Time Transfer by Laser Link: Data analysis and validation to the ps level

The Time Transfer by Laser Link (T2L2) is a very high resolution time transfer technique based on the recording of arrival times of laser pulses at the satellite. T2L2 was designed to achieve time stability in the range of 1 ps over 1000 s and an accuracy better than 100 ps. The project is in operation onboard the Jason-2 satellite since June 2008. The principle is based on the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) technology; it uses the input of 20–25 SLR stations of the international laser network which participate in the tracking. This paper focuses on the data reduction process which was developed specifically to transform the raw information given by both space instrument and ground network: first to identify the triplets (ground and onboard epochs and time of flight of the laser pulse), second to estimate a usable product in terms of ground-to-space time transfer (including instrumental corrections), and thirdly to produce synchronization between any pair of remote ground clocks. In describing the validation of time synchronizations, the paper opens a way for monitoring the time difference between ultra-stable clocks thanks to a laser link at a few ps level for Common View passes. It highlights however that without accurately characterizing the onboard oscillator of Jason-2 and knowing the unavailability of time calibrations of SLR stations generally, time transfer over intercontinental distances remain difficult to be accurately estimated.     

Time synchronization of new-generation BDS satellites using inter-satellite link measurements

Autonomous satellite navigation is based on the ability of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Beidou, to estimate orbits and clock parameters onboard satellites using Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) measurements instead of tracking data from a ground monitoring network. This paper focuses on the time synchronization of new-generation Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) satellites equipped with an ISL payload. Two modes of Ka-band ISL measurements, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) mode and the continuous link mode, were used onboard these BDS satellites. Using a mathematical formulation for each measurement mode along with a derivation of the satellite clock offsets, geometric ranges from the dual one-way measurements were introduced. Then, pseudoranges and clock offsets were evaluated for the new-generation BDS satellites. The evaluation shows that the ranging accuracies of TDMA ISL and the continuous link are approximately 4?cm and 1?cm (root mean square, RMS), respectively. Both lead to ISL clock offset residuals of less than 0.3?ns (RMS). For further validation, time synchronization between these satellites to a ground control station keeping the systematic time in BDT was conducted using L-band Two-way Satellite Time Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT). System errors in the ISL measurements were calibrated by comparing the derived clock offsets with the TWSTFT. The standard deviations of the estimated ISL system errors are less than 0.3?ns, and the calibrated ISL clock parameters are consistent with that of the L-band TWSTFT. For the regional BDS network, the addition of ISL measurements for medium orbit (MEO) BDS satellites increased the clock tracking coverage by more than 40% for each orbital revolution. As a result, the clock predicting error for the satellite M1S was improved from 3.59 to 0.86?ns (RMS), and the predicting error of the satellite M2S was improved from 1.94 to 0.57?ns (RMS), which is a significant improvement by a factor of 3–4.     

Design and performances of laser retro-reflector arrays for Beidou navigation satellites and SLR observations

Beidou is the regional satellite navigation system in China, consisting of three kinds of orbiting satellites, MEO, GEO and IGSO, with the orbital altitudes of 21500–36000 km. For improving the accuracy of satellites orbit determination, calibrating microwave measuring techniques and providing better navigation service, all Beidou satellites are equipped with laser retro-reflector arrays (LRAs) to implement high precision laser ranging. The paper presents the design of LRAs for Beidou navigation satellites and the method of inclined installation of LRAs for GEO satellites to increase the effective reflective areas for the regional ground stations. By using the SLR system, the observations for Beidou satellites demonstrated a precision of centimeters. The performances of these LRAs on Beidou satellites are very excellent.     

