German SIMBOX on Chinese mission Shenzhou-8: Europe's first bilateral cooperation utilizing China's Shenzhou programme

On November 1, 2011, at 05:58 local time, the Chinese spaceship Shenzhou-8 was launched for a 17-day mission with a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Mongolia desert. On board was the German SIMBOX (Science in Microgravity Box) experimental facility containing 17 bio-medical experiments, which were conducted by German researchers together with their Chinese colleagues. It was the first time that China cooperated with a European nation in the scientific utilization of Shenzhou – the core element of China's human spaceflight programme.     

基于全球网和区域网SLR数据的低轨卫星定轨精度分析

卫星激光测距(SLR)是目前低轨卫星常用的定轨手段之一.文章以贾森-1(Jason-1)和"环境卫星"(EN VISAT)实测数据为例,讨论了不同弧段长度(1天、3天和7天)的全球网SLR数据对低轨卫星定轨精度的影响,分析了基于美国网、欧洲网和亚洲网等区域网SLR数据的低轨卫星精密定轨精度.检验定轨精度的参考轨道来自美...     

浅论无人机机载卫通天线尺寸与数字信号传输带宽关系

卫星通信是无人机中继通信的重要手段。本文对无人机卫星通信链路中飞机总体设计关注的机载卫通天线尺寸选择问题进行了较详细的计算、探讨。     

2012–2014 China's Earth Observation and Earth Science Development

Human beings are now facing global and regional sustainable development challenges.In China, Earth observation data play a fundamental role in Earth system science research. The support given by Earth observation data is required by many studies, including those on Earth's limited natural resources, the rapid development of economic and social needs, global change, extreme events, food security, water resources, sustainable economic and urban development, and emergency response. Application operation systems in many ministries and departments in China have entered a stage of sustainable development, and the State Key Project of High-Resolution Earth Observation Systems has been progressing since 2006. Earth observation technology in China has entered a period of rapid development.     

The ionosphere and the Latin America VLF Network Mexico (LAVNet-Mex) station

In order to detect and study the ionospheric response to solar flares (transient high energy solar radiation), we have constructed a radio receiver station at Mexico City, which is part of the “Latin American Very low frequency Network” (LAVNet-Mex). This station extends to the northern hemisphere the so called “South American VLF Network”.     

An object-level strategy for pan-sharpening quality assessment of high-resolution satellite imagery

Current satellite imaging systems offer a trade-off between high spatial and high spectral resolution providing panchromatic images at a higher spatial resolution and multispectral images at a lower spatial resolution but rich in spectral information while a wide range of applications need the highest level of this information, simultaneously. Image fusion techniques as means of enhancing the information content of initial panchromatic and multispectral images produce new images, titled pan-sharpened, which inherent the advantages of the initial images. Considering the impact of fusion accuracy on the quality of corresponding applications, it is necessary to evaluate the quality of these processed images. During the last decade, a lot of quality evaluation metrics have been proposed which are mostly inspired by traditional image quality metrics. These methods are mostly based on applying quality metrics at the pixel level and evaluating final quality value based on averaging of obtained metric values through the whole image. However, obtained results clearly show that the behaviour of image fusion quality is inconsistent amongst different image objects. In this article, by applying image fusion quality metrics (IFQMs) to image objects, an object-level strategy for quality assessment of the image fusion process is proposed. The proposed strategy is applied to different satellite imagery covering residential and agricultural areas. Experimental results show higher capabilities of object-level quality assessment strategy in the quality assessment of the fusion process. Evaluating fusion quality at the object level provides the potential of fusion quality assessment for each individual image object in compliance with different parameters such as the type of objects and the effective size of objects in data set.     

Adaptive neural network control of nonlinear systems with unknown dynamics

In this study, an adaptive neural network control approach is proposed to achieve accurate and robust control of nonlinear systems with unknown dynamics, wherein the neural network is innovatively used to learn the inverse problem of system dynamics with guaranteed convergence. This study focuses on the following three contributions. First, the considered system is transformed into a multi-integrator system using an input–output linearization technique, and an extended state observation technique is used to identify the transformed states. Second, an iterative control learning algorithm is proposed to achieve the neural network training, and stability analysis is given to prove that the network’s predictions converge to ideal control inputs with guaranteed convergence. Third, an adaptive neural network controller is developed by combining the trained network and a proportional-integral controller, and the long-standing challenge of model-based methods for control determination of unknown dynamics is resolved. Simulation results of a virtual control mission and an aerospace altitude tracking mission are provided to substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques and illustrate the adaptability and robustness of the proposed controller.     

A priori zenith wet delays in the analysis of VLBI CONT sessions

Tropospheric delay is one of the major sources of error in VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) analysis. The principal component of this error can be accurately computed through reliable surface pressure data —hydrostatic delay— yet there is also a small but volatile component —wet delay— which is difficult to be modelled a priori. In VLBI analysis, troposphere delay is typically modelled in the theoretical delays using Zenith Hydrostatic Delays (ZHD) and a dry mapping function. Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD) is not modelled but estimated in the analysis process. This work studies inter alia the impact of including external GNSS estimates to model a priori ZWD in VLBI analysis, as well as other models of a priori ZWD.In a first stage, two different sources of GNSS troposphere products are compared to VLBI troposphere estimates in a period of 5 years. The solution with the best agreement to VLBI results is injected in the VLBI analysis as a priori ZWD value and is compared to other options to model a priori ZWD. The dataset used for this empirical analysis consists of the six CONT campaigns.It has been found that modelling a priori ZWD has no significant impact either on baseline length and coordinates repeatabilities. Nevertheless, modelling a priori ZWD can change the magnitude of the estimated coordinates a few millimeters in the up component with respect to the non-modelling approach. In addition, the influence of a priori ZWD on Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and troposphere estimates —Zenith Total Delays (ZTD) and gradients—has also been analysed, resulting in a small but significant impact on both geodetic products.     

The future role of relay satellites for orbital telerobotics

Orbital robotics focuses on a variety of applications, as e.g. inspection and repair activities, spacecraft construction or orbit corrections. On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) activities have to be closely monitored by operators on ground. A direct contact to the spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is limiting the operational time of the robotic application. Therefore, geostationary satellites are desirable to relay the OOS signals and extend the servicing time window. A geostationary satellite in the communication chain not only introduces additional boundary conditions to the mission but also increases the time delay in the system. The latter is not very critical if the servicer satellite is operating autonomously. However, if the servicer is operating in a supervised control regime with a human in the loop, the increased time delay will have an impact on the operator’s task performance.     

全球精密单点定位性能评估

随着中国北斗三号卫星导航系统（BDS-3）全面建成与开通，北斗卫星导航系统已步入了新发展阶段，基于BDS-3实现全方位、多层次、高精度应用已成为地学研究中一项基本任务。利用全球最新均匀分布的10个MGEX跟踪站，分别从24 h内接收到的卫星数、卫星位置精度因子（PDOP）、卫星数据解算完整率和双频非组合精密单点定位（PPP）静态/动态定位精度等方面系统深入地评估了BDS-3在全球范围内的可用性。结果表明，测站对卫星跟踪能力与配备的接收机类型和区域位置有强相关性，单BDS-3卫星在全球范围内具有较强的连续定位能力，当使用SEPT POLARX5和JAVAD TRE_3接收机的情况下，数据解算完整率可达100%。此外，水平方向和高程方向定位精度分别优于2 cm和3 cm，并且在联合使用BDS-2和BDS-3定位的条件下，可使得静态定位精度在东、北和高程方向进一步提升37.6%,25.3%和38.9%。