System for determining precise orbit of satellite and method thereof

• US 20030098810A1
• Filed: 07/15/2002
• Published: 05/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kim, Jae-Hoon, Lee, Seong-Pal, Lee, Byoung-Sun, Lee, Jeong-Sook, Yoon, Jae-Cheol, Choi, Kyu-Hong
• Granted Patent: US 6,683,563 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.395
• CPC Class Codes: B64G 1/1021 Earth observation satellites
• CPC Class Codes: B64G 1/36 using sensors, e.g. sun-sensors, horizon sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/02 Details of the space or ground control segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/32 Multimode operation in a single same satellite system, e.g. GPS L1/L2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/43 using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry

Abstract

In a system for determining a precise orbit of a satellite, a satellite control system includes a tracking, telemetry and command module for receiving telemetry data from the satellite, tracking the satellite, and performing link to the satellite; a satellite operations sub module for extracting L1 carrier phase data by processing the telemetry data, monitoring the satellite, generating telecommand data, and controlling the satellite; and a mission analysis and planning subsystem for determining the precise orbit of the satellite using the L1 carrier phase data collected by a satellite, L1/L2 carrier phase data of the reference ground stations of the GPS satellites collected by an IGS, and a path error caused by the ionosphere of data, and analyzing and planning a mission of the satellite.

Claims

1. A system for determining a precise orbit of a satellite including a satellite for receiving global positioning system (GPS) data from the GPS satellites, an international GPS service for geodynamics (IGS) for collecting and processing L1/L2 carrier phase data of reference ground stations of the GPS satellites distributed all over the world, a satellite control system for monitoring and controlling a state of a satellite by receiving telemetry data and transmitting telecommand data through an antenna, and for achieving the L1/L2 carrier phase data of the IGS, and an image processing system for processing image data collected by the satellite,

wherein the satellite control system comprises:

a tracking, telemetry and command (TTC) module for receiving the telemetry data from the satellite, tracking the satellite, and performing a link to the satellite;

a satellite operations sub module for extracting the L1 carrier phase data by processing and analyzing the telemetry data received by the TTC module, monitoring the state of the satellite, generating the telecommand data to be transmitted to the satellite, and controlling and operating the satellite; and

a mission analysis and planning subsystem (MAPS) for determining the precise orbit of the satellite using the L1 carrier phase data extracted by the satellite operations sub module, the L1/L2 carrier phase data of the reference ground stations of the GPS satellites collected by the IGS, and a path error caused by the ionosphere of data, and analyzing and planning a mission of the satellite.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the MAPS comprises:

a first data generator for generating the double differenced actual measurement data with respect to the L1 carrier phase data extracted by the satellite operations sub module and the L1/L2 carrier phase data of the reference ground stations of the GPS satellites collected by the IGS by pre-processing processor;

a second data generator for generating predicted precise orbit data of a satellite by applying precise orbit dynamics models from a priori orbit and attitude elements at the measurement time with respect to the L1 carrier phase data extracted by the satellite operations sub module and the L1/L2 carrier phase data of the reference ground stations of the GPS satellites collected by the IGS;

a third data generator for calculating measurement errors through a GPS measurement models and generating calculated measurement data with respect to the predicted precision orbit data of the satellite, which is generated by the second data generator; and

a fourth data generator for generating a proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons through an operation between the calculated measurement data of the third data generator and the actual measurement data of the first data generator, estimating parameters and the precision orbit of the satellite, and generating the orbit element and the estimated parameters comprising the proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein precise orbit dynamics models of the second data generator calculate precise orbit perturbation forces caused by gravitational forces and perturbation forces caused by non-gravitational forces from a priori orbit and attitude elements at the measurement time and generate the predicted precise orbit data of the satellite with respect to the given measurement time according to the equation of motion for a satellite.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the GPS measurement models of the third data generator calculates measurement models such as ionospheric path delay effect, tropospheric path delay effect, relativistic effect, tide effect of the earth and the ocean, and phase center offset and variation of the GPS receiver antenna.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the third data generator calculates the total number of electrons of the ionosphere using a priori orbit and attitude elements at the measurement time and the proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons, calculates a delay value of the L1 carrier phase data due to the ionosphere from the total number of electrons of the ionosphere, calculates the proportional coefficient partial derivative of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere using the delay value of the L1 carrier phase data, and calculates measurement errors.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the fourth data generator generates measurement residuals and the partial derivatives of the parameters using the differences between the calculated measurement data of the third data generator and the actual measurement data of the first data generator, and estimates the parameters and the precise orbit of the satellite.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the fourth data generator estimates the state of the satellite and the parameters, which affect the orbit of the satellite, by a package process filter of a weighted least squares batch filter using the measurement residuals and the partial derivatives of the parameters.

