Performance Assessment for Autonomous Orbit Determination of GEO Spacecraft Using Intersatellite Measurements

This paper uses relative position vector measurements to study the autonomous navigation method of satellites in the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). Commonly employed navigation methods face limitations when applied to GEO satellites, primarily due to the sparse and weak nature of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The navigation method described in the paper achieves high-precision autonomous orbit determination without ground support. Autonomous crosslink radiometric navigation has emerged as a prominent method, owing to its simplicity and the maturity of existing technology. In this study, the satellite in GEO is utilized for relative position vector measurements using the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) navigation algorithm, allowing autonomous determination of the orbit of satellite. The simulation compared the relative position vector measurements method with the relative Line of Sight (LOS) measurements only and the combination of relative measurements with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) navigation. The effects of combination of GEO satellite and GNSS satellite on navigation accuracy are studied. Lastly, the algorithm's performance is assessed using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) index, the results indicate that the absolute positions of the satellites can be estimated with an accuracy on the order of meters.