High-precision orbit determination for a LEO nanosatellite using BDS-3

The Tianping-1B is a 20-kg low earth orbit nanosatellite with a commercial multi-GNSS receiver based on a microelectromechanical system. This receiver collects concurrent code and phase dual-frequency measurements from the global positioning system (GPS) and the second and third generations of the BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (i.e., BDS-2 and BDS-3). However, BDS-3 signals with pseudorandom noise code numbers greater than 32 cannot be received. In this study, onboard GPS and BDS measurements from Tianping-1B are collected for days 133–147 of 2019. The performance of the onboard BDS-3 measurements is analyzed, and the potential of the BDS-3-based precise orbit determination (POD) for Tianping-1B is assessed. The carrier-to-noise-density ratio of the BDS-3 is higher than that of the BDS-2 and approaches that of the GPS. The BDS-3 has a smaller code multipath error than the BDS-2 and the GPS and therefore a higher quality of code measurements. The results of the overlap comparison show a GPS-based orbit consistency below 3.5 cm in three dimensions (3D) and below 1.2 cm in the radial direction. The mean of satellite laser ranging validation residual RMS is 1.7 cm. The orbit obtained using onboard BDS measurements is assessed using the GPS-based orbit as a reference: The mean 3D root mean square (RMS) difference between the BDS-3-only-based POD and the reference orbit is 4.57 cm. Thus, a sub-dm-level orbit can be achieved using only onboard BDS-3 measurements. A POD with slightly higher precision than the BDS-3-only-based POD is obtained using both BDS-3 and BDS-2 measurements, using higher weights for the BDS-3 data than the BDS-2 data. Then, the combined BDS-3/GPS POD is performed: The RMS difference between this joint orbit and the GPS-based orbit is 1 cm in 3D. This study can be used as a reference for the development of BDS-3 based POD, which will approve in accuracy and precision upon completion of BDS-3.