Optimization of geosynchronous satellite constellation for independent regional navigation and positioning in Middle East region

Regional Navigation and positioning systems using geosynchronous satellites are emerging for different parts of the world. Optimal constellation geometry achievement for a set of geosynchronous satellites is a key sector in designing of such systems. Genetic algorithm is applied for optimization of constellations with 6 and 7 satellites which is to be used in Middle East region where these systems have been deprived of. Based on the fact that the coverage criterion is not sufficient enough to guarantee a good navigation service, positioning process by the satellite systems is discussed and the performance of the system on the basis of position dilution of precision is collected as the fitness criterion. Placing the satellites in groups to pass over the same ground track is applied as a constraint to the genetic algorithm. By simulation, performance of the best obtained results and GPS are compared in terms of position dilution of precision, visibility and the required epochs (time span) to resolve the ambiguities with a 99% success rate, in this region. Also, capability of the GA for such problems is demonstrated.     

The impact of orbital errors on the estimation of satellite clock errors and PPP

Precise satellite orbit and clocks are essential for providing high accuracy real-time PPP (Precise Point Positioning) service. However, by treating the predicted orbits as fixed, the orbital errors may be partially assimilated by the estimated satellite clock and hence impact the positioning solutions. This paper presents the impact analysis of errors in radial and tangential orbital components on the estimation of satellite clocks and PPP through theoretical study and experimental evaluation. The relationship between the compensation of the orbital errors by the satellite clocks and the satellite-station geometry is discussed in details. Based on the satellite clocks estimated with regional station networks of different sizes (∼100, ∼300, ∼500 and ∼700 km in radius), results indicated that the orbital errors compensated by the satellite clock estimates reduce as the size of the network increases. An interesting regional PPP mode based on the broadcast ephemeris and the corresponding estimated satellite clocks is proposed and evaluated through the numerical study. The impact of orbital errors in the broadcast ephemeris has shown to be negligible for PPP users in a regional network of a radius of ∼300 km, with positioning RMS of about 1.4, 1.4 and 3.7 cm for east, north and up component in the post-mission kinematic mode, comparable with 1.3, 1.3 and 3.6 cm using the precise orbits and the corresponding estimated clocks. Compared with the DGPS and RTK positioning, only the estimated satellite clocks are needed to be disseminated to PPP users for this approach. It can significantly alleviate the communication burdens and therefore can be beneficial to the real time applications.     

Unscented Kalman滤波在空间飞行器被动测距中的应用

介绍了Unscented Kalman滤波及其空间飞行器被动测距中的应用。Unscented Kalman滤波通过设计少量的sigma(抽样)点,计算这些点经过非线性函数的传播,获得滤波值基于非线性方程的更新。Unscented Kalman滤波避免了广义Kalman滤波等线性化方法的缺点,并提高了滤波精度。     

一种新型火星定点着陆轨迹快速优化方法

针对火星定点着陆任务大气进入段的轨迹规划问题,给出了一种基于hp Radau伪谱法的快速优化算法。综合考虑大气进入段的动力学约束、边值约束、以及着陆器的机动能力约束和安全性约束,结合hp Radau伪谱法的配点特性,将轨迹优化问题转换成一个大规模多约束参数优化问题,给出了大气进入段轨迹优化问题的求解框架;为了提高算法的计算效率,给出了参数优化过程中雅克比矩阵的解析表达式;并通过数学仿真对本文算法进行了数值验证,结果表明：     

基于MHSS算法的ARAIM完好性和可用性预测

传统的接收机自主完好性监视只能提供非精密进近阶段的完好性监视,无法实现对完好性要求更加严格的飞行阶段的监视,而高级接收机自主完好性监视（AdvancedReceiverAutonomousIntegrityMonitoring,ARAIM）可以在精密进近阶段为飞机提供满足航向信标性能垂直引导（LocalizerPerformancewithVerticalguidance,LPV）的完好性监视服务。文章基于多假设分组解算法,根据目前的星座环境,结合民航不同飞行阶段的应用需求,对ARAIM算法进行仿真研究。针对水平保护级（HorizontalProtectionLevel,HPL）和垂直保护级（VerticalProtectionLevel,VPL）的指标,在不同星座组合环境下,选取南北半球不同经纬度的5个观测机场,分别仿真了HPL和VPL的变化情况,并对全球HPL和VPL平均分布趋势,以及以99%的概率满足LPV-200进近可用性指标时,ARAIM可用性的全球覆盖率进行了仿真预测分析。仿真结果表明,不论是全球定位系统和格洛纳斯双星座还是增加北斗卫星导航系统后的三星座,5个观测机场的HPL和VPL均能满足LPV-200进近对完好性指标的要求;但在全球范围内,双星座条件下,ARAIM并不能完全支持LPV-200进近对完好性监视的要求,而三星座则可大大提高ARAIM的可用性,为民航用户提供满足精密进近的所需导航服务性能。     

卫星遥感影像外方位元素的误差传播研究

高分辨率卫星遥感影像的几何定位精度与影像外方位元素精度密切相关.文章针对单景影像直接对地定位和立体影像前方交会定位两种典型情况,对影像各外方位元素在目标几何定位中的误差传播规律进行分析比较,相关结论可供卫星姿控及相机载荷设计方参考.     