8. A method for determining a precise orbit of a satellite including a satellite for receiving global positioning system (GPS) data from the GPS satellites, an international GPS service for geodynamics (IGS) for collecting and processing L1/L2 carrier phase data of reference ground stations of the GPS satellites distributed all over the world, a satellite control system for monitoring and controlling a state of a satellite by receiving telemetry data and transmitting telecommand data through an antenna, and for achieving the L1/L2 carrier phase data of the IGS, and an image processing system for processing image data collected by the satellite and generating a precise image photograph, the method comprising:

(a) receiving telemetry data from the satellite and extracting the L1 carrier phase data from the telemetry data; and

(b) determining the precise orbit of the satellite using the L1 carrier phase data extracted in the step (a), the L1/L2 carrier phase data collected by the IGS, and a path error caused by the ionosphere and analyzing and planning a mission of a satellite.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step (b) comprises the step of processing image data collected by the image processing system from the satellite using the precise orbit data of the satellite and generating a precise image.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step (b) comprises:

(b1) generating the double differenced actual measurement data with respect to the L1 carrier phase data and the L1/L2 carrier phase data collected by the IGS by pre-processing processor;

(b2) generating predicted precise orbit data of the satellite with respect to the L1 carrier phase data and the L1/L2 carrier phase data collected by the IGS by applying the precise orbit dynamics models from a priori orbit and attitude elements at the measurement time;

(b3) calculating measurement errors with respect to the predicted precision orbit data of the satellite, which is generated in the step (b2), through the GPS measurement models and generating the calculated measurement data; and

(b4) estimating the parameters and the precise orbit of the satellite by performing an operation on the calculated measurement data generated in the step (b3) and the actual measurement data generated in the step (b1), generating the proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere, and generating the orbit element and the estimation parameters comprising the proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step (b4) comprises:

(i) calculating the measurement residuals and the partial derivatives of the parameters to be determined using the differences between the calculated measurement data and the actual measurement data;

(ii) estimating the parameters and the satellite orbit using the measurement residuals and the partial derivatives of the parameters in the step (i) and determining whether the differences between the estimated satellite orbit and the actual data converges within a limited value given by the system; and

(iii) storing and outputting the precision orbit element of the satellite and the estimated parameters when the differences between the satellite orbit estimated in the step (ii) and the actual measurement data converges within the limited value given by the system.

12. The method of claim 10, when the difference between the satellite orbit estimated in the step (ii) and the actual measurement data does not converge within the limited value given by the system, further comprising:

(iv) performing the steps (b2) through (b4) using the estimated satellite orbit element as a priori orbit element at the measurement time and determining whether the difference between the re-estimated satellite orbit and the actual measurement data converges within the limited value given by the system.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the GPS measurement models in the step (b3) calculate measurement models such as ionospheric path delay effect, tropospheric path delay effect, relativistic effect, tide effect of the earth and the ocean, and phase center offset and variation of the GPS receiver antenna through modeling.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step (b3) comprises:

(i) calculating the total number of electrons of the ionosphere using a priori orbit and attitude elements at the measurement time and the proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons and applying the GPS measurement models;

(ii) calculating the delay value of the L1 carrier phase data caused by the ionosphere from the total number of electrons of the ionosphere, which is calculated in the step (i); and

(iii) calculating the proportional coefficient partial derivative of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere and the measurement error using the delay value of the L1 carrier phase data, which is calculated in the step (ii), and calculating the calculated measurement data by applying other GPS measurement models other than the ionospheric path delay effect.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein, in the step (b4), the parameters and the orbit element of the satellite are estimated using the proportional coefficient partial derivative data of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere, which is calculated in the step (iii), and the orbit element at epoch, and the proportional coefficient of the total number of electrons of the ionosphere are generated and are applied to determine the precise orbit of the satellite.