Transactions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
An Orbit Determination Using SGP4 Propagator and Doppler Shifts for CubeSats
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Abstract:
The two line elements (TLEs), released by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), are chosen for CubeSats' mission operators. Unfortunately, they have errors and other accompanied problems, which cause large deviations in the in-track component. When a TLE value is available at a certain epoch, the dominant error is the angular error. It is proposed to correct the angular error by solving-for the mean argument of latitude at the desired epoch. A batch least squares technique and range rate measurements are used for the correction process. With the assistance of satellite tool kit (STK) software and Matlab, a simulation to verify the orbit determination (OD) technique is implemented. This paper provides an angular correction low cost OD method and presents a complete analysis for various test cases. This approach maintains high accuracy in cross-track and radial and makes great improvement in in-track at the same time, but it is exclusive for circular orbits. When it is applied to an elliptical orbit, the error will be unacceptable. Therefore, the angular error is corrected using the longitude of periapsis which totally mitigates the error at the epoch under consideration. For inclinations less than 20o, the mean longitude is preferred for the angular correction as it provides more accuracy compared with the mean argument of latitude.
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The research was supported by the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No.20113219110025).
Clc Number:
CHINA AERO-SCIENCES
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