Models of Solar Radiation Pressure in the Orbit Determination of GPS Satellites

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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CODE’s new solar radiation pressure model for GNSS orbit determination

Journal of Geodesy ◽

10.1007/s00190-015-0814-4 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 89 (8) ◽

pp. 775-791 ◽

Cited By ~ 101

Author(s):

D. Arnold ◽

M. Meindl ◽

G. Beutler ◽

R. Dach ◽

S. Schaer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure

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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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Improving QZSS precise orbit determination by considering the solar radiation pressure of the L-band antenna

GPS Solutions ◽

10.1007/s10291-020-0963-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Yongqiang Yuan ◽

Xingxing Li ◽

Yiting Zhu ◽

Yun Xiong ◽

Jiande Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Precise Orbit Determination ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Precise Orbit ◽

L Band

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Improved GPS solar radiation pressure modeling for precise orbit determination

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets ◽

10.2514/3.26519 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 830-833 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yvonne Vigue ◽

Stephen M. Lichten ◽

Ron J. Muellerschoen ◽

Geoff Blewitt ◽

Michael B. Heflin

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Precise Orbit Determination ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Precise Orbit

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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

<p>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.</p>

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Analysis of Parameter Correlations of the ECOM Solar Radiation Pressure Model for GPS Orbit

Journal of Sensors ◽

10.1155/2019/5190496 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Tae-Suk Bae ◽

Chang-Ki Hong

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Radiation Pressure ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Annual Variation ◽

Orbital Plane ◽

Solar Radiation Pressure ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Orbit Model ◽

Over Time

The modeling of solar radiation pressure is the most important issue in precision GNSS orbit determination and is usually represented by constant and periodic terms in three orthogonal axes. Unfortunately, these parameters are generally correlated with each other due to overparameterization, and furthermore, the correlation does not remain constant throughout a long-term period. A total of 500 weeks of GPS daily solutions were estimated with the empirical CODE orbit model (ECOM) to cover various block types of satellites. The statistics of the postfit residuals were analyzed in this study, which shows the dominant annual variation of the correlations over time. There is no significant difference between eclipsing and noneclipsing satellites, and the frequency of the correlation exactly corresponds to the GPS draconitic year. Based on the residual analysis, the ECOM is the most appropriate for the Block IIR/IIR-M satellites but does not properly account for the behavior of either older Block IIA or newer IIF satellites. In addition, the daily mean residuals show a different pattern for satellite orbital planes. Therefore, the orbit model should be customized for the block types and orbital plane for better representation of multi-GNSS orbits.

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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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