星地无线电双向法时间比对计算模型及其误差评估

卫星导航定位系统测距的基础是测时,而定轨和定位的前提是各观测量的时间同步。因此,时间同步技术是卫星导航定位系统建设的关键技术基础之一。根据星地无线电双向法时间同步技术的基本原理,详细推导了其在地心惯性系中的基本计算模型,并以静止地球同步轨道卫星为例,分析了该计算模型中的距离改正项时延对星地间相对钟差的影响量级。     

Analysis of BDS-3 distributed autonomous navigation based on BeiDou system simulation platform

Satellite autonomous navigation is an important function of the BeiDou-3 navigation System (BDS-3). Satellite autonomous navigation means that the navigation satellite uses long-term forecast ephemeris and Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) measurements to determinate its own spatial position and time reference without the support of the ground Operation and Control System (OCS) for a long time to ensure that the navigation system can normally maintain the time and space reference. This paper aims to analyze the feasibility of distributed autonomous navigation algorithms. For the first time, a ground parallel autonomous navigation test system (GPANTS) is built. The performance of distributed autonomous navigation is then analyzed using the two-way ISL ranging of BDS-3 satellites. First, the BDS simulation platform and the GPANTS are introduced. Then, the basic principles of distributed satellite autonomous orbit determination and time synchronization based on ISL measurements are summarized. Preliminary evaluation of the performance of the BDS-3 constellation autonomous navigation service under ideal conditions through simulation data. Then the performance of autonomous navigation for 22 BeiDou-3 satellites using ISL measurements is evaluated. The results show that when satellites operate autonomously for 50 days without the support of any ground station, the User Range Error (URE) of autonomous orbit determination is better than 3 m, and the time synchronization accuracy is better than 4 ns.     

In-orbit assessment of laser retro-reflector efficiency onboard high orbiting satellites

The navigation and geodetic satellites that orbit the Earth at altitudes of approximately 20,000 km are tracked routinely by many of the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stations of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). In order to meet increasing demands on SLR stations for daytime and nighttime observations, any new mission needs to ensure a strong return signal so that the target is easily acquirable. The ILRS has therefore set a minimum effective cross-section of 100 million square metres for the on-board laser retro-reflector arrays (LRAs) and further recommends the use of ‘uncoated’ cubes in the arrays. Given the large number of GNSS satellites that are currently supported by SLR, it is informative to make an assessment of the relative efficiencies of the various LRAs employed. This paper uses the laser ranging observations themselves to deduce and then compare the efficiencies of the LRAs on the COMPASS-M1 navigation satellite, two satellites from the GPS and three from the GLONASS constellations, the two GIOVE test satellites from the upcoming Galileo constellation, the two Etalon geodetic spheres and the geosynchronous communications test satellite, ETS-8. All the LRAs on this set of satellites employ back-coated retro-reflector cubes, except those on the COMPASS-M1 and ETS-8 vehicles which are uncoated. A measure of return signal strength, and thus of LRA-efficiency, is calculated using the laser-range full-rate data archive from 2007 to 2010, scaled to remove the effects of variations in satellite range, atmospheric attenuation and retro-reflector target total surface area. Observations from five SLR stations are used in this study; they are Herstmonceux (UK), Yarragadee (Australia), Monument Peak and McDonald (USA) and Wettzell (Germany). Careful consideration is given to the treatment of the observations from each station in order to take account of local working practices and system upgrades. The results show that the uncoated retro-reflector cubes offer significant improvements in efficiency.     

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.     

基于GNSS的高轨卫星定位技术研究

利用全球卫星导航系统(GNSS)进行导航定位具有全球、全天候、实时和高精度的优点,应用于高地球轨道(HEO)卫星的定位,能够提供精确的轨道和姿态确定,并且可以克服目前主要利用地面测控系统对HEO卫星进行定位的设备复杂、投资高等缺点,使得自主导航成为可能.本文对利用GNSS的高轨卫星定位相关技术进行了研究,分析了单一GNSS系统和多个GNSS组合系统的卫星可见性、动态性和几何精度因子(GDOP).通过仿真分析表明,利用组合GNSS系统并通过提高GNSS接收机灵敏度的方法,可以解决GNSS进行HEO卫星定位的相关问题,并能保证HEO卫星定位精度的要求.      

