IMPROVED SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS FOR CONUS ATC COVERAGE Improved Satellite Constellations for CONUS ATC Coverage

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.

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• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12132
• Corporate Authors:

  Lincoln Laboratory

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  Lexington, MA  United States  02173

  Transportation Systems Center

  55 Broadway, Kendall Square
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142
• Authors:
  • Lee, H B
  • Wade, A E
• Publication Date: 1974-5-1

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Pagination: 226 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air traffic control; Aircraft; Geometric elements; Precision; Satellite navigation systems
• Old TRIS Terms: Banking angle; Geometric dilution of precision; Satellite air traffic control surveillance systems
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00071857
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: ATC-23 Projct Rpt
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 19 1974 12:00AM