Mon Dec 15, F. Flechtner
• Sorted by Date • Sorted by Last Name of First Author •
Chen, Xiang, Tang, Chengpan, Dai, Wujiao, Zhou, Shanshi, Pan, Lin, Zhu, Jiarong, Li, Kai, and Li, Ziqiang, 2025. Orbit determination of GNSS-denied LEO satellites using single inter-satellite link measurements. Advances in Space Research, 76(10):6330–6346, doi:10.1016/j.asr.2025.08.030.
• from the NASA Astrophysics Data System • by the DOI System •
@ARTICLE{2025AdSpR..76.6330C,
author = {{Chen}, Xiang and {Tang}, Chengpan and {Dai}, Wujiao and {Zhou}, Shanshi and {Pan}, Lin and {Zhu}, Jiarong and {Li}, Kai and {Li}, Ziqiang},
title = "{Orbit determination of GNSS-denied LEO satellites using single inter-satellite link measurements}",
journal = {Advances in Space Research},
keywords = {LEO satellites, Constellation, GNSS-denied, Inter-Satellite Link, Orbit Determination},
year = 2025,
month = nov,
volume = {76},
number = {10},
pages = {6330-6346},
abstract = "{Precise orbit determination (POD) for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites
within a constellation typically relies on onboard global
navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations. However, during
navigation operations, some satellites within the constellation
may experience co-frequency interference between the GNSS
signals received by the onboard receiver and the downlink
navigation augmentation signals. In such cases, onboard GNSS
observations are unavailable, and the key challenge is how to
perform orbit determination without them. This paper proposes a
novel method that uses inter-satellite link (ISL) measurements
to achieve POD for LEO satellites within a constellation. The
proposed method first determines the precise orbit of adjacent
anchor satellites using onboard GNSS observations, assuming
their receivers are unaffected by co-frequency interference.
Subsequently, ISL is used to determine the orbit of GNSS-denied
satellites affected by interference. However, single ISL
geometry introduces a high correlation between the initial
orbital and force parameters. To address this challenge, the
initial orbital parameters, which can be obtained from the orbit
predictions when the onboard GNSS receivers are available, are
constrained in orbit determination process. Additionally, the
high consistency of force parameters among adjacent satellites
from the same manufacturer allows those of the anchor satellites
to be used as prior constraints in estimating the dynamics of
GNSS-denied satellites. Performance of the proposed method is
investigated and orbit accuracy of GNSS-denied satellites is
evaluated. The method targets constellation scenarios but is
demonstrated using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites due to data availability
limitations. Multiple 7-day arc experiments were conducted using
two satellites from GRACE-FO mission, with GRACE-C as the anchor
satellite and GRACE-D as the GNSS-denied satellite. Using
precise ephemerides, the first-day orbit accuracy of GNSS-denied
satellites reaches the centimeter level. Both constrained
methods significantly outperform the unconstrained one, with the
tightly constrained method showing slightly better results. In
contrast, the accuracy of the unconstrained method remains at
the decimeter level. When broadcast ephemerides are used,
constrained methods outperform the unconstrained method in terms
of first-day orbit accuracy. However, the orbit accuracy of the
fully constrained method gradually decreases over time, whereas
the tightly constrained method mitigates the error divergence in
the cross-track direction.}",
doi = {10.1016/j.asr.2025.08.030},
adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025AdSpR..76.6330C},
adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}
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