High Performance Orbit Determination and Time Synchronization for Lunar Radio Navigation Systems

Luciano Iess, Mauro Di Benedetto, Giovanni Boscagli, Paolo Racioppa, Andrea Sesta, Fabrizio De Marchi, Paolo Cappuccio, Daniele Durante, Serena Molly, Michael K. Plumaris, Pasquale Tartaglia, Fabrizio Santi, Agnes Fienga GéoAzur, Nicola Linty, Krzysztof Sosnica, Jacopo Belfi, Pietro Giordano, Richard Swinden, Javier Ventura-Traveset

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	This paper presents a concept for the orbit determination and time synchronization (ODTS) of a lunar radio navigation system. The proposed approach utilizes small ground antennas that simultaneously track all satellites in the constellation using K-band frequency links. The work describes the architecture and performance of the radio system, highlighting the implementation of the multiple spacecraft per aperture (MSPA) concept. This configuration ensures sufficient data rates and achieves high accuracy in Doppler and range observables, enabling precise orbit determination. One notable outcome of this configuration is the availability of a new observable quantity, the differential phase of the two-way signals received by the ground station from any pair of satellites, also known as single-beam interferometry (SBI). The paper examines the achieved time transfer accuracies with different onboard clocks and evaluates the standard asynchronous two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) method. Additionally, a novel time transfer method is proposed, leveraging onboard code epoch timestamping and precise spacecraft range information. Through the analysis of realistic test cases, the study demonstrates that orbit determination accuracies consistently remain below 10 meters (root sum square). Furthermore, the findings indicate that ephemerides aging and clock drifts align well with a navigation message repeat time of approximately three hours (99% confidence level), while maintaining a signal-in-space error (SISE) of 25 meters.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023) September 11 - 15, 2023 Hyatt Regency Denver Denver, Colorado
Pages:	4029 - 4050
Cite this article:	Iess, Luciano, Di Benedetto, Mauro, Boscagli, Giovanni, Racioppa, Paolo, Sesta, Andrea, De Marchi, Fabrizio, Cappuccio, Paolo, Durante, Daniele, Molly, Serena, Plumaris, Michael K., Tartaglia, Pasquale, Santi, Fabrizio, GéoAzur, Agnes Fienga, Linty, Nicola, Sosnica, Krzysztof, Belfi, Jacopo, Giordano, Pietro, Swinden, Richard, Ventura-Traveset, Javier, "High Performance Orbit Determination and Time Synchronization for Lunar Radio Navigation Systems," Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023), Denver, Colorado, September 2023, pp. 4029-4050. https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19428
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