Civil unmanned aircraft system operation in national airspace: A survey from Air Navigation Service Provider perspective

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) have advanced technologically and surged exponentially over recent years. Currently, due to safety concerns, most civil operations of UAS are conducted in low-level uncontrolled area or in segregated controlled airspace. As the industry progresses, both operational and technological capabilities have matured to the point where UASs are expected to gain greater freedom of access to both controlled and uncontrolled airspace. Extensive technical and regulatory surveys have been conducted to enable the expanded operations. However, most surveys are derived from the perspective of UAS own operating mechanism and barely consider interactions of their non-segregated activities with the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. Hence, to fill the gap, this paper presents a survey conducted from the perspective of Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), which serves to accommodate these new entrants to the overall national airspace while continuing flight safety and efficiency. The primary objectives of this paper are to: (A) describe what typical ANSP-supplied UAS Traffic Management (UTM) architecture is required to facilitate all types of civil UAS operations; (B) identify three major ANSP considerations on how UAS can be accommodated safely in civil airspace; (C) outline future directions and challenges related with UAS operations for the ANSP.     

A novel satellite image encryption algorithm based on hyperchaotic systems and Josephus problem

With the rapid growth of the number of Earth observation satellite (EOS) supporting critical applications, it is required to improve the security techniques to protect the sensitive data and images during the transmission between the satellites and the ground stations. This paper introduces a new satellite image encryption algorithm based on the Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) generator, SHA 512 hash function, hyperchaotic systems, and Josephus problem. LFSR generates a matrix that is used to construct the 512-bits value of the hash function. These bits are used to set the initial values and parameters of the proposed encryption algorithm. Firstly, the six dimensions (6-D) hyperchaotic system is divided into three parts, where every two equations are considered as one part. Secondly, the 1-D hyperchaotic logistic-tent system is considered as the controller to select one part. The selected part is used to generate a matrix that is XORed with the original image. Thirdly, the scrambling operation by Josephus sequences is applied to the output of the previous step by scrambling the rows and the columns according to the selected part to produce the pre-encrypted image. Finally, if the number of iterations is less than the required number which is considered as a parameter of the secret key, the previous operations will be repeated in the pre-encrypted image; otherwise, the pre-encrypted image is considered as the final cipher image. Experimental and analyses results show that the proposed algorithm has good performance in terms of high level of security, large enough key-space, tolerance to Single Event Upsets (SEU) as well as low time complexity.     

A two-step robust adaptive filtering algorithm for GNSS kinematic precise point positioning

In kinematic navigation and positioning, abnormal observations and kinematic model disturbances are one of the key factors affecting the stability and reliability of positioning performance. Generally, robust adaptive filtering algorithm is used to reduce the influence of them on positioning results. However, it is difficult to accurately identify and separate the influence of abnormal observations and kinematic model disturbances on positioning results, especially in the application of kinematic Precise Point Positioning (PPP). This has always been a key factor limiting the performance of conventional robust adaptive filtering algorithms. To address this problem, this paper proposes a two-step robust adaptive filtering algorithm, which includes two filtering steps: without considering the kinematic model information, the first step of filtering only detects the abnormal observations. Based on the filtering results of the first step, the second step makes further detection on the kinematic model disturbances and conducts adaptive processing. Theoretical analysis and experiment results indicate that the two-step robust adaptive filtering algorithm can further enhance the robustness of the filtering against the influence of abnormal observations and kinematic model disturbances on the positioning results. Ultimately, improvement of the stability and reliability of kinematic PPP is significant.     

