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Principles of the Global Positioning System
Lecture 03
YUAN Linguo
Email: lgyuan@163.com
Dept. of Surveying Engineering,
Southwest Jiaotong University
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Introduction
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Why do We Study Orbit?
The applications of GPS depend substantially on
knowing the satellite orbits.
1. For single receiver positioning, an orbital error
is highly correlated with the positional error.
2. In relative positioning, relative orbital errors
are considered to be approximately equal to
relative baseline errors.
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Orbit Information and SA Technology
How to obtain Orbital Information:
? either transmitted by the satellite as part of the
broadcast message, or
? can be obtained (typically some days after the
observation) from several sources.
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Orbit Inf. and SA:
? The activation of SA in the Block II satellites may
lead to a degradation of the broadcast orbit up to
50-100 m.
Civil Community:
? Since some users need more precise ephemerides,
the civil community must generate its own precise
satellite ephemerides.
Orbit Information and SA Technology
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Orbit Description
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Keplerian Motion
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Artificial Earth Satellite:
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Keplerain elements: Orbit plane
Node
i
ω
?
ν
Z
θ
0
Greenwich
Vernal
equinox
Satellite
perigee
equator
i Inclination
? Right Ascension of ascending node
ω Argument of perigee
ν True anomaly
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Keplerain elements in plane
a
Focus
Center of Mass
ae
Satellite
PerigeeApogee
b
E ν
r
a semimajor axis
b semiminor axis
e eccentricity
ν True anomaly
E Eccentric anomaly
M Mean anomaly
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The mean angular satellite velocity n
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Orbit Representation
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Orbit Representation
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Orbit Representation
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Differential Relations
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Perturbed Motion
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Keplerian Motion vs. Perturbed Motion
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Disturbing Accelerations
In reality, many disturbing accelerations act on a satellite
and are responsible for the temporal variations of the
Keplerian elements.
They can be divided into:
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Disturbing Accelerations
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Disturbing Accelerations
z For GPS satellites, altitude is about 20200 km, the
indirect effect of solar radiation pressure and air drag
may be neglected.
z The shape of the satellites is irregular which renders the
modeling of direct solar radiation pressure more
difficult. Different Satellites are different radiation
pressures
z The variety of materials used for the satellites has a
different heat-absorption which results in additional and
complicated perturbing accelerations.
z Accelerations may arise from gas leaks in the container
of the gas-propellant.
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1. Nonsphericity of the Earth
z The regression of the node in the equatorial plane
z The rotation of the perigee
z The variation of the mean anomaly
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Perturbation from Flattening J
2
The J
2
perturbation can be computed from the
Lagrange planetary equations
?
? = ?
3
2
na
e
2
cosi
a
2
(1 ? e
2
)
2
J
2
?ω =
3
4
na
e
2
5 cos
2
i ?1
a
2
(1 ? e
2
)
2
J
2
?
M = n +
3
4
na
e
2
3cos
2
i ?1
a
2
(1 ? e
2
)
3
J
2
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2. Tidal Effects
Among all the celestial bodies in the solar system, only
the sun and the moon must be considered because the
effects of the planets are negligible.
? The maximum of the perturbing acceleration is
reached when the three bodies are situated in a straight
line.
? Apart from the direct effect of the tide generating bodies,
indirect effects due to the tidal deformation of the solid
earth and the oceanic tides must be taken into account.
? The model for the indirect effect due to the oceanic tides
is more complicated.
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3. Solar Radiation Pressure
The perturbing acceleration due to the direct solar radiation pressure
has two components:
1. The principal component is directed away from the sun.
2. The smaller component acts along the satellite's y-axis. This is an
axis orthogonal to both the vector pointing to the sun and the
antenna which is nominally directed towards the center of the earth.
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3. Solar Radiation Pressure
? The first component is in the order of 10-7 ms-2
? The second component is called y-bias, and is
believed to be caused by a combination of
misalignments of the solar panels and thermal
radiation along the y-axis.
