Orbital Maneuver Analysis of BDS-3 Satellites Based on Time-Differenced Carrier Phase Velocity Measurement

Abstract

The BeiDou-3 global navigation satellite system (BDS-3) has been widely used in various fields worldwide since its official launch on July 31, 2020. As of August 1, 2021, 33 satellite orbital maneuver events have occurred in BDS-3. The satellite orbits deviate owing to external factors, and orbital maneuvers are required to adjust the orbit to ensure the appropriate operation and service of the system. This study is the first systematic analysis of historical orbital maneuvers since the launch of BDS-3, eight stations that received BDS-3 signals in the Asia-Pacific region and India were selected, and 33 maneuver events of BDS-3 were detected and enumerated using the time-differenced carrier phase velocity measurement algorithm. The results revealed that the method can detect all orbital maneuvers of BDS-3, and the detection results are consistent with the maneuver dates marked by the broadcast ephemeris. In most maneuver events, the detection start and end times were approximately 10–60 min and 30–90 min earlier, respectively, than the marked time in the broadcast ephemeris. The orbital maneuvers of inclined geosynchronous orbit satellites significantly affected the velocity measurements, resulting in a mean error of approximately 0.06–0.73 m/s for each velocity component. Furthermore, the maneuvering of geostationary orbit satellites had a little effect on their velocity, and the mean velocity measurement error was mostly within 0.09 m/s. Among these satellites, the maneuvering of the C60 satellite had a smaller effect on the velocity measurement, and the mean velocity measurement error was within 0.03 m/s. The weak response at the ground level led to the weak detection sensitivity of this method to the maneuver of C60.