Evaluation of SARAL/AltiKa performance using GNSS/IMU equipped buoy in Sajafi,Imam Hassan and Kangan Ports

Performance of SARAL/AltiKa mission has been evaluated within 2016 altimeter calibration/validation framework in Persian Gulf through three campaigns conducted in the offshore waters of Sajafi, Imam Hassan and Kangan Ports, while the altimeter overflew the passes 470, 111 and 25 on 13 Feb, 7 March and 17 June 2016, respectively. As the preparation, a lightweight buoy was equipped with a GNSS receiver/choke-ring antenna and a MEMS-based IMU to measure independent datasets in the field operations. To obtain accurate sea surface height (SSH) time series, the offset of the onboard antenna from the equilibrium sea level was predetermined through surveying operations as the buoy was deploying in the onshore waters of Kangan Port. Accordingly, the double-difference carrier phase observations have been processed via the Bernese GPS Software v. 5.0 so as to provide the GNSS-derived time series at the comparison points of the calibration campaigns, once the disturbing effects due to the platform tilt and heave have been eliminated. Owing to comparing of the SSH time series and the associating altimetry 1?Hz GDR-T datasets, the calibration/validation of the SARAL/AltiKa has been performed in the both cases of radiometer and ECMWF wet troposphere corrections so as to identify potential land contamination. An agreement of the present findings in comparison with those attained in other international calibrations sites confirms the promising feasibility of Persian Gulf as a new dedicated site for calibration/validation of ongoing and future altimetry missions.     

Modeling and experimental validation of sawing based lander anchoring and sampling methods for asteroid exploration

This paper presents a novel lander anchoring system based on sawing method for asteroid exploration. The system is composed of three robotic arms, three cutting discs, and a control system. The discs mounted at the end of the arms are able to penetrate into the rock surface of asteroids. After the discs cut into the rock surface, the self-locking function of the arms provides forces to fix the lander on the surface. Modeling, trajectory planning, simulations, mechanism design, and prototype fabrication of the anchoring system are discussed, respectively. The performances of the system are tested on different kinds of rocks, at different sawing angles, locations, and speeds. Results show that the system can cut 15?mm deep into granite rock in 180?s at sawing angle of 60°, with the average power of 58.41?W, and the “weight on bit” (WOB) of 8.637?N. The 7.8?kg anchoring system is capable of providing omni-directional anchoring forces, at least 225?N normal and 157?N tangent to the surface of the rock. The system has the advantages of low-weight, low energy consumption and balance forces, high anchoring efficiency and reliability, and could enable the lander to move and sample or assist astronauts and robots in walking and sampling on asteroids.     

Application of small-size antennas for estimation of angles of arrival of HF signals scattered by ionospheric irregularities

A modification of the Doppler Interferometry Technique is suggested to enable estimating angles of arrival of comparatively broadband HF signals scattered by random irregularities of the ionospheric plasma with the use of small-size weakly directional antennas. The technique is based on the measurements of cross-spectra phases of the probe radiation recorded at least in three spatially separated points. The developed algorithm has been used to investigate the angular and frequency-time characteristics of HF signals propagating at frequencies above the maximum usable one (MUF) for the direct radio path Moscow-Kharkiv. The received signal spectra show presence of three families of spatial components attributed, respectively, to scattering by plasma irregularities near the middle point of the radio path, ground backscatter signals and scattering of the sounding signals by the intense plasma turbulence associated with auroral activations. It has been shown that the regions responsible for the formation of the third family components are located well inside the auroral oval. The drift velocity and direction of the auroral ionosphere plasma have been determined. The obtained estimates are consistent with the classical conception of the ionospheric plasma convection at high latitudes and do not contradict the results of investigations of the auroral ionosphere dynamics using the SuperDARN network.     

A modern robust approach to remotely estimate chlorophyll in coastal and inland zones

The chlorophyll concentration of a water body is an important proxy for representing the phytoplankton biomass. Its estimation from multi or hyper-spectral remote sensing data in natural waters is generally achieved by using (i) the waveband ratioing in two or more bands in the blue-green or (ii) by using a combination of the radiance peak position and magnitude in the red-near-infrared (NIR) spectrum. The blue-green ratio algorithms have been extensively used with satellite ocean color data to investigate chlorophyll distributions in open ocean and clear waters and the application of red-NIR algorithms is often restricted to turbid productive water bodies. These issues present the greatest obstacles to our ability to formulate a modern robust method suitable for quantitative assessments of the chlorophyll concentration in a diverse range of water types. The present study is focused to investigate the normalized water-leaving radiance spectra in the visible and NIR region and propose a robust algorithm (Generalized ABI, GABI algorithm) for chlorophyll concentration retrieval based on Algal Bloom index (ABI) which separates phytoplankton signals from other constituents in the water column. The GABI algorithm is validated using independent in-situ data from various regional to global waters and its performance is further evaluated by comparison with the blue-green waveband ratios and red-NIR algorithms. The results revealed that GABI yields significantly more accurate chlorophyll concentrations (with uncertainties less than 13.5%) and remains more stable in different waters types when compared with the blue-green waveband ratios and red-NIR algorithms. The performance of GABI is further demonstrated using HICO images from nearshore turbid productive waters and MERIS and MODIS-Aqua images from coastal and offshore waters of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and East China Sea.     

基于红外波段船载星光定向仪白昼恒星探测技术

摘要： 白昼恒星探测技术是船载星光定向仪海上应用的关键技术之一.本文基于实测星图给出白昼恒星探测技术的理论公式和实现方案.该技术针对实测红外星图中的背景噪声、伪星点、坏像素、对灰度背景的适应性问题,分别设计星图滤波算法、多帧伪星点剔除算法、坏像素索引表以及多梯度渐进积分时间调整算法.通过外场观星和组合导航实验验证该技术的有效性和精度.     

