Similar articles

Abstract: The most dominant error source for microwave ranging is the frequency instability of the oscillator that generates the carrier phase signal. The oscillator noise is very difficult to filter due to its extremely low frequency. A dual transponder carrier ranging method can effectively minimize the oscillator noise by combing the reference phase and the to-and-fro measurement phase from the same single oscillator. This method does not require an accurate time tagging system, since it extracts phases on the same satellite. This paper analyzes the dual transponder carrier ranging system by simulation of the phase measurements with comprehensive error models. Both frequency domain and time domain noise transfer characteristics were simulated to compare them with dual one-way ranging. The simulation results in the two domains conformed to each other and demonstrated that a high level of accuracy can also be achieved by use of the dual transponder carrier ranging system, with relatively simple instruments.

[1] Bender, P., 2000. LISA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna: A Cornerstone Mission for the Observation of Gravitational Waves. System and Technology Study Report, ESA-SCI No. 11-65, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

[2] Bertiger, W., Dunn, C., Harris, I., Kruizinga, G., Romans, L., Watkins, M., Wu, S., 2003. Relative Time and Frequency Alignment between Two Low Earth Orbiters, GRACE. Proc. IEEE Int. Frequency Control Symp. and PDA Exhibition jointly with the 17th European Frequency and Time Forum, p.273-279.

[3] Bryant, L., 2003. Simulation Study of a Follow-on Gravity Mission to GRACE. MS Thesis, University of Colorado, Denver, USA.

[4] Davis, E.S., Dunn, C.E., Stanton, R.H., Thomas, J.B., 1999. The GRACE Mission: Meeting the Technical Challenges. Paper IAF-99-B.2.05, International Astronautical Federation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

[5] Dean, B., 2003. PLL Performance, Simulation and Design. National Semiconductor, Santa Clara, California. Avaliable from http://www.national.com/appinfo/wireless/pll_designbook.html, p.88-150.

[6] de Gaudenzi, R., Lijphart, E.E., Vassallo, E., 1993. A new high performance multipurpose satellite tracking system. IEEE Trans. Aero. Electron. Syst., 29(1):27-43.

[7] Dunn, C., Bertiger, W., Bar-Sever, Y., Desai, S., Haines, B., Kuang, D., Franklin, G., Harris, I., Kruizinga, G., Meehan, T., et al., 2003. Application challenge: instrument of GRACE GPS augments gravity. GPS World, 14(2):16-28.

[8] Egan, W.F., 1990. Modeling phase noise in frequency dividers. IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferr. Freq. Control, 37(4):307-315.

[9] Harting, A., 1996. Considering clock errors in numerical simulations. IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., 45(3):715-720.

[10] Kim, J., 2000. Simulation Study of a Low-Low Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking Mission. PhD Thesis, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA.

[11] Kim, J., Tapley, B.D., 2002. Error analysis of a low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking mission. J. Guid. Control Dynam., 25(6):1100-1106.

[12] Kim, J., Tapley, B.D., 2003. Simulation of dual one-way ranging measurements. J. Space. Rock., 40(3):419-425.

[13] Kim, J., Tapley, B.D., 2005. Optimal frequency configuration for dual one-way ranging systems. J. Space. Rock., 42(4):749-751.

[14] MacArthur, J.L., Posner, A.S., 1985. Satellite-to-satellite range-rate measurement. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing, 23(4):517-523.

[15] Stephens, S.A., Thomas, J.B., 1995. Controlled-root formulation for digital phase-locked loops. IEEE Trans. Aero. Electron. Syst., 31(1):78-95.

[16] Thomas, J.B., 1989. An Analysis of Digital Phase-Locked Loops. JPL Publication 89-2, Pasadena, CA.

[17] Thomas, J.B., 1999. An Analysis of Gravity-field Estimation Based on Inter-satellite Dual-1-way Biased Ranging. JPL Publication 98-15, Pasadena, CA.

[18] Wang, C.H., Yu, F.X., Jin, Z.H., Zheng, Y.M., Zhao, X.Y., 2006. Research on noise of TT&C transponder for pico-satellites. Syst. Eng. Electron., 28(12):1514-1517 (in Chinese).

[19] Zucca, C., Tavella, P., 2005. The clock model and its relationship with the Allan and related variances. IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferr. Freq. Control, 52(2):289-296.