风云三号C星GNOS北斗掩星电离层探测初步结果

利用风云三号卫星C星GNOS掩星探测仪电离层数据,分析了2013年10月FY-3C GNOS探测的北斗掩星电离层廓线分布,将2013年10月1日至2015年10月10日期间FY-3C GNOS观测的F₂层峰值电子密度（N_mF₂）与地面电离层测高仪观测结果进行对比,验证了FY-3C GNOS北斗电离层掩星的探测精度.结果表明,FY3-C GNOS北斗电离层掩星与电离层测高仪探测的N_mF₂数据相关系数为0.96,平均偏差为10.21%,标准差为19.61%.在不同情况下其数据精度有如下特征:白天精度高于夜晚;夏季精度高于分季,分季精度高于冬季;中纬地区精度高于低纬地区,低纬地区精度高于高纬地区; BDS倾斜同步轨道（IGSO）卫星精度高于同步轨道（GEO）卫星和中轨道（MEO）卫星.FY-3C GNOS北斗电离层掩星与国际上其他掩星电离层数据精度的一致性对GNSS掩星探测资料的综合利用具有重大意义.      

掩星大气探测系统误差源分析

根据掩星大气探测反演原理,研究了影响系统产品精度的误差源,并对多普勒观测误差、天线相位中心变化误差、多路径误差、卫星质心变化误差、导航卫星钟飘、卫星姿态变化误差和精密定轨速度误差进行分析,根据工程实现可行性提出了系统误差分配建议,为掩星大气探测系统设计提供参考.      

Precise orbit determination and precision comparison for FY3C and FY3D with receiver antenna GPS and BDS PCV using spaceborne BDS and GPS observation data

The FY3C and FY3D satellites were equipped with global navigation satellite occultation detector (GNOS) receivers that received both GPS and BDS-2 signals. For further improving precise orbit determination (POD) precisions, we estimated receiver GPS and BDS signal phase center variations (PCV) models with 2° and 5° resolutions and set the different weights for GPS and BDS-2 observations in the combined POD. The BDS-based POD precision using BDS-2 satellite antenna phase center offset (PCO) values from the China Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO) are not as accurate as those obtained from the International GNSS Service (IGS) Multi-GNSS experiments project (MGEX). The estimated receiver GPS and BDS PCV models with 2° and 5° resolutions were estimated from the GPS phase residuals of GPS-based POD and BDS phase residuals of combined POD, respectively. In most cases, the POD precisions using the estimated PCVs with 2° resolution are superior to those with 5° resolution. The precisions of the BDS-based POD and combined POD were both improved by introducing the receiver BDS PCV models. The weighting for GPS and BDS-2 observations can further improve the precision of the combined POD. The tested results of selected weights are better than those with equal weight in the combined POD. The experiment results show that orbital precisions of FY3C are worse than those of FY3D.     

Electron density retrieval from occulting GNSS signals using a gradient-aided inversion technique

In the coming years, opportunities for remote sensing of electron density in the Earth’s ionosphere will expand with the advent of Galileo, which will become part of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Methods for accurate electron density retrieval from radio occultation data continue to improve. We describe a new method of electron density retrieval using total electron content measurements obtained in low Earth orbit. This method can be applied to data from dual-frequency receivers tracking the GPS or Galileo transmitters. This simulation study demonstrates that the method significantly improves retrieval accuracy compared to the standard Abel inversion approach that assumes a spherically symmetric ionosphere. Our method incorporates horizontal gradient information available from global maps of Total Electron Content (TEC), which are available from the International GNSS Service (IGS) on a routine basis. The combination of ground and space measurements allows us to improve the accuracy of electron density profiles near the occultation tangent point in the E and F regions of the ionosphere.     

Characterisation of residual ionospheric errors in bending angles using GNSS RO end-to-end simulations

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) is an innovative meteorological remote sensing technique for measuring atmospheric parameters such as refractivity, temperature, water vapour and pressure for the improvement of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and global climate monitoring (GCM). GNSS RO has many unique characteristics including global coverage, long-term stability of observations, as well as high accuracy and high vertical resolution of the derived atmospheric profiles. One of the main error sources in GNSS RO observations that significantly affect the accuracy of the derived atmospheric parameters in the stratosphere is the ionospheric error. In order to mitigate the effect of this error, the linear ionospheric correction approach for dual-frequency GNSS RO observations is commonly used. However, the residual ionospheric errors (RIEs) can be still significant, especially when large ionospheric disturbances occur and prevail such as during the periods of active space weather. In this study, the RIEs were investigated under different local time, propagation direction and solar activity conditions and their effects on RO bending angles are characterised using end-to-end simulations. A three-step simulation study was designed to investigate the characteristics of the RIEs through comparing the bending angles with and without the effects of the RIEs. This research forms an important step forward in improving the accuracy of the atmospheric profiles derived from the GNSS RO technique.     

