The variability and IRI2007-predictability of hmF2 over South Africa

This paper presents an investigation into the variability and predictability of the maximum height of the ionospheric F2 layer, hmF2 over the South African region. Data from three South African stations, namely Madimbo (22.4°S, 26.5°E, dip angle: −61.47°), Grahamstown (33.3°S, 26.5°E, dip angle: −64.08°) and Louisvale (28.5°S, 21.2°E, dip angle: −65.44°) were used in this study. The results indicate that hmF2 shows a larger variability around midnight than during the daytime for all seasons. Monthly median hmF2 values were used in all cases and were compared with predictions from the IRI-2007 model, using the URSI (Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale) coefficient option. The analysis covers the diurnal and seasonal hourly hmF2 values for the selected months and time sectors e.g. January, July, April and October for 2003 and 2005. The time ranges between (03h00–23h00 UT; LT = UT + 2h) representing the local sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight hours. The time covers sunrise, midday, sunrise, and midnight hours (03–06h00 UT, 07–11h00 UT, sunrise 16–18h00 UT and 22–23h00 UT; LT = UT + 2h). The dependence of the results on solar activity levels was also investigated. The IRI-2007 predictions follow fairly well the diurnal and seasonal variation patterns of the observed hmF2 values at all the stations. However, the IRI-2007 model overestimates and underestimates the hmF2 value during different months for all the solar activity periods.     

Comparative analysis of TEC disturbances over tropical cyclone zones in the North–West Pacific Ocean

In this paper, we study ionospheric total electron content (TEC) disturbances associated with tropical cyclones (TCs). The study relies on the statistical analysis of six cyclones of different intensity which occurred in the North–West Pacific Ocean in September–November 2005. We have used TEC data from the international network of two-frequency ground-based GPS receivers and NCEP/NCAR meteorological archive. TEC variations of different period ranges (02–20 and 20–60 min) are shown to be more intense during TC peaks under quiet geomagnetic conditions. The highest TEC variation amplitudes are registered when the wind speed in the cyclone and the TC area are maximum. The intensification of TEC disturbances is more pronounced when several cyclones occur simultaneously. We have revealed that the ionospheric response to TC can be observed only after the cyclone has reached typhoon intensity. The ionospheric response is more pronounced at low satellite elevation angles.     

An analysis on combined GPS/COMPASS data quality and its effect on single point positioning accuracy under different observing conditions

With the rapid development of the COMPASS system, it is currently capable of providing regional navigation services. In order to test its data quality and performance for single point positioning (SPP), experiments have been conducted under different observing conditions including open sky, under trees, nearby a glass wall, nearby a large area of water, under high-voltage lines and under a signal transmitting tower. To assess the COMPASS data quality, the code multipath, cycle slip occurrence rate and data availability were analyzed and compared to GPS data. The datasets obtained from the experiments have also been utilized to perform combined GPS/COMPASS SPP on an epoch-by-epoch basis using unsmoothed single-frequency code observations. The investigation on the regional navigation performance aims at low-accuracy applications and all tests are made in Changsha, China, using the “SOUTH S82-C” GPS/COMPASS receivers. The results show that adding COMPASS observations can significantly improve the positioning accuracy of single-frequency GPS-only SPP in environments with limited satellite visibility. Since the COMPASS system is still in an initial operational stage, all results are obtained based on a fairly limited amount of data.     

可见光/激光组合的相对位姿测量研究

针对可重构航天器模块超近距离对接场景下特征点消失问题,提出一种可见光/激光的高精度相对位姿测量方法。该方法先通过可见光/激光组合对初始相对横滚角误差进行校零,完成粗校准环节;然后通过激光二维双镜反射法进行精确的相对位姿解算,获得高精度相对位姿数据。仿真结果表明,在现有技术条件下,该方法在模块相对距离在100cm内可不依赖视觉特征点,实现±1.2mm和±0.03°的相对位姿测量精度,为模块航天器对接后续的超近距离高精度位姿控制奠定基础。     

