Geocenter coordinates derived from multi-GNSS: a look into the role of solar radiation pressure modeling

Abstract The Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) technique is naturally sensitive to the geocenter motion, similar to all satellite techniques. However, the GNSS-based estimates of the geocenter used to contain more orbital artifacts than the geophysical signals, especially for the Z component of the geocenter coordinates. This contribution conveys a discussion on the impact of solar radiation pressure (SRP) modeling on the geocenter motion estimates. To that end, we process 3 years of GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo observations (2017–2019), collected by a globally distributed network of the ground stations. All possible individual system-specific solutions, as well as combinations of the available constellations, are tested in search of characteristic patterns in geocenter coordinates. We show that the addition of a priori information about the SRP-based forces acting on the satellites using a box-wing model mitigates a great majority of the spurious signals in the spectra of the geocenter coordinates. The amplitude of the 3 cpy (about 121 days) signal for GLONASS has been reduced by a factor of 8.5. Moreover, the amplitude of the spurious 7 cpy (about 52 days) signal has been reduced by a factor of 5.8 and 3.1 for Galileo and GPS, respectively. Conversely, the box-wing solutions indicate increased amplitudes of the annual variations in the geocenter signal. The latter reaches the level of 10–11 mm compared to 4.4 and 6.0 mm from the satellite laser ranging observations of LAGEOS satellites and the corresponding GNSS series applying extended empirical CODE orbit model (ECOM2), respectively. Despite the possible improvement in the GLONASS-based Z component of the geocenter coordinates, we show that some significant power can still be found at periods other than annual. The GPS- and Galileo-based estimates are less affected; thus, a combination of GPS and Galileo leads to the best geocenter estimates.

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Impact of ECOM Solar Radiation Pressure Models on Multi-GNSS Ultra-Rapid Orbit Determination

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs11243024 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (24) ◽

pp. 3024

Author(s):

Yang Liu ◽

Yanxiong Liu ◽

Ziwen Tian ◽

Xiaolei Dai ◽

Yun Qing ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Real Time ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Precise Orbit Determination ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Satellite System ◽

Ambiguity Fixing ◽

Global Navigation Satellite ◽

The Impact

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ultra-rapid precise orbits are crucial for global and wide-area real-time high-precision applications. The solar radiation pressure (SRP) model is an important factor in precise orbit determination. The real-time orbit determination is generally less accurate than the post-processed one and may amplify the instability and mismodeling of SRP models. Also, the impact of different SRP models on multi-GNSS real-time predicted orbits demands investigations. We analyzed the impact of the ECOM 1 and ECOM 2 models on multi-GNSS ultra-rapid orbit determination in terms of ambiguity resolution performance, real-time predicted orbit overlap precision, and satellite laser ranging (SLR) validation. The multi-GNSS observed orbital arc and predicted orbital arcs of 1, 3, 6, and 24 h are compared. The simulated real-time experiment shows that for GLONASS and Galileo ultra-rapid orbits, compared to ECOM 1, ECOM 2 increased the ambiguity fixing rate to 89.3% and 83.1%, respectively, and improves the predicted orbit accuracy by 9.2% and 27.7%, respectively. For GPS ultra-rapid orbits, ECOM 2 obtains a similar ambiguity fixing rate as ECOM 1 but slightly better orbit overlap precision. For BDS GEO ultra-rapid orbits, ECOM 2 obtains better overlap precision and SLR residuals, while for BDS IGSO and MEO ultra-rapid orbits, ECOM 1 obtains better orbit overlap precision and SLR residuals.

