Precise orbit determination for LEO constellation based on onboard GNSS observations, inter-satellite links and ground tracking data
摘要
Recently, large low earth orbit (LEO) constellations have gained increasing attention for enhancing global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning due to their significant advantages in reducing convergence time, which raises higher demands for high-accuracy orbit and clock offset products for LEO satellites. Alongside the extensively utilized onboard GNSS observations, these LEO satellites will be capable of acquiring inter-satellite link (ISL) measurements and delivering navigation signals to ground users. In this study, we develop a precise orbit determination (POD) method for LEO constellations, integrating onboard GNSS, ISL and ground observations. Based on simulated data of a 120-LEO constellation, the potential improvements of ISL measurements and ground observations on LEO POD are evaluated. The POD performance using only a single type of data is first compared. The results demonstrate that, based on a global network, ground-based solutions enable centimeter-level orbit accuracy, whereas their performance remains inferior to that of GNSS-based solutions. We then conducted experiments by incorporating ISL and ground tracking data into the traditional GNSS-based solution. The orbit accuracy is improved by 9.5% and 63.1% after introducing ground observations and ISL, respectively. Compared to ground observations, ISL contributes more significantly to LEO POD due to its superior observation geometry. The POD solution combining all three types of observations yields more stable and accurate orbits, achieving a 64.9% accuracy improvement over the GNSS-only solution. Additionally, the accuracy of LEO clock parameters is also enhanced. Compared to the multi-GNSS scenario, the enhancement effect of incorporating ISL and ground observations is more significant in the single-system GNSS case. In addition, the combination of ground tracking data and ISL can provide orbit solutions with higher accuracy than the GNSS-only solution, offering a viable alternative when GNSS observations are unavailable.