Performance assessment of on-board GNSS navigation algorithms for low Earth orbit satellites

JAVIER GONZALO GARCÍA; PEDRO AGUSTÍN RONCAGLIOLO; ERNESTO MAURO LÓPEZ; CARLOS HORACIO MURAVCHIK; JORGE COGO; GERARDO L. PUGA

San Martín, Buenos Aires

Simposio; 1st IAA Latin American Symposium on Small Satellites: Advanced Technologies and Distributed Systems; 2017

Colomb Institute (Universidad Nacional de San Martín y Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales)

In this work we compare the performance of different statistical filtering models used for estimating states of aerospace vehicles, particularly low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, based on GNSS systems? measurements. This problem is non-linear in nature, thus we resort to the use of the extension of the Kalman filter called EKF. We consider different dynamical models based on several kinematic and dynamic approaches, and show tuning procedures for each of these models. The measurement model is based on the typical GNSS measurements used for navigation, i.e. the pseudorange and the delta-range. The performance assessment is carried out using an experimental GNSS receiver for aerospace applications developed in-house by the workgroup. This receiver is connected to a high end GNSS signal generator that allows testing the receiver with an RF signal similar to the one it would receive in orbit. To ensure a fair assessment, we fed the GNSS signal generator with a high-fidelity orbit generated off-line with an ad-hoc software. We process the measurements so obtained (corresponding one full orbit) off-line with the different navigation algorithms, and compare the results in terms of their root mean square errors.