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A Comparative Study on the Solar Radiation Pressure Modeling in GPS Precise Orbit Determination

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13173388 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 3388

Author(s):

Longjiang Tang ◽

Jungang Wang ◽

Huizhong Zhu ◽

Maorong Ge ◽

Aigong Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

High Precision ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

A Priori ◽

Precise Orbit Determination ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

Precise Orbit ◽

Wing Model

For Global Positioning System (GPS) precise orbit determination (POD), the solar radiation pressure (SRP) is the dominant nongravitational perturbation force. Among the current SRP models, the ECOM and box-wing models are widely used in the International GNSS Service (IGS) community. However, the performance of different models varies over different GPS satellites. In this study, we investigate the performances of different SRP models, including the box-wing and adjustable box-wing as a priori models, and ECOM1 and ECOM2 as parameterization models, in the GPS POD solution from 2017 to 2019. Moreover, we pay special attention to the handling of the shadow factor in the SRP modeling for eclipsing satellites, which is critical to achieve high-precision POD solutions but has not yet been fully investigated. We demonstrate that, as an a priori SRP model, the adjustable box-wing has better performance than the box-wing model by up to 5 mm in the orbit day boundary discontinuity (DBD) statistics, with the largest improvement observed on the BLOCK IIR satellites using the ECOM1 as a parameterization SRP model. The box-wing model shows an insignificant orbit improvement serving as the a priori SRP model. For the eclipsing satellites, the three-dimensional (3D) root mean square (RMS) values of orbit DBD are improved when the shadow factor is applied only in the D direction (pointing toward to Sun) than that in the three directions (D, Y, and B) in the satellite frame. Different SRP models have comparable performance in terms of the Earth rotation parameter (ERP) agreement with the IERS EOP 14C04 product, whereas the magnitude of the length of day (LoD) annual signal is reduced when the shadow factor is applied in the D direction than in the three directions. This study clarifies how the shadow factor should be applied in the GPS POD solution and demonstrates that the a priori adjustable box-wing model combined with ECOM1 is more suitable for high-precision GPS POD solutions, which is useful for the further GNSS data analysis.

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Enhanced solar radiation pressure model for GPS satellites considering various physical effects

GPS Solutions ◽

10.1007/s10291-020-01073-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Bingbing Duan ◽

Urs Hugentobler

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

A Priori ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Optical Parameters ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

Wing Model ◽

Gps Satellites ◽

Additional Constant ◽

Physical Effects

AbstractSolar radiation pressure (SRP) is the dominant non-gravitational perturbation for GPS satellites. In the IGS (International GNSS Service), this perturbation is modeled differently by individual analysis centers (ACs). The two most widely used methods are the Empirical CODE orbit Model (ECOM, ECOM2) and the JPL GSPM model. When using ECOM models, a box-wing model or other a priori models, as well as stochastic pulses at noon or midnight, are optionally adopted by some ACs to compensate for the deficiencies of the ECOM or ECOM2 model. However, both box-wing and GSPM parameters were published many years ago. There could be an aging effect going with time. Also, optical properties and GSPM parameters of GPS Block IIF satellites are currently not yet published. In this contribution, we first determine Block-specific optical parameters of GPS satellites using GPS code and phase measurements of 6 years. Various physical effects, such as yaw bias, radiator emission in the satellite body-fixed − X and Y directions and the thermal radiation of solar panels, are considered as additional constant parameters in the optical parameter adjustment. With all the adjusted parameters, we form an enhanced box-wing model adding all the modeled physical effects. In addition, we determine Block-specific GSPM parameters by using the same GPS measurements. The enhanced box-wing model and the GSPM model are then taken as a priori model and are jointly used with ECOM and ECOM2 model, respectively. We find that the enhanced box-wing model performs similarly to the GSPM model outside eclipse seasons. RMSs of all the ECOM and ECOM2 parameters are reduced by 30% compared to results without the a priori model. Orbit misclosures and orbit predictions are improved by combining the enhanced box-wing model with ECOM and ECOM2 models. In particular, the improvement in orbit misclosures for the eclipsing Block IIR and IIF satellites, as well as the non-eclipsing IIA satellites, is about 25%, 10% and 10%, respectively, for the ECOM model. Therefore, the enhanced box-wing model is recommended as an a priori model in GPS satellite orbit determination.

