北斗地基增强系统国产民机试飞性能评估

由于GPS在国际上的技术和标准优势,目前在民用航空领域使用的星基导航大多为GPS。随着我国民航领域的蓬勃发展和北斗卫星导航系统宣告全球组网成功,亟需开展北斗地基增强系统在民航领域的应用性能评估,以验证其是否可满足民航飞机对卫星导航系统的要求。针对民航飞机的Ⅰ类精密进近过程,梳理了该航段中国际民航组织对卫星导航系统的性能需求,推导了北斗地基增强系统垂直保护级计算数学模型,制定了搭载试飞试验的加改装方案和飞行科目,在国产某型号民机上开展了北斗地基增强系统搭载试飞试验,并对定位精度和垂直保护级进行了分析评估。结果表明：在搭载试飞试验中,北斗地基增强系统可满足Ⅰ类精密进近对卫星导航系统垂直精度的需求,同时系统不存在告警和误警。     

基于乘性加扰的卫星信号遮蔽传输方案

针对卫星发送功率受限的情况,提出了一种卫星信号遮蔽传输的新方案。在卫星上,通过将待传输的业务信号与特别设计的非恒包络遮蔽信号相乘,隐藏了原业务信号的时频域特征。在授权地面站,利用遮蔽信号副本进行互相关时延估计并解遮蔽,从而恢复原业务信号。该方案具有不增加卫星的传输功耗、星上遮蔽运算复杂度低、传输安全性强等特点。此外,通过处理损耗、互信息等定量评价指标,分析了遮蔽方案的遮蔽性能。仿真实验表明,该遮蔽方案可以实现良好的时频域遮蔽效果。遮蔽后信号与原业务信号间的互信息结果表明：遮蔽后信号与原业务信号间相关性很弱,已基本掩盖原业务信号通信特征。在遮蔽信号与原业务信号带宽之比不小于0.3、信噪比不小于–4 dB的条件下,授权地面站解遮蔽的处理损耗可以控制在1 dB以内,具有良好的实用价值。     

碳纤维复合材料在光学遥感器中的应用探讨

碳纤维复合材料因性能优异而成为光学遥感器新一代理想的结构材料.由于光学遥感器的特殊性,使得复合材料的材料选择和成型工艺更为严格.文章结合卫星光学遥感器相机镜筒的设计要求,阐述了成型技术应着力解决的问题.     

A multi-objective optimization framework of constellation design for emergency observation

To meet the urgent needs of emergency observation missions, a well-designed constellation is key to ensuring system performance. This paper presents a multi-objective optimization framework which is well suited for constellation designers to identify key trade-offs and make decisions. Firstly, this work investigates the metrics of responsiveness and coverage simultaneously to approximate to the actual conditions of emergencies, and a multi-objective mathematical model is constructed to explore solutions to enhance the overall system performance. Then, according to the characteristics of emergency missions, a hierarchical chromosome encoding method is proposed in the framework to encode a solution that explores different sized constellations without constraining its specific geometry. Finally, we propose the use of radial axes plots to help constellation designers to gain pragmatic insights for informed decision making. The simulation of disaster management verifies that the proposed chromosome encoding method effectively promotes the convergence of the algorithm, and the multi-objective optimization framework helps to generate a rapid and adequate observation satellite constellation to provide maximum coverage performance while ensuring timeliness.     

Introducing the law games: Predicting legal liability and fault in satellite operations

Over recent times there has been a rise in the number of objects placed into Earth orbit. With various countries licensing a number of large constellations, the orbital population is set to increase dramatically. A significant number of technical advances have facilitated this and, in the UK and elsewhere, this has been matched by the updating of legislation and an increased policy focus on the need for increased space surveillance and tracking. The rise of large constellations coupled with an increasing number of experimental techniques such as active debris removal or on-orbit servicing procedures means that establishing fault will be crucial if litigation is to be successful. In doing this, any legal proceedings will look at both norms of behaviour, deviation from which will point towards fault and the types and standard of evidence that will be required.This paper will outline these problems in detail. It will be proposed that what is required to map out the contours of liability are both codification of the norms for satellite operations and clarity on protocols for evidence gathering in cases where fault may be contested in orbital operations. This discussion will identify that a way in which this could be achieved is by the use of “space law games”. These are simulations, similar to military war games, in which fictional scenarios could highlight some of the key legal issues that might need to be dealt with. The paper will outline some of the ways in which the law games might work and pose questions as to what data and other considerations will be needed to make such simulations meaningful.     

Spatio-temporal variability of the wet component of the troposphere – Application to satellite altimetry

Due to the presence of water vapour and cloud liquid water in the atmosphere, the wet component of the troposphere is responsible for a delay in the propagation of the altimeter signals, the Wet Path Delay (WPD). The high space–time variability of the water vapour distribution makes the modelling of WPD difficult, its effect still being one of the main error sources in satellite altimetry applications, e.g. in the estimation of Mean Sea Level (MSL). The understanding and the quantification of the WPD variability on various spatial and temporal scales are the main purposes of this study, in view to improve the MSL error budget. The dominant timescales of WPD variability and its correlation with Sea Level Anomaly (SLA) are examined. In these analyses, the atmospheric reanalysis ERA-Interim model from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is used to derive a global dataset of daily grids of WPD, spanning a 28-year period from January 1988 to December 2015. The Seasonal-Trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL) is used to extract precise WPD annual and interannual signals. Linear trends have been derived from the interannual time series and the contribution of each STL component was mapped globally, allowing the understanding of the WPD variability in spatial terms. The correlation between SLA and WPD is mapped and decomposed into seasons using monthly mean grids, for a period of 21-years, from January 1993 to December 2013.Aiming at inspecting the sensitivity of the results to the used data set, the WPD temporal analysis is extended to the data set provided by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and SSM/I Sounder (SSM/IS) Sensors. The WPD from SSM/I(S) is compared against those from the ERA-Interim and from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).Results show that climate phenomena, especially the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are the cause for this high variability, since they affect the water vapour and temperature. The observed trends from ERA-Interim, computed globally and over ocean regions only, allow concluding that WPD is increasing with time by approximately 0.1?mm per year, and the maximum trends are observed for the Pacific North and Indian Oceans. High correlation between WPD and SLA is found over the western tropical Pacific.The comparison between WPD from SSM/I(S) and from ERA-Interim and NCEP, allows concluding that the trends computed using only the SSM/I(S) measurement points are substantially larger.     

