• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.227-233
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• 2018

This study presents the generation and accuracy assessment of predicted orbital ephemeris based on satellite laser ranging (SLR) for geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites. Two GEO satellites are considered: GEO-Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite (KOMPSAT)-2B (GK-2B) for simulational validation and Compass-G1 for real-world quality assessment. SLR-based orbit determination (OD) is proactively performed to generate orbital ephemeris. The length and the gap of the predicted orbital ephemeris were set by considering the consolidated prediction format (CPF). The resultant predicted ephemeris of GK-2B is directly compared with a pre-specified true orbit to show 17.461 m and 23.978 m, in 3D root-mean-square (RMS) position error and maximum position error for one day, respectively. The predicted ephemeris of Compass-G1 is overlapped with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) final orbit from the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) analysis center (AC) to yield 36.760 m in 3D RMS position differences. It is also compared with the CPF orbit from the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) to present 109.888 m in 3D RMS position differences. These results imply that SLR-based orbital ephemeris can be an alternative candidate for improving the accuracy of commonly used radar-based orbital ephemeris for GEO satellites.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.2763-2771
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• 1997

To determine the satellite orbital positions considering interference caused by inter-satellite systems is one of the most improtant issues in terms of optimal usage of satellite network resources. In this paper, considering ITU filing situation, we present the satellite orbital positions determination method to minimize iter-satellite system interference effect in the fixed satellite communication using an optimization method. Through the computer simulatio, it was shown that the proposed method is suitable to determine the satellite orbital positions.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.171-185
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• 2020

This paper presents a methodology for Initial Orbit Determination (IOD) based on a modification of the Laplace's geocentric method. The orbital elements for Near-Earth asteroids (1864) Daedalus, 2003 GW, 2019 JA8, a Hungaria-type asteroid (4690) Strasbourg, and the asteroids of the Main Belt (1738) Oosterhoff, (2717) Tellervo, (1568) Aisleen and (2235) Vittore were calculated. Input data observations from the Minor Planet Center MPC database and Astronomical Observatory of the Technological University of Pereira (OAUTP; MPC code W63) were used. These observations cover observation arcs of less than 22 days. The orbital errors, in terms of shape and orientation for the estimated orbits of the asteroids, were calculated. The shape error was less than 53 × 10^-3 AU, except for the asteroid 2019 JA8. On the other hand, errors in orientation were less than 0.1 rad, except for (4690) Strasbourg. Additionally, we estimated ephemerides for all bodies for up to two months. When compared with actual ephemerides, the errors found allowed us to conclude that these bodies can be recovered in a field of vision of 95' × 72' (OAUTP field). This shows that Laplace's method, though simple, may still be useful in the IOD study, especially for observatories that initiate programs of minor bodies observation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.123-129
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• 2002

This paper reveals determination of orbital elements of the satellite using GPS data collected by the low-end GPS receiver installed at KITSAT-3 which is a small scientific experimental satellite of Korea and launched in May 1999. An extended Kalman filter is designed for a forward estimation of real-time 3-dimensional position and velocity, and a smoother is used for a backward post-processing estimation of the same states. After finishing estimation of position and velocity, the corresponding orbital elements are estimated. Finally, the result of each orbital element is analyzed.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.7
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• pp.3.1-3.1
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• 1982

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• v.1
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• pp.141-144
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• 2006

The deviations in the injection orbital parameters, resulting from launcher dispersions, need to be estimated and used for autonomous satellite operations. For the proposed small satellite mission of the university there will be two GPS receivers onboard the satellite to provide the instantaneous orbital state to the onboard data handling system. In order to meet the power requirements, the satellite will be sun-tracking whenever there is no imaging operation. For imaging activities, the satellite will be maneuvered to nadir-pointing mode. Due to such different modes of orientation the geometry for the GPS receivers will not be favorable at all times and there will be instances of poor geometry resulting in no output from the GPS receivers. Onboard the satellite, the orbital information should be continuously available for autonomous switching on/off of various subsystems. The paper presents the strategies to make use of small arcs of data from GPS receivers to compute the mean orbital parameters and use the updated orbital parameters to calculate the position and velocity whenever the same is not available from GPS receiver. Thus the navigation message from the GPS receiver, namely the position vector in Earth-Centered-Earth-Fixed (ECEF) frame, is used as measurements. As for estimation, two techniques - (1) batch least squares method, and (2) Kalman Filter method are used for orbit estimation (in real time). The performance of the onboard orbit estimation has been assessed based on hardware based multi-channel GPS Signal simulator. The results indicate good converge even with short arcs of data as the GPS navigation data are generally very accurate and the data rate is also fast (typically 1Hz).

