Mon Dec 15, F. Flechtner
• Sorted by Date • Sorted by Last Name of First Author •
Peng, Aoran, Cui, Bobin, Huang, Guanwen, Wang, Le, She, Haonan, Song, Dandan, and Du, Shi, 2025. Real-Time Detection of LEO Satellite Orbit Maneuvers Based on Geometric Distance Difference. Aerospace, 12(10):925, doi:10.3390/aerospace12100925.
• from the NASA Astrophysics Data System • by the DOI System •
@ARTICLE{2025Aeros..12..925P,
author = {{Peng}, Aoran and {Cui}, Bobin and {Huang}, Guanwen and {Wang}, Le and {She}, Haonan and {Song}, Dandan and {Du}, Shi},
title = "{Real-Time Detection of LEO Satellite Orbit Maneuvers Based on Geometric Distance Difference}",
journal = {Aerospace},
keywords = {LEO satellites, orbit maneuver, maneuver detection, geometric distance difference, dynamic threshold},
year = 2025,
month = oct,
volume = {12},
number = {10},
eid = {925},
pages = {925},
abstract = "{Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, characterized by low altitudes, high
velocities, and strong ground signal reception, have become an
essential and dynamic component of modern global navigation
satellite systems (GNSS). However, orbit decay induced by
atmospheric drag poses persistent challenges to maintaining
stable trajectories. Frequent orbit maneuvers, though necessary
to sustain nominal orbits, introduce significant difficulties
for precise orbit determination (POD) and navigation
augmentation, especially under complex operational conditions.
Unlike most existing methods that rely on Two-Line Element (TLE)
data{\textemdash}often affected by noise and limited
accuracy{\textemdash}this study directly utilizes onboard GNSS
observations in combination with real-time precise ephemerides.
A novel time-series indicator is proposed, defined as the
geometric root-mean-square (RMS) distance between reduced-
dynamic and kinematic orbit solutions, which is highly
responsive to orbit disturbances. To further enhance robustness,
a sliding window-based adaptive thresholding mechanism is
developed to dynamically adjust detection thresholds,
maintaining sensitivity to maneuvers while suppressing false
alarms. The proposed method was validated using eight
representative maneuver events from the GRACE-FO satellites (May
2018─June 2022), successfully detecting seven of them. One
extremely short-duration maneuver was missed due to the limited
number of usable GNSS observations after quality-control
filtering. To examine altitude-related applicability, two
Sentinel-3A maneuvers were also analyzed, both successfully
detected, confirming the method's effectiveness at higher LEO
altitudes. Since the thrust magnitudes and durations of the
Sentinel-3A maneuvers are not publicly available, these cases
primarily serve to verify applicability rather than to quantify
sensitivity. Experimental results show that for GRACE-FO
maneuvers, the proposed method achieves near-real-time
responsiveness under long-duration, high-thrust conditions, with
an average detection delay below 90 s. For Sentinel-3A,
detections occurred approximately 7 s earlier than the reported
maneuver epochs, a discrepancy attributed to the 30 s
observation sampling interval rather than methodological bias.
Comparative analysis with representative existing methods,
presented in the discussion section, further demonstrates the
advantages of the proposed approach in terms of sensitivity,
timeliness, and adaptability. Overall, this study presents a
practical, efficient, and scalable solution for real-time
maneuver detection in LEO satellite missions, contributing to
improved GNSS augmentation, space situational awareness, and
autonomous orbit control.}",
doi = {10.3390/aerospace12100925},
adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025Aeros..12..925P},
adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}
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