Mon Feb 16, F. Flechtner
• Sorted by Date • Sorted by Last Name of First Author •
Liu, Liang, Liu, Yuhao, Chen, Yibiao, and Qian, Chuang, 2026. Reduced–Dynamic Orbit Determination of Low–Orbit Satellites Taking into Account GNSS Attitude Errors. Remote Sensing, 18(2):373, doi:10.3390/rs18020373.
• from the NASA Astrophysics Data System • by the DOI System •
@ARTICLE{2026RemS...18..373L,
author = {{Liu}, Liang and {Liu}, Yuhao and {Chen}, Yibiao and {Qian}, Chuang},
title = "{Reduced-Dynamic Orbit Determination of Low-Orbit Satellites Taking into Account GNSS Attitude Errors}",
journal = {Remote Sensing},
keywords = {nominal attitude, attitude quaternion, GRACE-FO, eclipse season, reduced-dynamic orbit determination},
year = 2026,
month = jan,
volume = {18},
number = {2},
eid = {373},
pages = {373},
abstract = "{What are the main findings? This study quantifies the differences
between nominal yaw-steering attitudes and analysis-center
attitude-quaternion yaw angles for GNSS satellites during
eclipse seasons and demonstrates how these discrepancies
propagate into satellite antenna phase center offset (PCO) and
phase wind-up corrections. A simplified reduced-dynamic precise
orbit determination (POD) strategy for Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
satellites that consistently applies GNSS attitude quaternions
is implemented and validated using GRACE-FO onboard GPS
observations. For day-of-year (DOY) 90─109 of 2023, the
quaternion-based strategy reduces the ionosphere-free carrier-
phase residual RMS by 3.6\% (GRACE-C) and 3.9\% (GRACE-D) and
improves the 3D orbit overlap RMS by 7.3\% and 4.5\%,
respectively, relative to the nominal-attitude strategy. This
study quantifies the differences between nominal yaw-steering
attitudes and analysis-center attitude-quaternion yaw angles for
GNSS satellites during eclipse seasons and demonstrates how
these discrepancies propagate into satellite antenna phase
center offset (PCO) and phase wind-up corrections. A simplified
reduced-dynamic precise orbit determination (POD) strategy for
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites that consistently applies GNSS
attitude quaternions is implemented and validated using GRACE-FO
onboard GPS observations. For day-of-year (DOY) 90─109 of 2023,
the quaternion-based strategy reduces the ionosphere-free
carrier-phase residual RMS by 3.6\% (GRACE-C) and 3.9\%
(GRACE-D) and improves the 3D orbit overlap RMS by 7.3\% and
4.5\%, respectively, relative to the nominal-attitude strategy.
What are the implications of the main findings? The results
indicate that user─product inconsistencies in GNSS eclipse-
season attitude handling (e.g., neglecting or mismodeling yaw
maneuvers relative to the processing of precise orbits/clocks)
can introduce decimeter-level range errors through PCO and phase
wind-up corrections, degrading LEO POD during eclipse seasons.
Ensuring the consistent use of GNSS attitude quaternion products
in precise orbit determination is essential to maintain
centimeter-level LEO orbit accuracy during eclipsing and to
improve the reliability of gravity field missions and other
GNSS-LEO integrated applications. The results indicate that
user─product inconsistencies in GNSS eclipse-season attitude
handling (e.g., neglecting or mismodeling yaw maneuvers relative
to the processing of precise orbits/clocks) can introduce
decimeter-level range errors through PCO and phase wind-up
corrections, degrading LEO POD during eclipse seasons. Ensuring
the consistent use of GNSS attitude quaternion products in
precise orbit determination is essential to maintain centimeter-
level LEO orbit accuracy during eclipsing and to improve the
reliability of gravity field missions and other GNSS-LEO
integrated applications. Satellite attitude is critical for both
satellite antenna phase center offset and phase wind-up
correction. However, during the eclipse season, the nominal
satellite attitude is almost impossible to maintain, and the
satellite attitude variability affects the geometric distance
correction of GNSS-LEO satellites, which ultimately affects the
orbital accuracy of LEO satellites. To explore the impact of
neglecting eclipsing attitude models on LEO satellite orbit
determination, this study utilizes the attitude quaternion
products provided by CNES to analyze the discrepancies between
nominal attitude yaw angles and attitude quaternion-derived yaw
angles. It also examines the variations in phase center offset
and phase wind-up corrections, caused by neglecting eclipsing
attitude models. The model is validated through orbit
determination tests using onboard GRACE-FO data from days 90 to
109 of 2023. Based on these analyses, a simplified reduced-
dynamic orbit determination model for LEO satellites using
attitude quaternion is proposed. It is found that the phase
residuals of GRACE-C and GRACE-D under the attitude quaternion
strategy are reduced by 3.6\% and 3.9\%, respectively, and the
orbital accuracies of GRACE-C and GRACE-D are improved by 7.3\%
and 4.5\%, respectively, compared with the nominal attitude.}",
doi = {10.3390/rs18020373},
adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026RemS...18..373L},
adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}
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