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 1999

At present, many ground stations all over the world are using NORAD orbit element data in order to track and communicate with Earth orbiting satellites. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) observes thousands of Earth orbiting objects on daily basis and provides their orbital information via internet. The orbital data provided by NORAD, which is also called two line element (TLE) sets, allows ground stations to predict the time-varying positions of satellites accurately enough to communicate with the satellites. In order to complete the mission of a high resolution remote sensing satellite which requires very high positional determination and control accuracy, however, a mission control and tracking ground station is dedicated for the observation and positional determination of the satellite rather than using NORAD orbital sets. In the case of KITSAT-3, NORAD orbital elements are currently used for image acquisition planning and for the processing of acquired images due to the absence of a dedicated KITSAT-3 tracking ground system. In this paper, we tested and analyzed the accuracy of NORAD orbital elements and the appropriate prediction model to determine how accurately a satellite acquisites an image of the location of interest and how accurately a ground processing system can generate the catalog of the images.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2017

The optical wide-field patrol network (OWL-Net) is a Korean optical surveillance system that tracks and monitors domestic satellites. In this study, a batch least squares algorithm was developed for optical measurements and verified by Monte Carlo simulation and covariance analysis. Potential error sources of OWL-Net, such as noise, bias, and clock errors, were analyzed. There is a linear relation between the estimation accuracy and the noise level, and the accuracy significantly depends on the declination bias. In addition, the time-tagging error significantly degrades the observation accuracy, while the time-synchronization offset corresponds to the orbital motion. The Cartesian state vector and measurement bias were determined using the OWL-Net tracking data of the KOMPSAT-1 and Cryosat-2 satellites. The comparison with known orbital information based on two-line elements (TLE) and the consolidated prediction format (CPF) shows that the orbit determination accuracy is similar to that of TLE. Furthermore, the precision and accuracy of OWL-Net observation data were determined to be tens of arcsec and sub-degree level, respectively.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.159.2-159.2
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• 2012

In this study, we propose an effective strategy for precise orbital and geodetic parameter estimation using SLR (Satellite Laser Ranging) observations for ILRS AAC (Associate Analysis Center). The NASA/GSFC GEODYN II software and SLR normal point observations of LAGEOS-1, LAGEOS-2, ETALON-1, and ETALON-2 are utilized for precise orbital and geodetic parameter estimation. Weekly-based precise orbit determination strategy is applied to process SLR observations, and Precise Orbit Ephemeris (POE), TRF (Terrestrial Reference Frame), and EOPs (Earth Orientation Parameters) are obtained as products of ILRS AAC. For improved estimation results, selection strategies of dynamic and measurement models are experimently figured out and configurations of various estimation parameters are also carefully chosen. The results of orbit accuracy assessment of POE and precision analysis of TRF/EOPs for each case are compared with those of existing results. Finally, we find an appropriate strategy for precise orbital and geodetic parameter estimation using SLR observations for ILRS AAC.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.6-12
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• 2020

The precise prediction of future position of satellite depends on the accurate determination of orbit, which is also helpful in performing orbit maneuvers and trajectory correction maneuvers. For estimating the orbit of satellite many methods are being used. Some of the conventional methods are based on (i) Differential Correction (DC) (ii) Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). In this paper, Differential Evolution (DE) is used to determine the orbit. Orbit Determination using DC and EKF requires some initial guess of the state vector to initiate the algorithm, whereas DE does not require an initial guess since a wide range of bounds for the design unknown variables (orbital elements) is sufficient. This technique is uniformly valid for all orbits viz. circular, elliptic or hyperbolic. Simulated observations have been used to demonstrate the performance of the method. The observations are generated by including random noise. The simulation model that generates the observations includes the perturbation due to non-spherical earth up to second zonal harmonic term.