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An analysis of a priori and empirical solar radiation pressure models for GPS satellites

Advances in Geosciences ◽

10.5194/adgeo-55-33-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 55 ◽

pp. 33-45

Author(s):

Xiao Chang ◽

Benjamin Männel ◽

Harald Schuh

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Radial Direction ◽

A Priori ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Physical Models ◽

Analytical Models ◽

Block Type ◽

Wing Model ◽

Gps Satellites

Abstract. Among the different non-conservative forces acting on GPS satellites, solar radiation pressure (SRP) has the greatest influence and inappropriate modeling of it can introduce an acceleration with the order of 1 × 10−7 m s−2. There are a variety of empirical, analytical, and hybrid empirical-physical models to describe the SRP effect. Among them, the empirical model developed at the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) and analytical models based on a box-wing prototype, namely box-shape bus with solar panels, are widely used in the International GNSS Service (IGS) community. To investigate the effects of different a priori SRP models on top of empirical parameterization, two sets of parameters based on the Empirical CODE Orbit Model (ECOM) and two a priori models including the analytical box-wing model and the empirical GPS Solar Pressure Model (GSPM) are tested for the different GPS satellites. Orbit comparison of different SRP scenarios shows that: (1) the two parameterizations of ECOM perform differently for Block IIA and IIR/IIR-M satellites but lead to fewer differences for Block IIF satellites in terms of orbit difference pattern. The 3D RMS of orbit difference of two parameterizations are 25, 30 and 21 mm for each block type. (2) Adoption of a priori model or change of the ECOM parameterization mainly lead to orbit differences varying with both elevation of the Sun w.r.t. the orbit plane and the satellites' argument of latitude w.r.t. the noon point, which is supposed to be related to the special geometry and attitude of every block type. These differences are especially obvious in radial direction. Analysis of estimated parameters of ECOM indicates that (3) the GSPM.04 performs better than box-wing model to describe the main constant solar radiation. It is found (4) that the asymmetry of estimated ECOM parameters in B direction (i.e., the direction completing the orthogonal system with D direction and satellite's solar panel axes), observed for three Block IIR satellites, causes corresponding asymmetrical orbit differences in radial direction when reduced ECOM parameters are used. This does not apply to the extended ECOM parameterization tested in this study, which indicates the insufficiency of reduced ECOM to parameterize asymmetrical satellites.

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Physical a priori solar radiation pressure models for GNSS satellites with the focus on BDS

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12358 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bingbing Duan ◽

Urs Hugentobler ◽

Inga Selmke ◽

Stefan Marz

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

Thermal Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Total Mass ◽

A Priori ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

The Other ◽

Time Range ◽

Satellite Attitude

A physical a priori box-wing solar radiation pressure (SRP) model is widely used by most analysis centers for Galileo and QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System) satellites, complemented by an ECOM or ECOM2 (Empirical CODE Orbit Model) model. For the other constellations, for instance GPS and GLONASS satellites, optical properties of satellite surfaces are not publicly available, especially for GPS Block IIF and GLONASS satellites. By fixing satellite surface areas and total mass to the values from some unpublished documents, we estimate satellite surface optical properties based on true GNSS measurements covering long time periods (typically this should be longer than a full beta angle time range to reduce correlations between parameters). Meanwhile, various physical effects are considered, such as yaw bias, radiator emission and thermal radiation of solar panels. We find that yaw bias of GPS Block IIA and IIR satellites does not dominate the Y-bias, it is likely that heat generated in the satellite is radiated from louvers or heat pipes on the Y side of the satellite. It is also noted that the ECOM Y0 estimates of both GPS and GLONASS satellites show clear anomaly during eclipse seasons. This indicates that the radiator emission is present when the satellite crosses shadows. Since satellite attitude during eclipse seasons could be different from the nominal yaw, potential radiator effect in the &#8211;X surface could be wrongly absorbed by the ECOM Y0 as well. By considering all the estimated parameters in an a priori model we observe clear improvement in satellite orbits, especially for GLONASS satellites. China&#8217;s Beidou-3 satellites are now providing PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) service globally. Satellite attitude, dimensions and total mass are publicly available. Also, the absorption optical properties of each satellite surface are given. With all this information, we estimate the other optical properties of Beidou satellites considering similar yaw bias, radiator and thermal radiation effects as those in GPS and GLONASS satellites.