Comparison of RO tropopause height based on different tropopause determination methods

The tropopause is an important boundary in the Earth’s atmosphere, and has been the subject of close attention from atmosphere and climate researchers. To monitor the global tropopause using radio occultation (RO) data, there are two primary methods, one is the widely used temperature lapse rate method, and the other is the bending angle covariance transform method which is unique to RO data. We use FengYun3-C (FY3C) and Meteorological Operational Satellite Program (MetOp) RO data and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analysis data to determine differences in RO tropopause height calculated by these two methods. We compute biases of the RO lapse rate tropopause height (LRTH) and the RO bending angle tropopause height (BATH) relative to the ECMWF LRTH. The dependences of the tropopause height biases on tropopause height (TPH) retrieval method, latitude, season and RO mission are investigated. The results indicate that BATH show a consistent 0.8–1.2 km positive bias over the tropics and high latitude regions compared with LRTH, however, over 25° to 40° latitude in both hemisphere, BATH results are less stable. Furthermore, the mean bias between BATH and LRTH displayed a different symmetrical characteristic from 2017.12 to 2018.2 (DJF) compared to 2018.6–2018.8 (JJA). However, except for some bias over Antarctica, the mean value of both LRTH and BATH show a similar tropopause variation, indicating the consistency of both methods.     

Analysis of GNSS clock prediction performance with different interrupt intervals and application to real-time kinematic precise point positioning

Continuous and timely real-time satellite orbit and clock products are mandatory for real-time precise point positioning (RT-PPP). Real-time high-precision satellite orbit and clock products should be predicted within a short time in case of communication delay or connection breakdown in practical applications. For prediction, historical data describing the characteristics of the real-time orbit and clock can be used as the basis for performing the prediction. When historical data are scarce, it is difficult for many existing models to perform precise predictions. In this paper, a linear regression model is used to predict clock products. Seven-day GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) final clock products sampled at 30 s are used to analyze the characteristics of GNSS clocks. It is shown that the linear regression model can be used as the prediction model for the satellite clock products. In addition, the accuracy of the clock prediction for different satellites are analyzed using historical data with different periods (such as 2 and 10 epochs). Experimental results show that the accuracy of the clock with the linear regression prediction model using historical data with 10 epochs is 1.0 ns within 900 s. This is higher accuracy than that achieved using historical data of 2 epochs. Finally, the performance analysis for real-time kinematic precise point positioning (PPP) is provided using GFZ final clock prediction results and state space representation (SSR) clock prediction results when communication delay or connection breakdown occur. Experimental results show that the positioning accuracy without prediction is better than that with prediction in general, whether using the final clock product or the SSR clock product. For the final clock product, the positioning accuracy in the north (N), east (E), and up (U) directions is better than 10.0 cm with all visible GNSS satellites with prediction. In comparison, the 3D positioning accuracy of N, E, and U directions with visible GNSS satellites whose prediction accuracy is better than 0.1 ns using historical data of 10 epochs is improved from 15.0 cm to 7.0 cm. For the SSR clock product, the positioning accuracy of N, E, and U directions is better than 12.0 cm with visible GNSS satellites with prediction. In comparison, the 3D positioning accuracy of N, E, and U directions with visible GNSS satellites whose prediction accuracy is better than 0.1 ns using historical data of 10 epochs is improved from 12.0 cm to 9.0 cm.     