Finding the suitable drag-free acceleration noise level for future low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking geodesy missions

This paper evaluates the impact of residual acceleration noise on the estimation of the Earth’s time-varying gravity field for future low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking missions. The goal is to determine the maximum level of residual acceleration noise that does not adversely affect the estimation error. The Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) has provided monthly average gravity field solutions in spherical harmonic coefficients for more than a decade. It provides information about land and ocean mass variations with a spatial resolution of ～350?km and with an accuracy within 2?cm throughout the entire Earth. GRACE Follow-on was launched in May 2018 to advance the work of GRACE and to test a new laser ranging interferometer, which measures the range between the two satellites with higher precision than the K-Band ranging system used in GRACE. Moreover, there have been simulation studies that show, an additional pair of satellites in an inclined orbit increases the sampling frequency and reduces temporal aliasing errors. Given the fact that future missions will likely continue to use the low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking formation with laser ranging interferometry, it is expected that the residual acceleration noise will become one of the largest error contributor for the time-variable gravity field solution. We evaluate three different levels of residual acceleration noise based on demonstrated drag-free systems to find a suitable drag-free performance target for upcoming geodesy missions. We analyze both a single collinear polar pair and the optimal double collinear pair of drag-free satellites and assume the use of a laser ranging interferometer. A partitioned best linear unbiased estimator that was developed, incorporating several novel features from the ground up is used to compute the solutions in terms of spherical harmonics. It was found that the suitable residual acceleration noise level is around 2?×?10^?12?ms^?2?Hz^?1/2. Decreasing the acceleration noise below this level did not result in more accurate gravity field solutions for the chosen mission architecture.     

On the anthropogenic and natural injection of matter into Earth’s atmosphere

Every year, more and more objects are sent to space. The increasing number of countries with space programs, advancing commercialization, and ambitious satellite constellation projects raise concerns about space debris and the increase of mass flux into the atmosphere due to deorbiting of satellites and rocket bodies. A comparison of this anthropogenic influx to the natural influx due to meteoroids is presented giving detailed information about the mass, composition and ablation of the entering matter. Currently, anthropogenic material does make up about 2.8% compared to the annual injected mass of natural origin. For two different future scenarios considering planned and already partially installed large satellite constellations this fraction increases to nearly 13%, respectively 40%. For these cases, the anthropogenic injection of several metals prevails the injection by natural sources by far. Considering different ablation products, we find that the anthropogenic injection of aerosols into the atmosphere increases disproportionately. Today, they make up about 1% compared to the injected aerosol mass of natural origin, increasing to 30% and 94% for the two future scenarios, respectively. Considering the injection of atoms, the natural injection is dominant by far. For the two future scenarios, the anthropogenic injection is only at 5%, respectively 15% compared to the annual natural atom injection. The predicted strong increase in anthropogenic injection will make it significant in comparison to the natural injection which can have yet unknown effects on Earth’s atmosphere and the terrestrial habitat.     

Discriminating satellite IR anomalies associated with the MS 7.1 Yushu earthquake in China

In the process of exploring pre-earthquake thermal anomalies using satellite infrared data, Blackett et al. (2011) found that the previously reported anomalies before the 2001 Mw 7.7 Gujarat earthquake, in India, were related to positive biases caused by data gaps due to cloud cover and mosaicing of neighboring orbits of MODIS satellite data. They supposed that such effects could also be responsible for other cases. We noted a strip-shaped TIR anomaly on March 17th, 2010, 28?days before the Ms. 7.1 Yushu earthquake (Qin et al., 2011). Here we again investigate multi-year infrared satellite data in different bands to discriminate whether the anomaly is associated with the earthquake, or is only bias caused by the data gaps. From the water vapor images, we find lots of clouds that have TIR anomalies. However, on the cloudiness background, there is an obvious strip-shaped gap matching the tectonic faults almost perfectly. In particular, the animation loops of hourly water vapor images show that the cloud kept moving from west to east, while they never covered the strip-shaped gap. We consider that the cloud with this special spatial pattern should have implied the abnormal signals associated with the seismogenic process. Based on current physical models, the satellite IR anomalies both on TIR and water vapor bands can qualitatively be explained using synthetic mechanisms.     

GNSS接收机加权RAIM算法研究

针对接收机使用加权最小二乘定位算法时的故障检测与识别问题,对加权RAIM算法进行了研究。首先,给出了一种卫星权值的计算方法,指出其主要取决于卫星星历误差、电离层延迟误差和对流层延迟误差。然后,通过在构造统计量时加入权值矩阵,得到加权RAIM算法的故障检测和故障识别模型。最后,基于BDS试验数据,对比验证了传统不加权RAIM算法和加权RAIM算法的性能。试验结果表明：故障检测方面,加权RAIM算法的性能与故障卫星的权值有关,而故障识别方面,两种方法性能相同。