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Results for “RANGE AND RANGE RATE TRACKING”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

Spaceborne laser radar.

Development of laser systems to acquire and track targets in applications such as the rendezvous and docking of two spacecraft. A scan technique is described whereby a narrow laser beam is simultaneously scanned with an equally narrow receiver field-of-view without the aid of mechanical gimbals. Equations are developed in order to examine the maximum acquisition and tracking rates, and the maximum target range for a scanning laser radar system. A recently built prototype of a small, lightweight, low-power-consuming scanning laser radar is described.

Flom, T.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Video Target Tracking and Ranging System

Proposed target tracking and ranging system uses two automatic video target trackers to keep two TV cameras trained on object being tracked. Microcomputer calculates range and range-rate information by triangulation. Input data for calculation are position coordinates of two cameras and pan and tilt aiming angles of two cameras. System is useful for target ranging at distances up to about 1,000 feet (300 m) in such applications as vehicle collision avoidance, traffic monitoring and surveillance. Also substitutes for short-range radar in situations where radar signal can not be tolerated.

Freedman, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A comparison of geodetic Doppler satellite receivers

A great number of geodetic Doppler satellite receivers of various types have been employed since early 1970s. In October and November 1979, a comparison was conducted of three more recent types of receivers, including the CMA-751, the JMR-1A, and the MX-1502. A description of the studies involved in conducting the comparison is presented, taking into account the preliminary results obtained on the basis of the processing of the collected data. Attention is given to tracking statistics, chord difference results, range rate measurement errors, residual tests, station position repeatability, and absolute differences to ground control. Recommendations for future comparisons are also provided.

Archinal, B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

An improved model of the Earth's gravity field - GEM-T3

An improved model of the Earth's gravitational field is developed from a combination of conventional satellite tracking, satellite altimeter measurements, and surface gravimetric data (GEM-T3). This model gives improved performance for the computation of satellite orbital effects as well as a superior representation of the geoid from that achieved in any previous Goddard Earth Model. The GEM-T3 model uses altimeter data directly to define the orbits, geoid, and dynamic height fields. Altimeter data acquired during the GEOS-3 (1975-1976), SEASAT (1978), and GEOSAT (1986-1987) missions were used to compute GEM-T3. In order to accommodate the non-gravitational signal mapped by these altimeters, spherical harmonic models of the dynamic height of the ocean surface were recovered for each mission simultaneously with the gravitational field. The tracking data utilized in the solution includes more than 1300 arcs of data encompassing 31 different satellites. The observational data base is highly dependent on SLR, but also includes TRANET Doppler, optical, S-Band average range-rate and satellite-to-satellite tracking acquired between ATS-6 and GEOS-3. The GEM-T3 model has undergone extensive error calibration.

Nerem, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Orbit Determination for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Using an Extended Kalman Filter

Since launch, the FDF has performed daily OD for LRO using the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS). GTDS is a batch least-squares (BLS) estimator. The tracking data arc for OD is 36 hours. Current operational OD uses 200 x 200 lunar gravity, solid lunar tides, solar radiation pressure (SRP) using a spherical spacecraft area model, and point mass gravity for the Earth, Sun, and Jupiter. LRO tracking data consists of range and range-rate measurements from: Universal Space Network (USN) stations in Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Hawaii. A NASA antenna at White Sands, New Mexico (WS1S). NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) stations. DSN data was sparse and not included in this study. Tracking is predominantly (50) from WS1S. The OD accuracy requirements are: Definitive ephemeris accuracy of 500 meters total position root-mean-squared (RMS) and18 meters radial RMS. Predicted orbit accuracy less than 800 meters root sum squared (RSS) over an 84-hour prediction span.

LRO↗
NASA NTRS2001

Short-Arc Analysis of Intersatellite Tracking Data in a Gravity Mapping Mission

A technique for the analysis of low-low intersatellite range-rate data in a gravity mapping mission is explored. The technique is based on standard tracking data analysis for orbit determination but uses a spherical coordinate representation of the 12 epoch state parameters describing the baseline between the two satellites. This representation of the state parameters is exploited to allow the intersatellite range-rate analysis to benefit from information provided by other tracking data types without large simultaneous multiple data type solutions. The technique appears especially valuable for estimating gravity from short arcs (e.g., less than 15 minutes) of data. Gravity recovery simulations which use short arcs are compared with those using arcs a day in length. For a high-inclination orbit, the short-arc analysis recovers low-order gravity coefficients remarkably well, although higher order terms, especially sectorial terms, are less accurate. Simulations suggest that either long or short arcs of GRACE data are likely to improve parts of the geopotential spectrum by orders of magnitude.

Rowlands, David D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Orbit determination with the tracking data relay satellite system

The possibility of employing the tracking data relay satellite system to satisfy the orbit determination demands of future applications missions is investigated. It is shown that when the relay satellites are continuously and independently tracked from ground stations it is possible, using six hour data arcs, to recover user satellite state with an average error of about 25 m radially, 260 m along track, and 20 m cross track. For this arc length, range sum data and range sum rate data are equally useful in determining orbits. For shorter arc lengths (20 min), range sum rate data is more useful than range sum data. When relay satellites are not continuously tracked, user satellite state can be recovered with an average error of about 140 m radially, 515 m along track, and 110 m cross track. These results indicate that the TDRS system can be employed to satisfy the orbit determination demands of applications missions, such as the MAGSAT and potential gradiometer missions, provided the relay satellites are continuously and independently tracked.

