Relative Positioning Experiments for Low Dynamics Space Based Applications

D. S. Coco, P. R. Pastor, D. J. Kurtin

Abstract:	A series of land-based relative positioning experiments has been performed to simulate low dynamic space station/orbiter maneuvers. Previous studies have shown that meter-level relative GPS positioning is possible with continuous phase data without cycle slips, but obtaining this level of accuracy with pseudorange data or with phase data containing numerous cycle slips has been problematic. Our focus in this study was to demonstrate that meter-level accuracy could be obtained with typical GPS data that contained multiple cycle slips and periods with less than 4 SV's. A comparison of the GPS and truth one-dimensional ranges has shown that meter-level accuracy can be achieved for a variety of experimental conditions. The utility of a similar GPS based relative navigation system in space based applications, such as relative navigation of orbiters near the space station, will be discussed. The experiments used two TI 4100 receivers to measure the relative separation between two slow moving vehicles. The GPS derived ranges were compared to truth data obtained from a Tellurometer microwave ranging system that provided centimeter-level accuracies. The GPS data were processed through a differential Kalman filter in postprocessing using the phase smoothed pseudorange to generate relative positions for the two vehicles. The GPS vehicle-to-vehicle ranges show typical accuracies of 10 cm - 5 m, depending on the vehicle dynamics and the quality of the data.
Published in:	Proceedings of the International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1988) September 19 - 23, 1988 The Broadmoor Hotel Colorado Spring, CO
Pages:	333 - 338
Cite this article:	Coco, D. S., Pastor, P. R., Kurtin, D. J., "Relative Positioning Experiments for Low Dynamics Space Based Applications," Proceedings of the International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1988), Colorado Spring, CO, September 1988, pp. 333-338.
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