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Precise orbit determination for quad-constellation satellites at Wuhan University: strategy, result validation, and comparison

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Abstract

This contribution summarizes the strategy used by Wuhan University (WHU) to determine precise orbit and clock products for Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) of the International GNSS Service (IGS). In particular, the satellite attitude, phase center corrections, solar radiation pressure model developed and used for BDS satellites are addressed. In addition, this contribution analyzes the orbit and clock quality of the quad-constellation products from MGEX Analysis Centers (ACs) for a common time period of 1 year (2014). With IGS final GPS and GLONASS products as the reference, Multi-GNSS products of WHU (indicated by WUM) show the best agreement among these products from all MGEX ACs in both accuracy and stability. 3D Day Boundary Discontinuities (DBDs) range from 8 to 27 cm for Galileo-IOV satellites among all ACs’ products, whereas WUM ones are the largest (about 26.2 cm). Among three types of BDS satellites, MEOs show the smallest DBDs from 10 to 27 cm, whereas the DBDs for all ACs products are at decimeter to meter level for GEOs and one to three decimeter for IGSOs, respectively. As to the satellite laser ranging (SLR) validation for Galileo-IOV satellites, the accuracy evaluated by SLR residuals is at the one decimeter level with the well-known systematic bias of about \(-5\) cm for all ACs. For BDS satellites, the accuracy could reach decimeter level, one decimeter level, and centimeter level for GEOs, IGSOs, and MEOs, respectively. However, there is a noticeable bias in GEO SLR residuals. In addition, systematic errors dependent on orbit angle related to mismodeled solar radiation pressure (SRP) are present for BDS GEOs and IGSOs. The results of Multi-GNSS combined kinematic PPP demonstrate that the best accuracy of position and fastest convergence speed have been achieved using WUM products, particularly in the Up direction. Furthermore, the accuracy of static BDS only PPP degrades when the BDS IGSO and MEO satellites switches to orbit-normal orientation, particularly for COM products, whereas the WUM show the slightest degradation.

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Acknowledgments

The IGS MGEX, iGMAS, and ILRS are greatly acknowledged for providing the multi-GNSS and SLR tracking data. The research is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41504009, 41574030). The authors are thankful to Dr. Xianglin Liu, who considerably revised the manuscript. Finally, the authors are also grateful for the comments and remarks of three reviewers, which helped to significantly improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GNSS Research Center, Wuhan University, No. 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Jing Guo, Xiaolong Xu, Qile Zhao & Jingnan Liu

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Earth and Space Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Qile Zhao & Jingnan Liu

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  1. Jing Guo
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  2. Xiaolong Xu
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  3. Qile Zhao
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Correspondence to Qile Zhao.

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Guo, J., Xu, X., Zhao, Q. et al. Precise orbit determination for quad-constellation satellites at Wuhan University: strategy, result validation, and comparison. J Geod 90, 143–159 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-015-0862-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-015-0862-9

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