EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF GPS-BASED PRECISE ORBIT DETERMINATION

George W. Davis

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	High-fidelity numerical simulations were conducted to assess the anticipated level of radial orbit error for low- altitude geodetic and oceanographic satellites tracked by GPS. Tracking data were simulated for a GPS flight receiver in 700 and 300 km altitude polar orbits and for a ground network of 24 GPS tracking stations. The simulations suggest that it should be possible to achieve 3 cm radial orbit accuracy for altitudes in the 700 km range, either with tuning of the geopotential or with filtering techniques that exploit the continuous, three- dimensional nature of GPS tracking. The simulations also suggest it should be possible to achieve 6 cm radial orbit accuracy for altitudes in the 300 km range. To improve upon this level of accuracy at such low altitudes, improvement of the geopotential and atmospheric drag models will probably be required.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 44, Number 2
Pages:	181 - 194
Cite this article:	Davis, George W., "EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF GPS-BASED PRECISE ORBIT DETERMINATION", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 1997, pp. 181-194.
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