Argentiero, P.↗
NASA NTRS1987

High dynamic GPS receiver using maximum likelihood estimation and frequency tracking

A new high dynamic global positioning system (GPS) receiver is presented and its performance characterized by analysis, simulation, and demonstration. The demonstration receiver is a breadboard model capable of tracking a single simulated satellite signal in pseudorange and range rate. Pseudorange and range rate estimates are made once every 20 ms, using a maximum likelihood estimator, and are tracked by means of a third-order fading memory filter in a feedback configuration. The receiver tracks pseudorange with rms errors of under 1 m when subjected to simulated 50 g, 40 g/s circular trajectories. The tracking threshold is approximately 28 dB-Hz, which provides 12 dB margin relative to the minimum specified signal strength, assuming 3.5 dB system noise figure and 0 dBi antenna gain.

Hurd, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1978

A numerical model for low-latitude ionospheric TEC

A numerical model of total electron content (TEC) at low latitudes has been constructed from the Faraday rotation data recorded at a number of locations in India during the period Oct. 1975-July 1976 when the geostationary satellite ATS-6 was located at 35 deg E. In all, 36 coefficients for each season are required to represent the model. The model can be used for satellite tracking systems in estimating quickly the range, range rate and angular refraction errors. The present model is an improvement over the previously constructed model based on orbiting satellite data.

Sethia, G.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The corrections for significant wave height and attitude effects in the TOPEX radar altimeter

The routine ground processing of data from the NASA radar altimeter of TOPEX/POSEIDON includes instrument corrections for the effects of significant wave height and attitude angle changes on the altimeter's estimates of range, backscattered power, and significant wave height. This paper describes how these instrument corrections were generated and how they are applied. Detailed waveform fitting to telemetered waveform samples is use to assess the effectiveness of the corrections. There are several altimeter hardware-caused small waveform departures from the model waveforms and these departures, designated waveform 'features', are described in detailed. A consequence of the waveform features, and their positioning relationship to range rate, is that range data for ground tracks moving toward the equator may differ systematically by about a centimeter compared to range data for ground tracks moving away from the equator. The results and discussion are limited to side A of the redundant altimeter, as only side A has been operated on orbit.

Hayne, G. S.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Twinsat earth gravity field mapping

Results of a sensitivity study on the proposed Lo-Lo (Twinsat) satellite-to-satellite tracking mission are described. The relative range-rate signal due to a local gravitational anomaly is investigated as a function of height and satellite separation. It is shown that the signal strength is weak and that an optimal combination of signal strength and resolution is achieved when the satellites are separated by 3 deg along-track. The signal does not resolve point masses closer than 5 deg apart when the satellites are at 300 km altitude. The influence of other factors on the system is evaluated, including the low frequency gravitation field effect on the orbit and the dependence of the noise of the data type on (electronic) integration time.

Lowrey, B. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Radio metric direction finding - A new approach to deep space navigation

The paper explores an alternate technique for the determination of the angular position and velocity of deep-space probes, wherein the two-way range and Doppler measurements are abandoned for large portions of the mission in favor of differential one-way measurements. The spacecraft employs a wideband beacon rather than a coherent transponder, and differential measurements of one-way range and perhaps range rate are made between the spacecraft and each of three tracking stations. Advantages include the following: (1) Range measurements do not require the long horizon-to-horizon Doppler passes, so that the tracking stations can be released to support other functions of the deep space network. (2) Improved accuracy in the angular coordinates of the spacecraft can be obtained. (3) The need for an uplink is eliminated. A system implementation of the concept is developed that appears economically feasible and achieves a 0.05 microrad baseline accuracy

Melbourne, W. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Orbit determination accuracies using satellite-to-satellite tracking

Results of the ATS-6/GEOS-3 and the ATS-6/NIMBUS-6 satellite-to-satellite tracking orbit determination experiments to be applied to the NASA geostationary Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) starting in 1980, are presented. A satellite radio or laser tracking system performed measurements of such parameters as range, range ratio, angles and direction cosines to a spacecraft relative to a given tracking station. Resolutions of 1 meter in range and .03 cm/sec in range rate for a 1 second averaging were achieved showing that with proper data reduction procedures the tracking data relay satellite system should provide orbit determination capability comparable to what is normally obtainable from ground based systems.

Vonbun, F. O.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Multiple rate digital command detection system with range clean-up capability

A multi-rate digital command system is disclosed which uses the composite signal of a mu-type ranging system as a subcarrier to transmit range codes and data from a station to a receiver where the range codes are sequentially phase modulated on a subcarrier of frequency by one of its own subharmonics and data is phase modulated on a selected ranging component. A range cleanup loop in a spacecraft locks the phase of a locally generated reference component to a received ranging component and retransmits the component to a ground station. When the inverse phase of a ranging component is received and detected, the cleanup loop is modified to demodulate phase modulated command symbols while continuing tracking the same ranging component. The command symbol rate is coherently related to the ranging signal component bit rate.

Lesh, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Radio wave propagation experiments to probe the ionosphere

Ionospheric bias corrections associated with radio tracking of spacecraft depend on the following measuring techniques for integrated electron content: (1) Faraday rotation measurements from an earth synchronous satellite; (2) ranging measurements at two frequencies; and (3) group and phase velocity measurements obtained from tracking data. The extraction of the integrated electron content directly from tracking data is achieved by comparison of range-rate measurements based on Doppler shift with differentiated range measurements based on tone delay. This method is most desirable because the measured corrections pertain directly to the spacecraft whose orbit is being determined and can be used in near earth as well as deep space tracking data.

Schmid, P. E.↗