Precise Orbit Determination of Next Generation GPS Satellites

Alec J. Winetrobe, Phillip W. Mann, Edward J. Fernandez, Janaki Potukuchi, Kazuma Gunning

Abstract:	The next generation GPS will provide higher availability of military accuracy in jammed environments, higher system integrity, increased time transfer accuracy, and increased position accuracy. As accuracy improves, previously inconsequential inaccuracies in the system may evolve into limiting factors of system-level accuracy. Therefore, improvements in user position accuracy will be accomplished, in part, by refining software models and including the effects of additional perturbing forces that are not included in the current operational system. The GPS System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) team has been developing GPS Enterprise End-to-end Validation (GENEVA) software to validate a selected set of requirements for the next generation GPS system. GENEVA satellite position and trajectory computation enhancements include improved models for some of the legacy models (solar pressure models, multi-body gravitational effects, etc.) and the inclusion of new models for additional perturbations (relativistic effects, albedo effects, etc.). This paper describes how the GENEVA software includes these models, creates initial satellite position estimates, propagates the satellite trajectories, and compares the results with those from the current operational system. The results demonstrate that the included perturbation models affect satellite position estimate accuracy at the centimeter level over two weeks. However, further investigation is required to determine the effectiveness of the updated models over a full range of relevant scenarios.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 27th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2014) September 8 - 12, 2014 Tampa Convention Center Tampa, Florida
Pages:	2371 - 2377
Cite this article:	Winetrobe, Alec J., Mann, Phillip W., Fernandez, Edward J., Potukuchi, Janaki, Gunning, Kazuma, "Precise Orbit Determination of Next Generation GPS Satellites," Proceedings of the 27th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2014), Tampa, Florida, September 2014, pp. 2371-2377.
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