工作频率选择对GNSS接收机通道跟踪环路的影响CSCD

GNSS接收机因须并行接收处理大量卫星信号,使用通道数量较多,功耗大是其主要难题,降低功耗的解决方法之一是让通道工作时钟采用较低的频率。通过分析工作时钟与所需处理的伪码频率的关系,本文给出了通道时钟频率对伪码相位分辨率和相位抖动幅度的影响。选取两种频率的工作时钟进行仿真实验,结果表明在相同仿真条件下,选用21MHz工作时钟与选用63MHz工作时钟相比,接收机的伪码测量精度、载波测量精度均下降1倍左右,但其引入的测量误差仍小于理论估算结果,选取较低的工作时钟频率是兼顾功耗与精度的折中方法,适合作为工程设计方案。     

Low-cost precise measurement of oscillator frequency instability based on GNSS carrier observation

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receivers can be used in time and frequency metrology by exploiting stable GNSS time scales. This paper proposes a low-cost method for precise measurement of oscillator frequency instability using a single-frequency software GNSS receiver. The only required hardware is a common radio frequency (RF) data collection device driven by the oscillator under test (OUT). The receiver solves the oscillator frequency error in high time resolution using the carrier Doppler observation and the broadcast ephemeris from one of the available satellites employing the onboard reference atomic frequency standard that is more stable than the OUT. Considering the non-stable and non-Gaussian properties of the frequency error measurement, an unbiased finite impulse response (FIR) filter is employed to obtain robust estimation and filter out measurement noise. The effects of different filter orders and convolution lengths are further discussed. The frequency error of an oven controlled oscillator (OCXO) is measured using live Beidou-2/Compass signals. The results are compared with the synchronous measurement using a specialized phase comparator with the standard coordinated universal time (UTC) signal from the master clock H226 in the national time service center (NTSC) of China as its reference. The Allan deviation (ADEV) estimates using the two methods have a 99.9% correlation coefficient and a 0.6% mean relative difference over 1–1000 s intervals. The experiment demonstrates the effectiveness and high precision of the software receiver method.     

Beidou wide-area augmentation system clock error correction and performance verification

On December 27, 2018, the Beidou-3 System (BDS-3) has completed the deployment of 18 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites combined as a space constellation. In addition to the augmentation information for the new system signals B1C and B2a, the BDS-3 is compatible with the three augmentation information broadcast by the BDS-2 system for B1I and B3I signals: equivalent clock error correction, User Differential Ranging Error (UDRE) and Grid Ionosphere Vertical Error (GIVE). In this paper, the observation data of Beidou monitoring network are used to analyze the pseudo-range observation quality of the smooth transition signals B1I and B3I of BDS-2 and BDS-3. At the same time, the relationship between the equivalent clock error correction and the prediction error of the satellite clock is analyzed by using the Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT) data. The results show that the correlation between the equivalent clock error correction and the monitored clock error by using the TWSTFT data is greater than 60%. We calculate the UDRE by using the equivalent clock error correction. The results show that the satellite equivalent clock error correction can improve the accuracy of User Equivalent Range Error (UERE) by about 50%. This paper also compares the positioning accuracy of the BDS-2 satellites with the BDS-2 satellites combined BDS-3 satellites. The results show that the three-dimensional positioning accuracy is improved by about 30% after the BDS-3 satellites are added.     

一种地基GNSS接收机差分码偏差估算方法

GNSS不同频点间的码伪距作差会引入信号的差分码偏差(DCB),包括GNSS卫星及地面接收机的DCB.本文提出一种地基GNSS接收机差分码偏差参数估算方法,首先由电离层文件参数作线性插值,计算出电离层延迟误差.之后对IGS站观测文件进行加权最小二乘法估计,得到GPS卫星和地面GNSS接收机的L1C频点和L2P频点间码偏...     

Monitoring atomic clocks on board GNSS satellites

A method for monitoring atomic clocks on board Global Navigation Satellites System (GNSS) satellites is described to address the issue of clock related signal integrity in safety–critical applications of GNSS. The carrier-phase time transfer is employed in the clock monitoring method which enables tight tracking of the satellite onboard clocks and thus improves detectability of clock anomalies. Detecting onboard clock anomalies requires the ability to monitor clocks in real time, and a Kalman filter can then be utilized to estimate the phase offsets between the satellite clocks and ground clocks. This study, using the difference between the measured and predicted phase offset as a test statistic, sets a threshold for clock anomalies based on the prediction interval approach. Finally the validity of the monitoring method is examined by processing a set of real GNSS data that includes two recent incidents of clock anomalies in GNSS satellites.     

