Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2009 (2009), Article ID 856138, 9 pages
doi:10.1155/2009/856138
Research Article

The Impact on Geographic Location Accuracy due to Different Satellite Orbit Ephemerides

1Space Systems Division (DSE), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), 12227-010 São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
2Mathematics Department (DMA), University of São Paulo State (UNESP-FEG), 12516-410 Guaratinguetá, SP, Brazil
3Space Mechanics and Control Division (DMC), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), 12227-010 São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

Received 30 July 2009; Accepted 29 October 2009

Academic Editor: Tadashi Yokoyama

Copyright © 2009 Claudia C. Celestino et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The current Brazilian System of Environmental Data Collection is composed of several satellites (SCD-1 and 2, CBERS-2 and 2B), Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) spread mostly over the Brazilian territory, and ground reception stations located in Cuiabá and Alcântara. An essential functionality offered to the users is the geographic location of these DCPs. The location is computed by the in-house developed “GEOLOC” program which processes the onboard measured Doppler shifts suffered by the signal transmitted by the DCPs. These data are relayed and stored on ground when the satellite passes over the receiving stations. Another important input data to GEOLOC are the orbit ephemeris of the satellite corresponding to the Doppler data. In this work, the impact on the geographic location accuracy when using orbit ephemeris which can be obtained through several sources is assessed. First, this evaluation is performed by computer simulation of the Doppler data, corresponding to real existing satellite passes. Then real Doppler data are used to assess the performance of the location system. The results indicate that the use of precise ephemeris can improve the performance of GEOLOC by reducing the location errors, and such conclusion can then be extended to similar location systems.