Variations of total electron content over high latitude region during the ascending phase of 24th solar cycle

The solar cycle variation and seasonal changes significantly affects the ionization process of earth’s ionosphere and required to be monitored in real time basis for regional level refinement of existing models. In view of this, the present study has been carried out by using the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) data observed with the help of Global Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC monitoring (GISTM) system installed at Indian Antarctic Research Station, “Maitri” [70°46′00″S 11°43′56″E] during the ascending phase of 24th solar cycle. The daily values of solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux (0.1–50?nm wavelength), 10.7?cm radio flux F_10.7 and Sunspot number (SSN) has been taken as a proxy to represent the solar cycle variation to correlate with TEC. The linear regression results revels better correlation of TEC with EUV flux rather than F_10.7 and SSN. Also, the EUV and TEC show better agreement during summer as compared to winter and equinox period. Correlation between TEC and EUV appears significantly noticeable during ten internationally defined quiet days of each month (stable background geophysical condition) as compared to the overall days (2010–2014). Further, saturation effect has been observed on TEC values during the solar maxima year 2014. The saturation effects are more prominent during the night hours of winter and equinox season due to transportation losses manifested by the equator-ward direction of meridional wind.     

Improving the orbits of GPS block IIA satellites during eclipse seasons

During Sun-Earth eclipse seasons, GPS-IIA satellites perform noon, shadow and post-shadow yaw maneuvers. If the yaw maneuvers are not properly taken into account in the orbit determination process, two problems appear: (1) the observations residuals increase since the modeled position of the satellite’s navigation antenna differs from the true position, and (2) the non-conservative forces like solar radiation pressure or Earth radiation pressure are mismodeled due to the wrong orientation of the satellite’s surfaces in space.     

高分七号卫星高精度控制技术与验证

高分七号卫星（GF-7）控制系统，一方面通过研制甚高精度星敏感器和高平稳度翼板驱动机构（SADA），提高部件性能指标；另一方面采用在轨参数标定、星地闭环补偿等控制技术，进一步提高系统性能。经飞行验证表明，控制系统实现了角秒级姿态测量精度，稳定度达到10-5(°)/s量级，与同类型测绘卫星控制系统比较，姿态测量精度和稳定度均达到中国领先、国际先进的水平，使中国遥感测绘卫星控制能力得到了大幅提升。最后展望了GF-7卫星控制分系统进一步提高控制精度的发展方向。     

Efficiency tests for estimating the gas and stellar population parameters in Type 2 objects

We investigated the efficiency of estimating characteristics of stellar populations (SP) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) emission using ULySS code. To analyze simultaneously AGN and SP components in the integrated spectrum of Type 2 active galaxies, we modeled the featureless continuum (FC) and emission lines, and we used PEGASE.HR stellar population models provided by ULySS. In order to validate the method, we simulated over 7000 integrated spectra of Seyfert 2 galaxies. Spectra were generated using different characteristics of the featureless AGN continuum, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), spectral ranges, properties of emission lines and single stellar population (SSP) model whose initial mass function (IMF) and abundance pattern is similar to the solar neighborhood. Simulated spectra were fitted with ULySS to evaluate the ability of the method to extract SP and AGN properties. We found that the analysis with ULySS can efficiently restore the characteristics of SP in spectra of Seyfert 2 AGNs, where signal-to-noise ratio is higher than 20, and where SP contributes with more than 10% to the total flux. Degeneracies between AGN and SP parameters increase with increasing the AGN continuum fraction, which points out the importance of simultaneous fitting of the FC and SP contributions.     

Accurate attitude estimation of HB2 standard model based on QNCF in hypersonic wind tunnel test

The accuracy of the HB2 standard model attitude measurement has an important impact on the hypersonic wind tunnel data assessment. The limited size of the model and the existence of external vibrations make it challenging to obtain real-time reliable attitude measurement. To reduce the influence of attitude errors on test results, this paper proposes a Quaternion Nonlinear Complementary Filter (QNCF) attitude determination algorithm based on Microelectromechanical Inertial Measurement Unit (MEMS-IMU). Firstly, the threshold-based PI control strategy is adopted to eliminate noise effect according to the Acceleration Magnitude Detector (AMD). Then, the flexible quaternion method is updated to carry out attitude estimation which is operational and easy to be embedded in the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Finally, a high-precision three-axis turntable test and a hypersonic wind tunnel test are performed. The results show that the pitch-roll attitude errors are within 0.05° and 0.08° in the high-precision three-axis turntable test in a calculation time of 100 s respectively, and the attitude error is within 0.3° after the elastic angle correction in the hypersonic wind tunnel test. The proposed method can provide accurate real-time attitude reference for the analysis of the actual movement of the model, exhibiting certain engineering application value with robustness and simplicity.     

