the Q/V-band for future commercial exploitation, ESA's ALPHASAT satellite will provide experimental payloads for communications and wave propagation experiments. In Graz a Q/V-band ground station is currently under development. It will be equipped with a 3 m tracking antenna, a 50 W Klystron amplifier and a 290 K LNA. Fade mitigation experiments will be conducted, initially using DVB-S2 modems which allow to vary the modulation scheme, the Forward Error Correction code and the symbol rate under control of the ACM computer. In addition, uplink power control can be combined with the ACM methods. A specially developed signal analyser provides precise measurement of the signal/noise ratio. In addition, propagation data will be available from a beacon receiver, also developed by Joanneum Research. Important goals of the experiment are to investigate the reliability of links under realistic operating conditions using ACM and to develop efficient ACM and signal/noise ratio measurement algorithms which can be later implemented in optimised modems for Q/V-band.The paper describes the ground station design and addresses the planned fade mitigation experiments.     

风云四号卫星双程测距系统精密轨道确定

针对我国新一代静止轨道卫星风云四号高精度轨道计算需求，地面跟踪系统设计了多台站双频双程测距模式。详细给出了信号传播介质改正中的电离层与对流层处理方法，并给出了风云四号卫星动力学轨道确定策略。在非变轨期间，采用动力学定轨方法。轨道确定残差分析，测量噪声均方根优于0.5 m。通过轨道重叠分析，非变轨期间精度优于20 m。动量轮卸载期间，采用估计经验力的方法，其定轨残差优于1 m。对多弧段数据处理表明文中方法满足同步卫星双程测距模式下的高精度轨道跟踪问题。