? The solar radiation pressure which is reflected
back from the earth's surface causes an effect
called albedo. For GPS, the associated perturbing
accelerations are smaller than the y-bias and can
be neglected
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4. Relativistic Effect
1. The relativistic effect on the satellite orbit is
caused by the gravity field of the earth and
gives rise to a perturbing acceleration.
2. This effect is smaller than the indirect effects
by one order of magnitude.
3. The numerical values of perturbing acceleration
results in an order of 3·10
-10
ms
-2
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Perturbation on orbits and approximate size
10
-9
Albedo radiation
10
-7
Solar radiation
~0Drag
10
-10
Ocean tides
10
-9
Earth tides
5x10
-6
Third body
3x10
-7
Other gravity
5x10
-5
J
2
0.6Central
Acceleration (m/sec
2
)Term
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Orbit Determination
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Orbit Determination:
orbital parameters and satellite clock biases.
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Orbit Determination
Position vector is a function of ranges, whereas
the velocity vector is determined by range rates.
? At present, the observations for the orbit
determination are performed at terrestrial sites,
such as TOPEX/Poseidon.
? The GPS data could also be obtained from
orbiting receivers.
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Clues of Orbital Determination
The actual orbit determination is performed in two steps.
1. A Kepler ellipse is fitted to the observations
(theoretically).
(1) Initial value problem
(2) Boundary value problem
2. This ellipse serves as reference, then is improved by
taking into account perturbing accelerations.
Add all perturbation parameters into Kepler Orbit
(1) Analytical solution
(2) Numerical solution
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Keplerian Orbit
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Initial Value Problem
z The derivation of the Keplerian parameters from
position and velocity vectors, given at the same
epoch and expressed in an equatorial system, is an
initial value problem for solving the differential.
z Recall that the two given vectors contain six
components (six Keplerian parameters). Since
both vectors are given at the same epoch, the time
parameter is omitted.
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Boundary Value Problem
1. It is assumed that two position vectors S(t1) and
S(t2) at epochs t1 and t2 are available.
2. Note that position vectors are preferred for orbit
determination since they are more accurate than
velocity vectors.
3. The given data correspond to boundary values in
the solution of the basic second-order differential
equation.
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Orbit Improvement
? If there are redundant observations, the parameters of an
instantaneous Kepler ellipse can be improved because
each observed range gives rise to an equation.
? The vector can be expressed as a function of the
Keplerian parameters. Thus, it actually contains the
differential increments for the six orbital parameters.
? In the past, orbit improvement was often performed in the
course of GPS data processing when, in addition to
terrestrial position vectors, the increments were
determined. The procedure became unstable or even
failed for small networks. In the case of orbit relaxation,
only three degrees of freedom were assigned to the orbit.
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Perturbed Orbit
Analytical Solution
In order to be suitable for Lagrange's equations,
the disturbing (Earth) potential is expressed as a
function of the Keplerian parameters.
The tidal potential also has a harmonic
representation, and thus the tidal perturbations
can be analytically modeled.
GM
V= V
r
+?
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Numerical Solution
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Orbit Dissemination
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Tracking Networks
Objectives and Strategies
The official orbit determination for GPS satellites is
based on observations at the five monitor stations of the
control segment.
1. The broadcast ephemeredes for Block I satellites: ~5m.
2. For the Block II satellites: up to 50-100 m by SA.
An orbital accuracy of about 20 cm is required for
specific missions such as TOPEX/Poseidon or for
investigations which require an accuracy at the level of
10
-9
.
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Tracking Networks
? Minimum Number of Sites: in a global network is six, if a
configuration is desired where at least two satellites can
be tracked simultaneously any time from two sites.
? Global Network and Regional Network: Global Network
result in higher accuracy and reliability compared to
regional networks.
? Orbit System Tie: The tie of the orbital system to
terrestrial reference frames is achieved by the collocation
of GPS receivers with VLBI and SLR trackers.