Orbit determination performances using single- and double-differenced methods: SAC-C and KOMPSAT-2

In this paper, Global Positioning System-based (GPS) Orbit Determination (OD) for the KOrea-Multi-Purpose-SATellite (KOMPSAT)-2 using single- and double-differenced methods is studied. The requirement of KOMPSAT-2 orbit accuracy is to allow 1 m positioning error to generate 1-m panchromatic images. KOMPSAT-2 OD is computed using real on-board GPS data. However, the local time of the KOMPSAT-2 GPS receiver is not synchronized with the zero fractional seconds of the GPS time internally, and it continuously drifts according to the pseudorange epochs. In order to resolve this problem, an OD based on single-differenced GPS data from the KOMPSAT-2 uses the tagged time of the GPS receiver, and the accuracy of the OD result is assessed using the overlapping orbit solution between two adjacent days. The clock error of the GPS satellites in the KOMPSAT-2 single-differenced method is corrected using International GNSS Service (IGS) clock information at 5-min intervals. KOMPSAT-2 OD using both double- and single-differenced methods satisfies the requirement of 1-m accuracy in overlapping three dimensional orbit solutions. The results of the SAC-C OD compared with JPL’s POE (Precise Orbit Ephemeris) are also illustrated to demonstrate the implementation of the single- and double-differenced methods using a satellite that has independent orbit information available for validation.     

Empirical model of the TEC response to the geomagnetic activity over the North American region

The paper presents an empirical model of the total electron content (TEC) response to the geomagnetic activity described by the K_p-index. The model is built on the basis of TEC measurements covering the region of North America (50°W–150°W, 10°N–60°N) for the period of time between October 2004 and December 2009. By using a 2D (latitude-time) cross-correlation analysis it is found that the ionospheric response to the geomagnetic activity over the considered geographic region and at low solar activity revealed both positive and negative phases of response. The both phases of the ionospheric response have different duration and time delay with respect to the geomagnetic storm. It was found that these two parameters of the ionospheric response depend on the season and geographical latitude. The presence of two phases, positive and negative, of the ionospheric response imposed the implementation of two different time delay constants in order to properly describe the two different delayed reactions. The seasonal dependence of the TEC response to geomagnetic storms is characterized by predominantly positive response in winter with a short (usually ∼5–6 h) time delay as well as mainly negative response in summer with a long (larger than 15 h) time delay. While the TEC response in March and October is more close to the winter one the response in April and September is similar to the summer one.     

基于射频敏感器的卫星三轴姿态确定方法研究

带有大型网状展开天线的同步轨道移动通信卫星,一般通过卫星本体的姿态控制间接保障星上通信天线的指向精度,难以避免天线因自身安装、变形、挠性振动等引起的指向误差.提出直接利用射频敏感器测量的信标信号误差确定卫星三轴姿态,并计算天线保持目标指向所需三轴姿态角偏差,通过卫星姿态控制系统实时或离线姿态修正以保证天线指向精度.利用数学仿真方式验证算法正确性和有效性.     

基于多敏感器的卫星姿态确定算法

针对多敏感器组成的卫星姿态确定系统,采用四元数方法建立卫星姿态估计器模型,应用扩展卡尔曼滤波EKF算法进行信息融合,通过仿真算例验证此算法具有较高的精度。与此同时,在EKF算法基础上提出一种定常增益的卡尔曼滤波CGKF算法。通过数学仿真对EKF算法和CGKF算法进行比较分析,证明在一定条件下CGKF算法具有与EKF算法相当的滤波精度,并且简化后的CGKF算法在获得与EKF算法相近滤波效果的同时,还能够节约星上资源,减少计算量。     

GPS姿态测量中模糊度函数法的适应度函数研究

基于全球卫星定位系统（GPS）双差整周模糊度的统计特性,对模糊度函数法（AFM）中的适应度函数进行了改进。分析了传统余弦适应度函数的不足,论证了适应度函数在AFM算法中的重要性。提出了设计适应度函数应满足的五条标准,在此基础上给出了一类适应度函数公式,并对性能进行测试。结果表明：该适应度函数的性能明显优于传统的余弦函数,有效提高了GPS姿态解算的成功率。