Initial Orbit Determination Using Very Short Arc Data Based on Double-Station Observation

Huatao Shang, Defeng Chen*, Huawei Cao*, Tuo Fu, Meiguo Gao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A method of initial orbit determination (IOD) of a space object, which uses very short arc (VSA) data of double-station observations, is presented. Closed-form solutions of the initial orbit are derived, and these solutions utilize radial measurements (the range, velocity, and acceleration) from two radar stations. The performance of the method based on the geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) metric is analyzed in detail. The analytical approximation expressions of the GDOP metric are also derived, and these expressions can serve as guidance for choosing an observation arc in order to obtain better IOD performance. Comparison of the analytical results with Monte Carlo simulations shows good consistency. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that several seconds of VSA data can produce an IOD accuracy of several kilometers in position and several meters per second in velocity, provided that highly accurate measurements of phase-derived velocity and acceleration are available.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1596-1611
Number of pages16
JournalIEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
Volume55
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2019

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Initial Orbit Determination Using Very Short Arc Data Based on Double-Station Observation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this