抗辐照通用扩展SiP芯片设计

研究微小卫星综合电子系统的SiP技术实现方法。首先介绍微小卫星综合电子系统结构的组成和采用SiP技术的必要性，然后对综合电子系统进行功能模块划分，并对其通用扩展模块进行详细的SiP设计，包括抗辐照器件选型、原型验证、SiP原理图、基板管壳一体化设计、建模仿真、制造加工、实装测试验证等，通过SiP技术实现了一种星载综合电子系统中通用扩展SiP芯片产品，经过实际验证测试，在保证模块功能和性能的前提下，整体模块重量从230 g减轻到48 g，体积由180 mm?130 mm?17 mm减小到46 mm?46 mm?8 mm，很好地满足了星载功能模块小型化、轻量化设计需求。     

Ionospheric total electron content response to annular solar eclipse on June 21, 2020

The effects of physical events on the ionosphere structure is an important field of study, especially for navigation and radio communication. The paper presents the spatio-temporal ionospheric TEC response to the recent annular solar eclipse on June 21, 2020, which spans across two continents, Africa and Asia, and 14 countries. This eclipse took place on the same day as the June Solstice. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based TEC data of the Global Ionosphere Maps (GIMs), 9 International GNSS Service (IGS) stations and FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) were utilized to analyze TEC response during the eclipse. The phases of the TEC time series were determined by taking the difference of the observed TEC values on eclipse day from the previous 5-day median TEC values. The results showed clear depletions in the TEC time series on June 21. These decreases were between 1 and 9 TECU (15–60%) depending on the location of IGS stations. The depletions are relatively higher at the stations close to the path of annular eclipse than those farther away. Furthermore, a reduction of about ?10 TECU in the form of an equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) was observed in GIMs at ~20° away from the equator towards northpole, between 08:00–11:00 UT where its maximum phase is located in southeast Japan. Additionally, an overall depletion of ~10% was observed in F7/C2 derived TEC at an altitude of 240 km (hmF2) in all regions affected by the solar eclipse, whereas, significant TEC fluctuations between the altitudes of 100 km ? 140 km were analyzed using the Savitzky-Golay smoothing filter. To prove TEC depletions are not caused by space weather, the variation of the sunspot number (SSN), solar wind (V_SW), disturbance storm-time (Dst), and Kp indices were investigated from 16th to 22nd June. The quiet space weather before and during the solar eclipse proved that the observed depletions in the TEC time series and profiles were caused by the annular solar eclipse.     

Development and performance evaluation of tropospheric scintillation model on Ku-band satellite link over Akure,Nigeria

Existing amplitude scintillation prediction models often perform less satisfactorily when deployed outside the regions where they were formulated. This necessitates the need to evaluate the performance of scintillation models developed in one region using data data from other regions while documenting their relative errors. Due to its variation with elevation angle, frequency, other link parameters and meteorological factors, we employed three years (January 2016 to December 2018) of concurrently measured satellite radio beacons and tropospheric weather parameters to develop a location-based amplitude scintillation prediction model over the Earth-space path of Akure (7.17^oN, 5.18^oE), South-western Nigeria. The satellite beacon measurement used Tektronix Y400 NetTek Analyzer at 1 s integration time while meteorological parameters, namely; temperature, pressure and relative humidity were measured using Davis Vantage Vue weather station at 1 min integration time. Comparative study of the model’s performance with nine (9) existing scintillation prediction models indicates that the best and worst performing models, in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), are the Statistical Temperature and Refractivity (STN) and direct physical and statistical prediction (DPSP) models with values 11.48 and 51.03 respectively. Also, worst month analysis indicates that April, with respective enhancement and fade values of 0.88 and 0.90 dB for 0.01% exceedance, is the overall worst calendar month for amplitude scintillation.     

