Precise orbit determination with satellite laser ranging observations using a batch filter based on particle filtering

This study develops and utilizes a batch filter based on particle filtering (PF) for precise orbit determination (POD) with satellite laser ranging (SLR) observations. The Laser- ranging Precise Orbit Determination System (LPODS) is also developed for SLR obser- vations of low Earth orbiting satellites. SLR normal point (NP) observations of satellite CHAMP are used for measurements of POD. The characteristics of a batch filter based on PF are compared with those of a batch filter based on unscented transformation (UT) and the batch-least squares filter (BLSF) under various environment conditions. For nonlinear conditions, initial position errors of a reference orbit are assumed to be 10 m, 100 m, and 500 m. For non-Gaussian conditions, five simulated measurement noises are added to SLR observations. A post-fit residual test and an external orbit comparison are performed for orbit assessment purposes. The results show that the performance of a batch filter based on PF is better than that of other filters in nonlinear and non-Gaussian environmental con- ditions. Moreover, a batch filter based on PF does not require the heavy scaling parameter tuning required for a batch fifilter based on UT. These results show that POD using a batch filter based on PF is advantageous in terms of accuracy and convenience. Finally, the new algorithm proposed in this study is more suitable than the BLSF and a batch filter based on UT for POD problems under nonlinear and non-Gaussian conditions.