? GPS Site Distribution: The distribution of the GPS sites is
essential to achieve the highest accuracy.
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A Comparison of Two Distribution of GPS Sites
?The sites are regularly distributed around the globe;
?Each network site is surrounded by a cluster of additional
points to facilitate ambiguity resolution
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Examples for Global Networks
Several networks have been established for orbit
determination.
? Regional
? Continental size (the Australian GPS)
? Global networks
1. Global Orbit Tracking Experiment (GOTEX)
2. The Cooperative International GPS Network (CIGNET)
3. In 1990, IAG installed an International GPS Service for
Geodynamics (IGS)
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Ephemerides
Three sets of data are available to determine
position and velocity vectors of the satellites in a
terrestrial reference frame at any instant:
– Almanac data,
– Broadcast ephemerides, and
– Precise ephemerides
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1. Almanac Data
Purpose: provide the user with less precise data to
facilitate receiver satellite search or for planning
tasks e.g., the computation of visibility charts.
? The almanac data are updated at least every six
days and are broadcast as part of the satellite
message.
? The almanac message essentially contains
parameters for the orbit and satellite clock
correction terms for all satellites.
? All angles are expressed in semicircles.
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2. Broadcast Ephemerides
Purposes: to compute a reference orbit for the satellites
1. The broadcast ephemerides are based on observations at the five
monitor stations.
2. Additional tracking data are entered into a Kalman filter and the
improved orbits are used for extrapolation.
3. The orbital data could be accurate to approximately 5m based on three
uploads per day; with a single daily update one might expect an
accuracy of 10 m.
4. The Master Control Station is responsible for the computation of the
ephemerides and the upload to the satellites.
The ephemerides are broadcast (mostly) every hour and should only be
used during the prescribed period of approximately four hours to
which they refer .
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Distribution of Ephemerides
? The broadcast ephemeris is decoded by all GPS
receivers and for geodetic receivers the software
that converts the receiver binary to an exchange
format outputs an ASCII version
? The exchange format: Receiver Independent
Exchange format (RINEX) has a standard for the
broadcast ephemeris.
? Form [4-char][Day of year][Session].[yy]n
e.g. brdc0120.02n
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3. Precise Ephemerides
1. The official precise orbits are produced by the NSWC
together with the DMA and are based on observed data
in the (extended) tracking network.
2. The post-mission orbits are available upon request about
four to eight weeks after the observations.
3. The most accurate orbital information is provided by
the IGS with a delay of about two weeks.
4. Less accurate information is available about two days
after the observations.
5. Currently, IGS data and products are free of charge for
all users.
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3. Precise Ephemerides
The precise ephemerides
– satellite positions and
– velocities at equidistant epochs.
Since 1985, NGS began to distribute precise GPS orbital
data.
Formats:
– the specific ASCII formats SP1 and SP2
–their binary counterparts ECF1 and ECF2.
– Later, ECF2 was modified to EF13 format.
Typical spacing of the data is 15 minutes.
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NGS Format
? Each NGS format consists of a header containing
general information (epoch interval, orbit type,
etc.) followed by the data section for successive
epochs.
– The position: kilometer
– The velocity: kilometer/second
? NGS formats are described in Remondi (1989,
1991b ).
? NGS provides software to translate orbital files
from one format to another.
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Web Resources
? IGS -- International GPS Service
http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/
? Description of RINEX standard
ftp://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/igscb/data/format/rinex2.txt
? Description of SP3C standard
ftp://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/igscb/data/format/sp3c.txt
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Assignment
1. Illustrate 6 Keplerian orbit parameters
2. Please describe in detail the Broadcast
emphemerides (RINEX), and Precision
emphemerides (SP3C).
3. A broadcast ephemeris file for Jan 16, 2002 is
given below. All of the GPS satellites are given.
Please compute the satellite position very 30s.