Sensors 2015, 15(4), 7878-7897; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150407878
Coarse Initial Orbit Determination for a Geostationary Satellite Using Single-Epoch GPS Measurements
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and SNU-IAMD Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-744, Korea
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Academic Editor: Anton de Ruiter
Received: 22 October 2014 / Revised: 9 March 2015 / Accepted: 27 March 2015 / Published: 1 April 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensor Innovations for Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control)
Abstract
A practical algorithm is proposed for determining the orbit of a geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite using single-epoch measurements from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver under the sparse visibility of the GPS satellites. The algorithm uses three components of a state vector to determine the satellite’s state, even when it is impossible to apply the classical single-point solutions (SPS). Through consideration of the characteristics of the GEO orbital elements and GPS measurements, the components of the state vector are reduced to three. However, the algorithm remains sufficiently accurate for a GEO satellite. The developed algorithm was tested on simulated measurements from two or three GPS satellites, and the calculated maximum position error was found to be less than approximately 40 km or even several kilometers within the geometric range, even when the classical SPS solution was unattainable. In addition, extended Kalman filter (EKF) tests of a GEO satellite with the estimated initial state were performed to validate the algorithm. In the EKF, a reliable dynamic model was adapted to reduce the probability of divergence that can be caused by large errors in the initial state. View Full-TextKeywords:
GEO; GPS; initial state; orbit determination; EKF; space GPS receiver
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Kim, G.; Kim, C.; Kee, C. Coarse Initial Orbit Determination for a Geostationary Satellite Using Single-Epoch GPS Measurements. Sensors 2015, 15, 7878-7897.