Impact of GPS antenna phase center variations on precise orbits of the GOCE satellite

The first European Space Agency Earth explorer core mission GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) has been launched on March 17, 2009. The 12-channel dual-frequency Global Positioning System receiver delivers 1 Hz data and provides the basis for precise orbit determination (POD) on the few cm-level for such a very low orbiting satellite (254.9 km). As a member of the European GOCE Gravity Consortium, which is responsible for the GOCE High-level Processing Facility (HPF), the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) provides the Precise Science Orbit (PSO) product for the GOCE satellite. The mission requirement for 1-dimensional POD accuracy is 2 cm. The use of in-flight determined antenna phase center variations (PCVs) is necessary to meet this requirement. The PCVs are determined from 154 days of data and the magnitude is up to 3-4 cm. The impact of the PCVs on the orbit determination is significant. The cross-track direction benefits most of the PCVs. The improvement is clearly seen in the orbit overlap analysis and in the validation with independent Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) measurements. It is the first time that SLR could validate the cross-track component of a LEO orbit.     

单轴挠性卫星快速机动试验台

为了验证挠性卫星快速机动控制方法,搭建单轴挠性卫星快速机动试验平台.该平台基于单轴气浮台,令柔性板的挠性频率和刚挠耦合系数与真实卫星的接近.平台充分模拟了卫星在太空中的失重和无阻尼环境,被激发的挠性振动在开环情况下衰减很慢,特别适合挠性卫星姿态快速机动试验.初步的试验包括挠性参数辨识试验和姿态快速机动PD控制试验,仿真结果表明升级后的平台将可以验证快速机动控制方法.     

基于宽带宽测量的姿态确定方法

针对由飞轮等星上高速旋转部件所引起的高频姿态和指向抖动,提出一种基于磁流体动力学特性的角位移敏感器用于星上高精度宽带宽的微振动测量,以弥补常规姿态测量系统测量频带低,动态范围有限的缺点.介绍以扩展姿态确定带宽为基础的高精度姿态确定方法.给出了以陀螺、星敏及ADS测量信息为基础的宽带宽的姿态确定方法及系统的模型,采用了卡尔曼滤波来确定卫星姿态.仿真分析结果表明存在高频姿态抖动的情况下,宽带宽的姿态确定方法的估计精度优于传统的姿态确定方法,由此验证了宽带宽的姿态确定方法的有效性及精确性.     

双轴滚弯成形机成形过程与设计

通过分析板料双轴滚弯成形的变形机理，提出双轴滚弯成形有关参数的确定方法与滚轴设计的原则。     

红外导引系统快速原型仿真中的场景生成技术

介绍了基于Vega视景引擎红外场景生成方法,并应用于基于RT—LAB快速原型平台空空导弹红外导引系统快速原型仿真。设计了空空导弹红外导引系统快速原型仿真框架,根据框架建立了弹目6自由度运动学／动力学、红外导引系统Simulink仿真模型及目标等三维几何模型,采用Vega传感器模块和粒子系统模块实现目标各部件温度和干扰弹的自定义设置,同时针对快速原型实时仿真的要求设计了高精度的帧频控制方法。将红外场景生成软件与某空空导弹快速原型仿真系统进行联合仿真进行验证,对空空导弹导引系统的研制与开发起到了重要作用。     

一种用于同步静止卫星监测的微型VLBI网

针对地球静止轨道（GEO）卫星全天时全天候高精度的监测需求，考虑传统甚长基线干涉（VLBI）测站高成本、高投入和GEO卫星专用观测时段有限等制约条件，研发了简易型VLBI观测系统，并组建了包括上海、都匀和乌鲁木齐三站的微型VLBI网（micro VLBI network，MVN），开展了并置站测试以及对GEO卫星亚太6C的连续监测，并评估了当前MVN的观测能力。结果表明MVN扣除系统差后的单站接收精度为2ns，各基线观测时延拟后残差约几纳秒，GEO目标实测位置精度为百米级（内外符精度分别约100m和400m）。不同于传统VLBI和其他GEO监测手段，MVN还具备全天时、全天候、低造价、易布设及易推广等特点，充分表明了其在GEO卫星监测领域的应用价值。     

Adjustable box-wing model for solar radiation pressure impacting GPS satellites

One of the major uncertainty sources affecting Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite orbits is the direct solar radiation pressure. In this paper a new model for the solar radiation pressure on GPS satellites is presented that is based on a box-wing satellite model, and assumes nominal attitude. The box-wing model is based on the physical interaction between solar radiation and satellite surfaces, and can be adjusted to fit the GPS tracking data.     

Sensor-fault tolerant attitude determination using two-stage estimator

Satellite attitude determination accuracy significantly drops when sensor-fault occurs. Hence, a proper mitigation strategy to detect sensor-fault and accurately estimate corresponding fault magnitudes is mandatory for robust and accurate attitude determination. In this paper, a novel sensor-fault tolerant precise attitude estimator is proposed consisting of two stages. In the first stage, sensor-fault is detected, and the associated sensor parameter change is roughly estimated using an interacting multiple-model (IMM) approach. Subsequently, the second stage is triggered. The sensor parameter change is precisely estimated with a new sensor-parameter-augmented filter. This is defined as a selectively augmented extended Kalman filter (SAEKF) in this paper. The conventional augmented extended Kalman filter (AEKF) is computationally more expensive than the proposed SAEKF. The SAEKF augments only the sensor parameters affected by sensor-faults, not the full sensor parameters, into the state vector. This leads to a significant computational time-saving. A transition method from the first stage to the second stage is also investigated. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed two-stage approach has smaller attitude determination errors than the existing algorithms, ranged from 21.7% to 88.8%, in cases with gyro scale factor error or misalignment.     

Spin rate and spin axis orientation of LARES spectrally determined from Satellite Laser Ranging data

Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is a powerful technique able to measure spin rate and spin axis orientation of the fully passive, geodetic satellites. This work presents results of the spin determination of LARES – a new satellite for testing General Relativity. 529 SLR passes measured between February 17 and June 9, 2012, were spectrally analyzed. Our results indicate that the initial spin frequency of LARES is f₀ = 86.906 mHz (RMS = 0.539 mHz). A new method for spin axis determination, developed for this analysis, gives orientation of the axis at RA = 12^h22^m48^s (RMS = 49^m), Dec = −70.4° (RMS = 5.2°) (J2000.0 celestial reference frame), and the clockwise (CW) spin direction. The half-life period of the satellite’s spin is 214.924 days and indicates fast slowing down of the spacecraft.     

A star identification algorithm based on radial and dynamic cyclic features of star pattern

A full-sky star identification algorithm based on radial and dynamic cyclic patterns is presented with the aim of solving the “lost-in-space” problem. The dynamic cyclic pattern match is applied with a maximum cumulate comparison method to identify sensor-catalog pairings in initial match, which substantially eliminates the effects of the star position noise, magnitude noise, and false stars. After initial match pairings of stars are obtained, a chain part extension technique is employed to quickly search for the longest match chain as the final result. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is highly robust to star position noise, magnitude noise and false stars. In a series of simulations, the identification rate of the algorithm is 97.50% with 2.0 pixels star position noise, 96.90% with 0.4 Mv star magnitude noise and 95.30% with four false stars respectively. Moreover, the algorithm achieves an identification rate of 58.08% when only six stars are in the field of view.