Phoenix-XNS - A Miniature Real-Time Navigation System for LEO Satellites

The paper describes the development of a miniature GPS receiver with integrated real-time navigation system for orbit determination of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). The Phoenix-XNS receiver is based on a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) single-frequency GPS receiver board that has been qualified for use in a moderate space environment. Its firmware is specifically designed for space applications and accounts for the high signal dynamics in the acquisition and tracking process. The supplementary eXtended Navigation System (XNS) employs an elaborate force model and a 24-state Kalman filter to provide a smooth and continuous reduced-dynamics navigation solution even in case of restricted GPS availability. Through the use of the GRAPHIC code-carrier combination, ionospheric path delays can be fully eliminated in the filter, which overcomes the main limitation of conventional single-frequency receivers. Tests conducted in a signal simulator test bed have demonstrated a filtered navigation solution accuracy of better than 1 m (3D rms)

NeQuick-G Performance Assessment for Space Applications

Other than traditional single-layer ionosphere models for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers, the NeQuick-G model of Galileo provides a fully three-dimensional description of the electron density and obtains the ionospheric path delay by integration along the line of sight. While optimized for users on or near the surface of the earth, NeQuick-G can thus as well be used for ionospheric correction of single-frequency observations from spaceborne platforms. Based on slant and total electron content measurements obtained in the Swarm mission, the performance of NeQuick-G for users in low earth orbit is assessed for periods of high and low solar activity as well as different orientations of the orbital plane with respect to the sun and the region of high total electron content. A slant range correction performance of better than 70% is achieved in more than 85% of the examined epochs in good accord with the performance reported for terrestrial users. Likewise, the positioning errors can be notably reduced when applying the NeQuick-G corrections in single-frequency navigation solutions. For users at orbital altitudes, it is furthermore shown that vertical total electron predictions from NeQuick-G may be favorably combined with an elevation-dependent thick-layer mapping function to reduce the high computational effort associated with the integration of the electron density along the ray path for each tracked GNSS satellite

A Comparative Study of SBAS Systems for Navigation in Geostationary Orbit

Real data has been collected from space demonstrating the CanX-2 receiver’s ability to track the WAAS, EGNOS, GAGAN, and MSAS systems. Two types of analysis were performed, in order to assess the suitability of SBAS ranging measurements as a source of positioning information for users in geostationary and other higher orbits, in which SBAS satellites may be permanently in view while GPS visibility is severely limited by the shape of the transmit gain patterns. The first analysis, of the transmit gain patterns of the EGNOS, WAAS, MSAS and GAGAN systems, revealed that all the SBAS satellites transmit enough power to be tracked over the earth’s limb. It was revealed that GAGAN has a narrow gain pattern than the other SBAS systems, WAAS and EGNOS appear to have similar gain patterns but WAAS has a higher transmit power by 2-4 dB, and MSAS appears to transmit lower signal power than the other systems but uses an antenna design providing more even global coverage, which results in and stronger power transmitted towards the edge of the earth. The second study determined that the SBAS ranging capability was useable in space, provided that the fast correction data transmitted by the SBAS satellites was applied in addition to the MT9 broadcast ephemeris. The SBAS ranging accuracy is lower than it is for the standard GPS MEO signals, but in most cases the errors are within +/- 10 m for WAAS and +/- 20 m for MSAS and GAGAN. EGNOS does not support ranging. Provided the lower accuracy compared to GPS is taken into account, the SBAS systems could be used to provide positioning and timing information to users in GEO or other orbits above the MEO GNSS constellation

Precise Onboard Time Synchronization for LEO Satellites

Onboard time synchronization is an important requirement for a wide range of low Earth orbit (LEO) missions such as altimetry or communication services, and extends to future position, navigation, and timing (PNT) services in LEO. For GNSS-based time synchronization, continuous knowledge about the satellite's position is required and, eventually, the quality of the position solution defines the timing precision attainable through GNSS measurements. Previous research has shown that real-time GNSS orbit determination of LEO satellites can achieve decimeter-level accuracy. This paper characterizes the performance of GNSS-based real-time clock synchronization in LEO using the satellite Sentinel-6A as a real-world case study. The satellite's ultra-stable oscillator (USO) and triple-frequency GPS/Galileo receiver provide measurements for a navigation filter representative of real-time onboard processing. Continuous evaluation of actual flight data over 14 days shows that a 3D orbit root-mean-square (RMS) error of 11 cm and a 0.9-ns clock standard deviation can be achieved