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Seasonal variation of Mercury's exosphere deduced from MESSENGER data and simulation study

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6542 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yudai Suzuki ◽

Kazuo Yoshioka ◽

Go Murakami ◽

Ichiro Yoshikawa

Keyword(s):

Seasonal Variation ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Seasonal Variability ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Space Environment ◽

Generation Process ◽

Surface Transport ◽

Celestial Bodies ◽

The Impact

Celestial bodies with surface-bound exosphere are valuable because we can directly see the interaction between the bodies and space environment to which they are exposed. This interaction is especially expected to be clearly observed around Mercury. This research aims to clarify the generation process of neutral sodium exosphere, through the comparison between the data from MASCS onboard MESSENGER spacecraft and 3-D model calculation considering generation, transportation and dissipation processes.First, seasonal variability of the amount of sodium exosphere is analyzed for each local time (LT) using MASCS data. Previous research has shown that the amount of sodium above LT12 reaches a maximum at aphelion, and it is found that this maximum is seen only above LT12. In addition, two hypotheses proposed by the research: the increase in the surface sodium density of the dayside due to fast rotation of terminator, and the expansion of exosphere owing to weaker radiation pressure, were turned out to be inconsistent with seasonal variability above LT06 and the results of test particle calculations.Following these results, in order to understand the key process of the seasonal variation of the amount of sodium especially around LT12, 3-D sodium exosphere model including release from the surface, transport due to gravity and solar radiation pressure, and dissipation due to ionization caused by solar radiation is constructed. The results from numerical calculation is consistent with the observations by MASCS in terms of the vertical profile and the seasonal variability above LT06 and LT18, but the maximum at aphelion above LT12 could not be reproduced. Then, when the existence of the impact of comet dust stream is assumed as a local and short-term sodium source, the model with impact of 108kg comets per Mercury year could reproduce observations.Using the model constructed in this study, the sodium distribution which would be observed by MSASI onboard MIO spacecraft is predicted. The comparison between the calculation and observation by MSASI will provide us new insights into the interaction between the celestial bodies and space environment.In this presentation, we will summarize the results of comparison between observations by MASCS and 3-D Monte Carlo simulation about the seasonal variability of Mercury&#8217;s sodium exosphere.

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An a priori solar radiation pressure model for the QZSS Michibiki satellite

Journal of Geodesy ◽

10.1007/s00190-017-1048-4 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 92 (2) ◽

pp. 109-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Qile Zhao ◽

Guo Chen ◽

Jing Guo ◽

Jingnan Liu ◽

Xianglin Liu

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

A Priori ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure

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A Hybrid ECOM Model for Solar Radiation Pressure Effect on GPS Reference Orbit Derived by Orbit Fitting Technique

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13224681 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (22) ◽

pp. 4681

Author(s):

