| Title | Improved satellite constellations for CONUS ATC coverage |
|---|---|
| Record ID | 54181 |
| Personal Name Creator |
Lee, Harry B.; Wade, Andrew E. |
| Source | 226p. in various pagings |
| Corporate Creator | Lincoln Laboratory |
| Corporate Contributor |
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.); United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration |
| Publisher | Lincoln Laboratory |
| Publication Date | 19740501 |
| Language | English |
| Abstract | The report examines the problem of designing a constellation of orbiting satellites capable of supporting an aircraft navigation/surveillance service over CONUS. It is assumed that the aircraft positions are determined by hyperbolic multilateration using all satellites visible at elevation angles exceeding a minimum angle. Comprehensive analyses are presented of three 'baseline' constellations. The constellations are representative of previous large, medium, and small constellations. The analyses include calculation of The Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP) during level flight, calculation of GDOP after a key satellite is deleted, and calculation of GDOP during aircraft banking. Comparison of the resulting GDOP's with the theoretical minimum values indicates that there is considerable room for improvement. A new method of calculating GDOP is described. The method suggests that improved GDOP's can be obtained by placing satellites in retrograde orbits rather than the previous posigrade orbits. Accordingly, nine new constellations are designed that employ retrograde orbits. When subjected to the same analyses as the baseline constellations, the new constellations exhibit significantly improved GDOP's. |
| Rosap ID | dot:12132 |
| Rosap URL | https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12132 |
| TRT Terms | Air route traffic control centers; Networks; Navigational satellites; Surveillance |
| General Subjects | Navigation; Surveillance; Geometric dilution of precision; Satellite constellation; Multilateration; Hyperbolic multilateration |
| Classification | NTL - AVIATION - AVIATION; NTL - AVIATION - Air Traffic Control; NTL - AVIATION - Aviation Planning and Policy |
| Geographical Coverage |
United States |
| Contract Number | DOT/TSC-RA-3-8 Task 1 |
| Report Number | DOT/TSC-RA-3-S-4; ATC-23 |
| Availability | Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center |
| Resource type | Tech Report |
| URL | https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/54000/54100/54181/Lee_1974_ATC-23.pdf |
| Format | |
| Database | NTL Digital Repository |