利用条件平差实现导航星座自主守时方法

针对导航星座自主导航系统的重要组成部分———自主守时系统,提出了一种简便易行的新算法:根据星间测距数据,采用条件平差进行自主守时计算;并且介绍了此方法基本原理和实现思路。自主守时仿真计算表明,此方法守时同步误差不累积,距离测量误差0.1m时,时间同步误差均方根小于0.4m。     

一种多步的基于切换星间测量的多星自主导航算法

针对基于星间测量的多星自主导航问题,从载荷优化和节约成本考虑,提出了一种单套敏感器切换测量的导航方案。建立了该导航方案下的系统状态空间模型,并基于扩展卡尔曼滤波方程给出了导航估计算法。基于多步卡尔曼滤波方法,将集中的滤波算法解耦为多个平行的子滤波器,使计算量降低到原算法的50%以下,并且在切换测量的导航方案下,部分解耦出的子滤波器可以只预测不更新,能够进一步地降低计算负担。给出了多步滤波算法的推导过程,证明了其与标准卡尔曼滤波的数学等价性,故算法的估计性能及计算结果与标准卡尔曼滤波一致,但计算速度有明显提升。最后,通过具体算例给出了算法的仿真验证。     

基于最小PDOP准则的星间链路拓扑方案

星间链路是卫星导航系统实现自主运行的一项关键技术.研究了一种 Walker(24/3/2) 星座,通过对卫星间可见性以及星间链路相关约束条件的分析,计算并确定了同轨卫星的A,B类排列方案,探索了建立位置精度因子(PDOP,Position Dilution Of Precision)值最小,即测距精度最高的星间链路拓扑结构的方法,并在此基础上利用Dijkstra算法计算出卫星之间以及卫星与地面站之间的最优路径.通过对星间数据传输时间延迟和星座网络卫星节点数据流量的统计,表明这种链路生成方案切实可行,能够满足预先设定的技术指标要求.同时对最短路径、最小跳数和网络流量均衡3种不同的计算策略进行了仿真,验证了这3种策略所造成的结果差异.      

A new approach to the telescope operation method for satellite tracking using a time synchronization technique

For the development of a telescope that is capable of precisely tracking satellites and high-speed operation such as satellite laser ranging, a special method of telescope operation is required. This study aims to propose a new telescope operation method and system configuration for the independent development of a mount and an operation system which includes the host computer. Considering that the tracking of a satellite is performed in real time, communication and synchronization between the two independent subsystems are important. Therefore, this study applied the concept of time synchronization, which is used in various fields of industry, to the communication between the command computer and the mount. In this case, communication delays do not need to be considered in general, and it is possible to cope with data loss. Above all, when the mount is replaced in the future, only the general communication interface needs to be modified, and thus, it is not limited by replacement in terms of the overall system management. The performance of the telescope operation method developed in this study was verified by applying the method to the first mobile SLR system in Korea. This study is significant in that it proposed a new operation method and system configuration, to which the concept of time synchronization was applied, for the observation system that requires an optical telescope.     

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.     

GPS授时校频方法研究与试验结果

为了解决多目标综合测量系统各测站之间时间同步和频率校准问题,提出了利用GPS(Global Positioning System)单星或多星共视方法进行站间时间同步与校频,给出了这两种方法的计算公式,分析了星历误差、星钟误差、电离层折射误差、对流层折射误差、多径效应和接收机硬件延迟对时间同步精度的影响.为了验证GPS授时校频精度,进行了相关试验.通过与铯原子钟比对,表明利用GPS可实现纳秒级时间同步,校频精度也优于5.0×10-11,多星共视具有更高的同步校频精度.      

基于视线测量和轨道预报高轨非合作目标相对导航方法

对于非合作目标,由于中远距离星上相对测量手段有限,大多情况仅能获得视线角信息.仅视线测量相对导航方法在GEO轨道条件下滤波精度低、可观测性差.提出一种基于星间视线方位测量和轨道预报信息结合的非合作目标相对导航方法.建立基于星间相对运动模型的状态方程和基于星间视线测量和轨道预报信息的观测方程,分别选取了扩展卡尔曼滤波和无迹卡尔曼滤波两种方法,仿真分析了轨道预报信息精度和滤波方法对导航精度的影响.     

