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GNSS satellite transmit power and its impact on orbit determination

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Abstract

Antenna thrust is a small acceleration acting on Global Navigation Satellite System satellites caused by the transmission of radio navigation signals. Knowledge about the transmit power and the mass of the satellites is required for the computation of this effect. The actual transmit power can be obtained from measurements with a high-gain antenna and knowledge about the properties of the transmit and receive antennas as well as losses along the propagation path. Transmit power measurements for different types of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou-2 satellites were taken with a 30-m dish antenna of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) located at its ground station in Weilheim. For GPS, total L-band transmit power levels of 50–240 W were obtained, 20–135 W for GLONASS, 95–265 W for Galileo, and 130–185 W for BeiDou-2. The transmit power differs usually only slightly for individual spacecraft within one satellite block. An exception are the GLONASS-M satellites where six subgroups with different transmit power levels could be identified. Considering the antenna thrust in precise orbit determination of GNSS satellites decreases the orbital radius by 1–27 mm depending on the transmit power, the satellite mass, and the orbital period.

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Notes

  1. Available at https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/.

  2. ftp://ftp.cddis.eosdis.nasa.gov/slr/products/resource.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the European Space Agency for granting access to the NAPEOS software version 3.3.1, the International GNSS Service (IGS) and the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) for providing GNSS and SLR observation data.

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  1. German Space Operations Center (GSOC), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Münchener Straße 20, 82234, Weßling, Germany

    Peter Steigenberger & Oliver Montenbruck

  2. Institute of Communications and Navigation (IKN), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Münchener Straße 20, 82234, Weßling, Germany

    Steffen Thoelert

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Steigenberger, P., Thoelert, S. & Montenbruck, O. GNSS satellite transmit power and its impact on orbit determination. J Geod 92, 609–624 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-017-1082-2

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