用GPS信息的惯导快速对准方法

如何快速、准确地完成惯导系统的初始对准一直是惯导系统研究的关键技术,方位对准精度和对准时间的矛盾至今未能很好地得到解决。为解决这一问题,本文提出了双全球定位系统（ＧＰＳ）同惯性导航系统（ＩＮＳ）进行深组合的方法。仿真结果表明,该方法使方位对准时间缩短为不到２ｍｉｎ,精度达到１４．６７（″）,较好地解决了方位对准问题,同时也提高了导航精度。     

基于小波变换的GPS载波相位周跳检测与修复

载波相位周跳检测与修复是实现GPS高精度定位的难点之一。小波变换具有空间局部性好的特点,本文利用小波变换把载波相位观测量分解为高频和低频分量,提出了利用小波系数局部极值点检测相位周跳的方法。基于载波相位和多普勒频率共同约束的埃尔米特多项式,外推周跳时刻载波相位,与观测值比较确定周跳的大小,从而修复周跳。利用飞机实际观测数据和仿真的高动态数据进行了计算,给出了计算结果,表明该方法可以对高动态情况下载波相位周跳进行准确探测和修复。     

Quadratic extended Kalman filter approach for GPS/INS integration

GPS/INS integration system has been widely applied for navigation due to their complementary characteristics. And the tightly coupled integration approach has the advantage over the loosely coupled approach by using the raw GPS measurements, but hence introduces the nonlinearity into the measurement equation of the Kalman filter. So the typical method for navigation using measurements of range or pseudorange is by linearizing the measurements in an extended Kalman filter (EKF). However, the modeling errors of the EKF will cause the bias and divergence problems especially under the situation that the low quality inertial devices are included. To solve this problem, a quadratic EKF approach by adding the second-order derivative information to retain some nonlinearities is proposed in this paper. Simulation results indicate that the nonlinear terms included in the filtering process have the great influence on the performance of integration, especially in the case that the low quality INS is used in the integrated system. Furthermore, a two-stage cascaded estimation method is used, which circumvents the difficulty of solving nonlinear equations and greatly decreases the computational complexity of the proposed approach, so the quadratic EKF approach proposed in this paper is of great value in practice.     

联合CDGPS技术和星间相对测量进行编队星座状态确定

以空间圆3星编队星座为对象,建立了联合GPS载波相位差分(Carrier phase Differential GPS,CDGPS)和星间相对测量进行编队星座状态确定的数学模型;利用高精度的星间相对测量信息给星间公里级基线提供厘米级约束,极大地缩小了星间单差模糊度的搜索空间,进而在卫星无需机动的情况下采用Bayes最小二乘法快速解算出星间GPS载波相位单差整周模糊度;最后数学仿真证明了方法的有效性,结果表明卫星间相对位詈确定精度达10^-2m．卫星姿态确定精度达10^-3rad．     

基于GPS的中、高轨道航天器定轨研究

利用GPS确定空间航天器轨道，尤其是GPS在中、高空间航天器定轨中的应用，针对中、高轨道中可见星少及GPS信号微弱等问题，提出了有效的微弱信号检测算法，提高了GPS接收机的接收能力，同时提出了利用伪加速度测量和轨道约束进行定轨解算的新方法，使得在HEO(高偏心轨道)中利用两颗可见星可以解算定位解，对GEO(静止地球轨道)只用一颗星就可求解，仿真结果表明该方法具有很好的效果。     

一种用于GPS/DR组合定位的非线性滤波算法

建立了适用于车辆导航系统的基于UKF(Unscented Kalman Filter)的GPS/DR(Global Positioning System/Dead Reckoning)组合定位滤波模型及算法.针对系统状态方程为线性、观测方程为非线性的特点,提出了一种将UKF和EKF(Extended Kalman Filter)相结合的非线性滤波算法.结合后的算法和原有UKF算法相比减少了在时间更新阶段的运算量,并且由于采用基于Unscented变换的思想来处理系统观测方程的非线性问题,避免了EKF引入的线性化误差,提高了滤波精度.仿真结果证明:算法在减少运算量的同时,仍具有较高的滤波精度,且明显优于EKF,因而能够满足车辆导航系统占用资源少、滤波精度高的要求.