空间惯性定向姿态卫星数传链路设计

对于采用空间惯性定向姿态的卫星,其在数传设备工作期间不能保证固定安装在星体上的发射天线波束准确指向地面站,这给有效载荷高速数传提出更高技术要求. 研究了这类卫星在轨运行时其姿态相对地面站的变化规律,利用STK软件提供的卫星轨道仿真分析结果,寻找数传天线波束中心轴的较好指向,得到不同天线波束宽度能够实现的卫星对地数传时间. 通过研制140°波束范围内0dBi增益天线,在链路设计上保证了传输速率85Mbit·s-1时有足够的余量. 在星载设备小型化约束（质量10kg、功耗80W）条件下,采用小型化宽波束天线以及固态功放解决了空间惯性定向姿态卫星的有效载荷数据传输问题,设计方案满足相关任务要求.      

严格回归轨道的管道导航方法研究

分析了作为参考轨道的严格回归轨道与卫星在轨运行状态的相对运动关系,提出近地遥感卫星的管道导航方法。由于参考轨道的设计只考虑高精度的地球非球形摄动,与在轨卫星的动力学环境存在差别,这导致两者之间存在切航向漂移。基于高精度的轨道动力学模型和位置确定方法,设计了卫星与参考轨道采样点的沿航向对齐算法,从而获取了卫星相对参考轨道采样点的相位时间偏差和卫星在参考轨道编队坐标系切航向平面内的相对运动轨迹,进而引入椭圆的“最小二乘适配法”获取相对运动轨迹的特征量。所研究的管道导航方法可应用于基于GNSS测量数据的卫星自主轨迹保持。     

基于混沌粒子群优化的北斗/GPS组合导航选星算法

全球卫星导航系统（GNSS）接收机在接收信号的过程中会受到诸如建筑物遮挡、信号干扰等因素的影响,无法得到全部可见星。为减轻多星座组合接收机的处理负担,研究利用部分可见卫星进行定位的快速选星算法,提出了一种基于混沌粒子群优化（CPSO）的北斗/GPS组合导航选星算法。首先,对当前历元时刻可见卫星进行连续编码,按照选星数目分组,每个分组视为一个粒子。然后,通过混沌映射初始化粒子种群,选取几何精度因子（GDOP）作为评价粒子优劣的适应度函数;粒子通过粒子群优化算法的速度-位移模型更新自身位置,逐渐趋近空间卫星几何分布较好的卫星组合全局最优解。最后,采集北斗/GPS实际数据对选星算法进行仿真验证和性能比较,结果表明,所提算法在选星颗数多于5颗时,单次选星耗时为遍历法选星的37.5%,选星结果的几何精度因子计算误差在0~0.6之间。该算法可适用于北斗/GPS组合导航定位不同选星颗数的情况。      

基于约化相对轨道拟平根数的长期稳定高精度卫星编队导航技术

针对基于星间相对测量的相对导航算法中由测量方程将相对轨道拟平根数转化为相对位置过程导致的模型非线性,提出一种基于约化相对轨道拟平根数的卫星编队导航方法.该方法通过编队卫星之间一段时间的切向漂移估计半长轴偏差,合理处理半长轴偏差对双星相对动力学的影响,克服了模型线性化造成的误差,能够实现长期稳定的高精度卫星编队导航.     

Status of the T2L2/Jason2 Experiment

The T2L2 (Time Transfer by Laser Link) project, developed by CNES and OCA will permit the synchronization of remote ultra stable clocks and the determination of their performances over intercontinental distances. The principle of the experiment derives from Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) technology with dedicated space equipment. T2L2 was accepted in 2005 to be on board the Jason2 altimetry satellite. The payload consists of both event timer and photo detection modules. The system uses the ultra-stable quartz oscillator of DORIS as on-board reference clock on one hand, and the Laser Reflector Array, making T2L2 a real two-way time transfer system on the other hand. The expected time stability of the T2L2 instrument (detection and timing), referenced by the DORIS oscillator and including all internal error sources should be at the level of 10–12 ps at 1 s and <1 ps at 1000 s. The metrological specifications of T2L2 should permit to maintain a precision of 1 to a few ps when measuring the phase of a clock during around 1000 seconds.