Improving SGP4 Orbit Determination with New State Estimation Algorithm
The Simplified General Perturbations 4 Model (SGP4) is a well-known tool for performing satellite orbit determination. However, uncertainties and inaccuracies in the initial state inputs (required by SGP4) degrade the performance of the propagator. We present a new state estimation algorithm that allows for independent computation of these initial inputs using Unscented Kalman Filtering and GPS data from a satellite. The algorithm is tested on real flight data and demonstrates a notable performance improvement over the standard method of orbit determination using SGP4.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