Improved specular point prediction precision using gradient descent algorithm

Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R) utilizes GNSS signals reflected off the Earth surface for remote sensing applications. Due to weak power of reflected signals, GNSS-R receiver needs to track reflected signals by open loop. The first step is to calculate the position of specular point. The specular point position error of the existing algorithm—Quasi-Spherical Earth (QSE) Approach—is about 3 km which may cause troubles in data post-processing. In this paper, gradient descent algorithm is applied to calculate position of specular point and the calculation is based on World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) ellipsoid in geodetic coordinate. The benefit of this coordinate is that it is easy to investigate the effect of real surface’s altitude. Learning rate—the key parameter of the algorithm—is adaptively adjusted according to initial error, latitude and gradient descent rate. With self-adaptive learning rate strategy, the algorithm converges fast. Through simulation and test on Global Navigation Satellite System Occultation Sounder II (GNOS II), the performances of the algorithm are validated. The specular point position error of the proposed algorithm is about 10 m. The speed of the proposed algorithm is competitive compared with the existing algorithm. The test on GNOS II shows that the proposed algorithm has good real-time performance.     

Evaluation and analysis on positioning performance of BDS/QZSS satellite navigation systems in Asian-Pacific region

By using the observation data and products of precise obit and clock offset from Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) of the International GNSS Service (IGS) and GNSS Research Centre, Curtin University in this paper, the positioning performance of BDS/QZSS satellite navigation system has been analyzed and evaluated in aspects of the quantity of visible satellites, DOP value, multipath effect, signal-to-noise ratio, static PPP and kinematic PPP. The analysis results show that compared to BDS single system when the cutoff angle are 30°and 40°, the DOP value of BDS/QZSS combined system has decreased above 20%, and the quantity of visible satellites increased about 16–30% respectively, because of the improved spatial geometric configuration. The magnitude of satellite multipath effect of BDS system shows the trend of MEO?>?IGSO?>?GEO, which is consistent with that of QZSS satellite system, as the constellation structure of the two systems is similar. The variation tendencies of signal-to-noise ratio with respect to elevation angle of the two systems are almost the same at all frequencies, showing that at the same elevation angle the signal-to-noise ratio of MEO satellites is higher than that of IGSO satellites, as the higher obit is the lower transmitting power is obtained. For having a specially designed obit, the variation of signal-to-noise ratio of BDS system is more stable. However, the magnitude of signal-to-noise ratio of QZSS system appears the trend of frequency 3?>?frequency 2?>?frequency 1. The static PPP performance of the BDS/QZSS combination system has been improved more significantly than the BDS single system in E, N and U directions. When the cutoff angle are at 7°, 15° and 30°, the PPP accuracy is increased about 25–34% in U direction, 10–13% and 23–34% in E and N directions respectively. When the elevation angle is large (40°), compared to BDS single system at lower elevation angles (7° and 15°) the PPP accuracy of the BDS/QZSS combination system is improved above 30% in U direction. In kinematic PPP performance, compared to BDS single system, the accuracy, availability and reliability of the BDS/QZSS combination system has been improved too, especially at large elevation angles (30° and 40°), the kinematic PPP accuracy in E and U directions has been improved about 10–50%, and above 50% in U direction. It can be concluded that the combination with QZSS system can improve the positioning accuracy, reliability and stability of BDS system. In the future, with the improvement of the satellite construction of Japan’s QZSS system and the global networking of China’s BDS satellites, the QZSS satellites will contribute greatly to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, availability and stability of GNSS systems in areas such as cities, mountains, densely-packed buildings and severely covered areas in Asian-Pacific region.     

LEO-LEO掩星事件持续时间及卫星间相对角速度仿真分析

通过对LEO-LEO掩星事件仿真,分析卫星轨道参数对掩星事件持续时间和卫星间相对角速度的影响.结果表明:对掩星事件持续时间影响较大的LEO-LEO卫星轨道参数依次为轨道倾角、升交点赤经、轨道高度,近地点角距对掩星事件持续时间影响不大;LEO-LEO卫星轨道倾角互补时,掩星事件持续时间最短,为98s;两颗LEO卫星轨道倾角之和或者升交点赤经之差在120°-240°范围内,掩星持续时间约100~150s;两颗LEO卫星轨道越高,掩星持续时间越短;掩星发生时,LEO卫星间水平方向相对角速度最大值约为0.14（°）·-1,俯仰方向相对角速度最大值约为0.078（°）·s-1.      