Tomographic reconstruction of the ionospheric electron density as a function of space and time

Electron density distribution is the major determining parameter of the ionosphere. Computerized Ionospheric Tomography (CIT) is a method to reconstruct ionospheric electron density image by computing Total Electron Content (TEC) values from the recorded Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) signals. Due to the multi-scale variability of the ionosphere and inherent biases and errors in the computation of TEC, CIT constitutes an underdetermined ill-posed inverse problem. In this study, a novel Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) based CIT reconstruction technique is proposed for the imaging of electron density in both space (latitude, longitude, altitude) and time. The underlying model is obtained from International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) and the necessary measurements are obtained from earth based and satellite based GPS recordings. Based on the IRI-2007 model, a basis is formed by SVD for the required location and the time of interest. Selecting the first few basis vectors corresponding to the most significant singular values, the 3-D CIT is formulated as a weighted least squares estimation problem of the basis coefficients. By providing significant regularization to the tomographic inversion problem with limited projections, the proposed technique provides robust and reliable 3-D reconstructions of ionospheric electron density.     

地磁Ap指数滞后太阳周循环分析

把1932-2006年地磁Ap指数12个月流动均值分解成为(Ap)R和(Ap)I.其中(Ap)R为太阳黑子数R的线性函数,与太阳黑子数R相位相同,可能对应于日冕物质抛射(CME)等地磁控制因素. (Ap)I分量与太阳黑子数R相位相差约180°,该分量可能对应于极冕洞变化(从太阳峰年开始,由日面极区逐渐向赤道延伸).以地磁Ap指数与太阳黑子数R滞后非常严重的第20太阳周为例,证实了(Ap)I分量与极冕洞向赤道延伸循环变化相对应.因此极冕洞循环变化可能是导致地磁扰动指数与太阳周循环相位不一致,出现滞后现象的一个十分重要原因.      

同温层气球平台反向定位系统的研究

反向定位系统是针对驻留型同温层气球平台的一种新型定位系统 ,该系统的基本原理是由接收站的位置计算得出发射机的位置。文章采用卡尔曼滤波的方法 ,建立了反向定位系统的模型 ,给出其滤波算法 ;鉴于地面接收站的位置选择对该系统的定位精度有较大的影响 ,给出地面站选址依据 ,并通过计算、仿真获得一组较为理想的布站方式。此外 ,钟差是系统的一个主要误差源 ,文中对其引起的定位误差进行了分析 ,并给出估算的方法 ;对系统中的传播误差、设备误差也进行了分析。最后 ,对系统建立了仿真模型进行仿真。结果表明 ,该定位系统具有较好的定位精度     

Comparative analysis of four different single-frequency PPP models on positioning performance and atmosphere delay retrieval

Single-frequency precise point positioning (SF-PPP) has attracted increasing attention due to its high precision and cost effectiveness. With various strategies to handle the dominant error, i.e., ionosphere delay, the ionosphere-float (IF), ionosphere-free-half (IFH), ionosphere-corrected (IC), and ionosphere-weighted (IW) SF-PPP models are certain to possess different characteristics and performance levels. This study is dedicated to assessing and comparing the four models from model characteristics, positioning performance, and atmosphere delay retrieval. The model comparison shows that IC and IW models are full-rank while IF and IFH models have a rank deficiency of size one that will result in biased estimations, which means the better solvability of IC and IW models. The experiments are carried out based on the 7-day Global Positioning System (GPS) observations collected at 57 global Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) stations and Global Ionosphere Map (GIM) products. The results indicate that the IW model can accelerate SF-PPP convergence and achieve higher positioning accuracy compared to the other three SF-PPP models, especially in kinematic mode. With convergence criteria of 0.25 m in horizontal and 0.5 m in vertical, the east/north/up convergence times of IW model are 0.5/15.0/25.0 min and 0.5/16.0/36.5 min for static and kinematic modes, respectively. The IW model is able to achieve an instantaneous positioning accuracy of 0.28/0.35/0.75 m. In addition, a real kinematic test also demonstrates the best positioning solutions of IW model. Regarding troposphere delay retrieval, the IF, IFH, and IW models obtain a comparable daily accuracy of 3.0 cm on average, while the IC model achieves the worst accuracy of 8.0 cm. For precise ionosphere delay estimation, IW model only needs an average initialization time of 34.3 min, but a longer initialization time of 51.6 min is required for IF model. The daily precision of ionosphere delay estimation for IW model can reach up to 10.8 cm. At the present accuracy of GIM products, it is suggested that the IW model should be adopted for SF-PPP first due to its superior performance in positioning and atmosphere delay retrieval.