导航卫星中断频次的分析方法

面向导航卫星中断频次的定量分析需求,该文分析导航卫星中断产生的主要原因,给出中断频次分析的流程,并针对分析过程中的三个关键问题,研究提出具体实施方法,包括通过相关性分析快速定位底层中断事件,通过中断树建立指标分析模型,并融合在轨数据、地面试验数据快速预估得到底层功能异常率等。最后通过示例进一步说明中断频次分析过程。该文方法已应用于北斗导航卫星工程。     

低轨卫星缺失时序数据的模式识别方法

在航天应用中，低轨卫星经常会由于原始数据缺失而影响卫星时序数据模式识别结果，降低准确率。针对该问题提出了一种新型MR-GRU模型，可有效处理缺失时序数据，并获得较好的模式识别准确率。区别于传统模型的补全缺失数据的方法，MR-GRU模型直接在缺失时序数据上运用循环神经网络进行训练，对传统门控循环单元结构进行了改进，增加了两个新变量：掩蔽项和衰减项。掩蔽项作用于输入，衰减项作用于输入和隐层单元输出。MR-GRU模型不仅能够保持时序数据固有的时间特性，还能有效提高模式识别精度。在卫星时序数据上的模式识别试验表明，MR-GRU模型准确率优于传统模型。     

An empirical solar radiation pressure model for satellites moving in the orbit-normal mode

We present a family of empirical solar radiation pressure (SRP) models suited for satellites orbiting the Earth in the orbit normal (ON) mode. The proposed ECOM-TB model describes the SRP accelerations in the so-called terminator coordinate system. The choice of the coordinate system and the SRP parametrization is based on theoretical assumptions and on simulation results with a QZS-1-like box-wing model, where the SRP accelerations acting on the solar panels and on the box are assessed separately. The new SRP model takes into account that in ON-mode the incident angle of the solar radiation on the solar panels is not constant like in the yaw-steering (YS) attitude mode. It depends on the elevation angle of the Sun above the satellite’s orbital plane. The resulting SRP vector acts, therefore, not only in the Sun-satellite direction, but has also a component normal to it. Both components are changing as a function of the incident angle. ECOM-TB has been used for precise orbit determination (POD) for QZS-1 and BeiDou2 (BDS2) satellites in medium (MEO) and inclined geosynchronous Earth orbits (IGSO) based on IGS MGEX data from 2014 and 2015. The resulting orbits have been validated with SLR, long-arc orbit fits, orbit misclosures, and by the satellite clock corrections based on the orbits. The validation results confirm that—compared to ECOM2—ECOM-TB significantly (factor 3–4) improves the POD of QZS-1 in ON-mode for orbits with different arc lengths (one, three, and five days). Moderate orbit improvements are achieved for BDS2 MEO satellites—especially if ECOM-TB is supported by pseudo-stochastic pulses (the model is then called ECOM-TBP). For BDS2 IGSOs, ECOM-TB with its 9 SRP parameters appears to be over-parameterized. For use with BDS2 IGSO spacecraft we therefore developed a minimized model version called ECOM-TBMP, which is based on the same axis decomposition as ECOM-TB, but has only 2 SRP parameters and is supported by pseudo-stochastic parameters, as well. This model shows a similar performance as ECOM-TB with short arcs, but an improved performance with (3-day) long-arcs. The new SRP models have been activated in CODE’s IGS MGEX solution in Summer 2018. Like the other ECOM models the ECOM-TB derivatives might be used together with an a priori model.     

一种高动态低信噪比卫星导航信号捕获方法

为提升高动态低信噪比环境下卫星导航信号的捕获性能,提出了一种基于分数阶傅里叶变换(FrFT)及部分匹配滤波(PMF)的捕获方法。在该方法中,接收机首先利用PMF对接收信号做分段相干积分,随后借助快速傅里叶变换(FFT)对分段积分结果做离散快速FrFT,最后通过检测FrFT输出的峰值完成信号的捕获。由于具有多普勒频率变化率的卫星导航信号在FrFT后呈现能量聚焦特性,所提方法能够显著提高信号的长时间相干积分增益。同时对所提算法的捕获概率、平均捕获时间以及算法复杂度等性能指标进行了理论分析及计算机仿真验证。仿真表明,与传统的PMF-FFT方法相比,所提方法能够通过延长相干积分时间的方式有效提升高动态低信噪比卫星导航信号的捕获概率、降低捕获时间。