“嫦娥4号”中继星使命轨道段定轨计算与分析

"嫦娥4号"中继星是"嫦娥4号"探测器实现月球背面着陆与巡视的关键,目前正稳定运行在地-月L2点使命轨道上,该使命轨道为平均周期约14天的南族Halo轨道。因任务的需要,中继星本体系+Z轴需调整指向,处于正对太阳和非正对太阳两种状态。太阳光压在中继星+Z轴对日的情况下会加速卫星的角动量累积,增加卫星卸载喷气频次。基于中继星使命轨道段测控支持条件,采用重叠弧段法对两种状态下的中继星定轨精度进行分析与评估。结果表明,在中继星+Z轴非对日运行状态下,重叠弧段位置误差为1.6 km,速度误差为8 mm/s;在中继星+Z轴对日运行状态下,重叠弧段位置误差为0.6 km,速度误差为3 mm/s,这对中继星的长期运行具有重要参考价值。     

导航卫星的地面站定轨算法

导航星座轨道的长期保持是星座导航系统运营管理的重要组成部分,而现有的导航卫星地面定轨算法又存在精度不高或计算量大不适合工程应用的问题。为此,研究了单向、被动测量模式的导航卫星地面定轨算法。基于单向伪距观测,将导航卫星钟差参数作为状态量,推导了滤波算法的状态方程、测量方程,并最终建立了滤波器模型。以不同轨道面的4颗GPS导航卫星为例进行了2天的仿真试验,考虑卫星的可见性仿真中加入了测量中断,并设计在测量恢复后重启滤波算法。仿真结果表明,4颗卫星的轨道位置估计精度可以达到米级,钟差随机偏差的估计精度可以达到纳秒级,并且在滤波中断后重启滤波器,仍然可以达到此估计精度,表明此定轨算法具有收敛性和稳定性。     

Obtaining more accurate electron density profiles from bending angle with GPS occultation data: FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC constellation

Since 1995, with the first GPS occultation mission on board Low Earth Orbiter (LEO) GPS/MET, inversion techniques were being applied to GPS occultation data to retrieve accurate worldwide distributed refractivity profiles, i.e. electron density profiles in the case of Ionosphere. Important points to guarantee the accuracy is to take into account horizontal gradients and topside electron content above the LEO orbit. This allows improving the accuracy from 20% to 50%, depending on the conditions, latitude and epoch regarding to Solar cycle as reported in previous works.     

BeiDou-3 orbit and clock quality of the IGS Multi-GNSS Pilot Project

Within the Multi-GNSS Pilot Project (MGEX) of the International GNSS Service (IGS), precise orbit and clock products for the BeiDou-3 global navigation satellite system (BDS-3) are routinely generated by a total of five analysis centers. The processing standards and specific properties of the individual products are reviewed and the BDS-3 orbit and clock product performance is assessed through direct inter-comparison, satellite laser ranging (SLR) residuals, clock stability analysis, and precise point positioning solutions. The orbit consistency evaluated by the signal-in-space range error is on the level of 4–8 cm for the medium Earth orbit satellites whereas SLR residuals have RMS values between 3 and 9 cm. The clock analysis reveals sytematic effects related to the elevation of the Sun above the orbital plane for all ACs pointing to deficiencies in solar radiation pressure modeling. Nevertheless, precise point positioning with the BDS-3 MGEX orbit and clock products results in 3D RMS values between 7 and 8 mm.     

Numerical modeling of a Global Navigation Satellite System in a general relativistic framework

In this article we model a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in a Schwarzschild space–time, as a first approximation of the relativistic geometry around the Earth. The closed time-like and scattering light-like geodesics are obtained analytically, describing respectively trajectories of satellites and electromagnetic signals. We implement an algorithm to calculate Schwarzschild coordinates of a GNSS user who receives proper times sent by four satellites, knowing their orbital parameters; the inverse procedure is implemented to check for consistency. The constellation of satellites therefore realizes a geocentric inertial reference system with no a priori realization of a terrestrial reference frame. We perform a simulation of position determination and show that the determination of the four coordinates with a 25–32 digit accuracy takes only around 60 ms. Effects of non-gravitational perturbations on positioning errors are assessed, and methods to reduce them are sketched. In particular, inter-links between satellites could greatly enhance stability and accuracy of the positioning system. Effects of gravitational perturbations are omitted in this paper in order to make a clearer comparison between the relativistic and non-relativistic scheme, but they will be included in subsequent work. We believe that the final algorithm will be a serious alternative to the usual post-Newtonian scheme.