对失效卫星特征点的自适应位姿跟踪控制

为满足对失效卫星上某个特征点位置悬停的同时使追踪星上敏感器指向该特征点,展开了对失效卫星特征点与追踪星间相对动力学建模与控制的研究。在追踪星本体坐标系下建立了六自由度相对位姿动力学模型,并结合失效卫星上特征点的运动规律,给出追踪星的期望跟踪位置和期望跟踪姿态。考虑到追踪星质量、转动惯量、系统所受扰动力、扰动力矩及失效卫星转动惯量的不确定性,设计了复合自适应位姿跟踪控制律,并通过Lyapunov法证明了闭环系统稳定性。对输出受限情况,采取设计控制参数调节过程及输出限幅措施。在仿真条件下,系统在自适应控制律下能够以位置误差约1cm、姿态误差约0.01°完成位姿跟踪任务;增大不确定参数偏差后,位置跟踪误差增至约7cm,姿态误差增至约0.1°;对控制参数进行调节后,可在不影响跟踪精度的条件下在指定范围内限制输出幅值,将幅值限制在指定范围内,并减小控制所需冲量的9%和冲量矩的30%。     

月面着陆起飞试验技术研究

可靠、安全地实现月面软着陆及月面起飞是完成月面探测任务的基本条件,也是探测器研制的一项关键技术,需要开展地面验证试验。地面环境与月面有较大的差异,探测器在地面的工作特性也与实际过程不尽相同,地面试验的设计及实施有较大的难度。分析了探测器月面着陆起飞的设计要点和地面试验的关键因素,指出了当前试验技术存在的缺陷,在此基础上提出了一种利用探测器自身动力实现月面着陆和起飞的验证方案,通过动力学仿真验证了试验实施的可行性,并对方案的拓展应用价值进行了展望,相关内容可为后续我国月球及其他行星表面探测器的研制提供借鉴。     

火星着陆自主导航方案研究进展

火星着陆导航技术是火星着陆过程的核心技术之一。围绕火星着陆环境特点与导航技术遇到的挑战,分析了目前火星着陆过程的导航能力和自主导航的发展趋势,并针对火星着陆过程的特殊性和导航需求,概述了火星着陆过程各阶段自主导航方案的研究现状与进展。进而从导航方案设计与配置、导航模型建立与仿真、导航方案性能分析等方面,对自主导航方案的最新研究进展进行了分析,并在火星着陆全过程自主导航方案综合仿真的基础上,获得了满足火星定点着陆要求的各阶段交接点应满足的导航精度。最后,基于目前技术现状和发展趋势,提出了构建"递进式三阶段"火星着陆自主导航方案的设想,可为未来火星着陆自主导航方案的设计与论证提供参考。     

飞行员视觉信息流强度模拟及适人性分析

为了合理地确定飞行员在执行飞行任务时的视觉信息流强度,开发了飞机座舱显示界面仿真模型,以被试的正确反应率和反应时间来评价作业绩效.通过实验和数据分析得到以下结果:所建立的视觉信息流模型中视觉信息流强度曲线符合正态分布.不同的视觉信息量完成任务差异显著,信息量增加到一定程度时辨识变慢,出现错误的几率升高;在相同视觉信息量情况下,夜晚与白天、动态与静态执行任务辨识和绩效差异显著,白天要比夜晚、静态要比动态辨识效率和绩效更好.      

The adjusted optical properties for Galileo/BeiDou-2/QZS-1 satellites and initial results on BeiDou-3e and QZS-2 satellites

Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) is the dominant non-gravitational perturbation for GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellites. In the absence of precise surface models, the Empirical CODE Orbit Models (ECOM, ECOM2) are widely used in GNSS satellite orbit determination. Based on previous studies, the use of an a priori box-wing model enhances the ECOM model, especially if the spacecraft is a stretched body satellite. However, so far not all the GNSS system providers have published their metadata. To ensure a precise use of the a priori box-wing model, we estimate the optical parameters of all the Galileo, BeiDou-2, and QZS-1 (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) satellites based on the physical processes from SRP to acceleration. Validation using orbit prediction proves that the adjusted parameters of Galileo and QZS-1 satellites exhibit almost the same performance as the corresponding published and “best guess” values. Whereas, the estimated parameters of BeiDou-2 satellites demonstrate an improvement of more than 60% over the initial “guess” values. The resulting optical parameters of all the satellites are introduced into an a priori box-wing model, which is jointly used with ECOM and ECOM2 model in the orbit determination. Results show that the pure ECOM2 model exhibits better performance than the pure ECOM model for Galileo, BeiDou-2 GEO and QZS-1 orbits. Combined with the a priori box-wing model the ECOM model (ECOM+BW) results in the best Galileo, BeiDou-2 GEO and QZS-1 orbits. The standard deviation (STD) of satellite laser ranging residuals reduce by about 20% and 5% with respect to the pure ECOM2 model for Galileo and BeiDou-2 GEO orbits, while the reductions are about 40% and 60% for QZS-1 orbits in yaw-steering and orbit-normal mode respectively. BeiDou-2 IGSO and MEO satellite orbits do not benefit much from the a priori box-wing model. In summary, we suggest setting up a unified SRP model of ECOM+BW for Galileo, QZS-1, and BeiDou-2 orbits based on the adjusted metadata. In addition, we estimate the optical parameters of BeiDou-3e and QZS-2 satellites using a limited number of tracking stations. Results regarding the unified SRP model indicate the same advantages, the STD of satellite laser ranging residuals reduces by about 30% and 20% for QZS-2 and BeiDou-3e orbits respectively over orbit products without a priori model. The estimation procedure is effective and easy to apply to the new emerging satellites in the future.