Real-Time Orbit Determination for Future Korean Regional Navigation Satellite System

This paper presents an algorithm for Real-Time Orbit Determination (RTOD) of navigation satellites for the Korean Regional Navigation Satellite System (KRNSS), when the navigation satellites generate ephemeris by themselves in abnormal situations. The KRNSS is an independent Regional Navigation Satellite System (RNSS) that is currently within the basic/ preliminary research phase, which is intended to provide a satellite navigation service for South Korea and neighboring countries. Its candidate constellation comprises three geostationary and four elliptical inclined geosynchronous orbit satellites. Relative distance ranging between the KRNSS satellites based on Inter-Satellite Ranging (ISR) is adopted as the observation model. The extended Kalman filter is used for real-time estimation, which includes fine-tuning the covariance, measurement noise, and process noise matrices. Simulation results show that ISR precision of 0.3–0.7 m, ranging capability of 65,000 km, and observation intervals of less than 20 min are required to accomplish RTOD accuracy to within 1 m. Furthermore, close correlation is confirmed between the dilution of precision and RTOD accuracy.