Tzu-Pang Tseng

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Initial State ◽

Reference Orbit ◽

Orbit Fitting ◽

Orbit Errors ◽

Cross Track ◽

Along Track ◽

The Impact

A hybrid ECOM (Empirical CODE Orbit Model) solar radiation pressure (SRP) model, which is termed ECOMC in this work, is proposed for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) orbit modeling. The ECOMC is mainly parameterized by both ECOM1 and ECOM2 models. The GNSS orbit mainly serves as a reference datum not only for its ranging measurement but also for the so-called precise point positioning (PPP) technique. Compared to a complex procedure of orbit determination with real tracking data, the so-called orbit fitting technique simply uses satellite positions from GNSS ephemeris as pseudo-observations to estimate the initial state vector and SRP parameters. The accuracy of the reference orbit is mainly dominated by the SRP, which is usually handled by either ECOM1 or ECOM2. However, the reference orbit derived by ECOM1 produces periodic variations on orbit differences with respect to International GNSS Service (IGS) final orbit for GPS IIR satellites. Such periodic variations are removed from a reference orbit formed using the ECOM2 model, which, however, yields large cross-track orbit errors for the IIR and IIF satellites. Such large errors are attributed to the fact that the ECOM2 intrinsically lacks 1 cycle per revolution (CPR) terms, which stabilize the estimations of the even-order CPR terms in the satellite-Sun direction when the orbit fitting is used. In comparison, a reference orbit constructed with the ECOMC model is free of both the periodic variations from the ECOM1 and the large cross-track orbit errors from the ECOM2. The above improvements from the ECOMC are associated with (1) the even CPR terms removing the periodic variations and (2) the 1 CPR terms compensating for the force mismodeling at = 90° and 270°, where the is the argument of the latitude of the satellite with respect to the Sun. The parameter correlation analysis also presents that the direct SRP estimation is sensitive to the 1 and 2 CPR terms in the ECOMC case. In addition, the root-mean-square (RMS) of orbit difference with respect to IGS orbit is improved by ~40%, ~10%, and ~50% in the radial, along-track, and cross-track directions, respectively, when the SRP model is changed from the ECOM2 to the ECOMC. The orbit accuracy is assessed through orbit overlaps at day boundaries. The accuracy improvements of the ECOMC-derived orbit over the ECOM2-derived orbit in the radial, along-track, and cross-track directions are 13.2%, 14.8%, and 42.6% for the IIF satellites and 7.4%, 7.7%, and 35.0% for the IIR satellites. The impact of the reference orbit using the three models on the PPP is assessed. The positioning accuracy derived from the ECOMC is better than that derived from the ECOM1 and ECOM2 by approximately 13% and 20%, respectively. This work may serve as a reference for forming the GNSS reference orbit using the orbit fitting technique with the ECOMC SRP model.

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A new solar radiation pressure model for BDS-3 satellites

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5985 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xinghan Chen ◽

Maorong Ge ◽

Harald Schuh

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Precise Orbit Determination ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Satellite System ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

Large Fluctuations ◽

Clock Estimation

Currently, with the rapid development of the third generation of BeiDou satellite system (BDS-3), the corresponding solar radiation pressure (SRP) forces should be well and soon modeled in order to enhance the performance of precise orbit determination (POD) and precise clock estimation (PCE) for high-precision applications. In this contribution, the BDS-3 post-processed and ultra-rapid PODs have been realized by fully exploiting data provided by the International GNSS Service (IGS). We firstly test the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) SRP model (ECOM1) and ECOM2 models and notice a large disagreement of overlapping orbits at the boundary of two adjacent days within an eclipse period. The reason for this could be that the ECOM2 model is over-parameterized or an extra periodic SRP term should be considered. Furthermore, our numerical analyses confirm that the cosinus terms must be excluded and the fourth- and sixth-order SRP sinus terms are significant in the Sun direction for the SRP model of BDS-3 satellites. Therefore, a new SRP model is developed herein to improve BDS-3 orbits, especially for eclipse season. Using the new SRP model, the large fluctuations of 20 cm can be reduced to below 10 cm for the radial-track component of overlapping orbits over eclipse seasons and SLR residuals are improved by a factor of 2 compared to that of ECOM1 and ECOM2. For the predicted orbits, the improvement due to the new SRP model is also demonstrated and the mean offsets of overlapping orbit differences over the eclipse periods can be reduced from -9.3 cm, -18.9 cm, and 39.9 cm to -5.5 cm, 8.3 cm, and 12.7 cm in the radial, cross, and along directions, respectively.

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