Analysis of Attitude Errors in GRACE Range-Rate Residuals—A Comparison Between SCA1B and the Fused Attitude Product (SCA1B + ACC1B)

authored by: Sujata Goswami, Beate Klinger, Matthias Weigelt, Torsten Mayer-Gürr
Abstract: For missions such as GRACE, precise knowledge of the satellite's attitude is a fundamental requirement for the realization of the intersatellite ranging principle. It is not only essential for the realization of the precise in-orbit intersatellite pointing but also for the recovery of accurate temporal gravity field models. Here, we present a comparative study of two attitude datasets. One of them is the standard SCA1B RL02 datasets provided by JPL NASA, and another is a fused attitude dataset computed at TU Graz, based on the combination of ACC1B angular accelerations and SCA1B quaternions. Furthermore, we also present the impact of the attitude datasets on the intersatellite range measurements by analyzing their residuals. Our analysis reveals the significant improvement in the attitude due to the reprocessed product and reduced value of residuals computed from the reprocessed attitude.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s): Graz University of Technology
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
Type: Article
Journal: IEEE Sensors Letters
Volume: 2
Publication date: 06.2018
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Instrumentation, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1802.02634 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1109/LSENS.2018.2825439 (Access: Closed)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{5c24e3bbe28140a8aefa5c59b9f80a08,
title = "Analysis of Attitude Errors in GRACE Range-Rate Residuals—A Comparison Between SCA1B and the Fused Attitude Product (SCA1B + ACC1B)",
abstract = "For missions such as GRACE, precise knowledge of the satellite's attitude is a fundamental requirement for the realization of the intersatellite ranging principle. It is not only essential for the realization of the precise in-orbit intersatellite pointing but also for the recovery of accurate temporal gravity field models. Here, we present a comparative study of two attitude datasets. One of them is the standard SCA1B RL02 datasets provided by JPL NASA, and another is a fused attitude dataset computed at TU Graz, based on the combination of ACC1B angular accelerations and SCA1B quaternions. Furthermore, we also present the impact of the attitude datasets on the intersatellite range measurements by analyzing their residuals. Our analysis reveals the significant improvement in the attitude due to the reprocessed product and reduced value of residuals computed from the reprocessed attitude.",
keywords = "attitude errors, GRACE, range-rate residuals, sensor fusion, Sensor systems",
author = "Sujata Goswami and Beate Klinger and Matthias Weigelt and Torsten Mayer-G{\"u}rr",
note = "ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank the DFG Sonderforschungsbereich SFB 1128 Relativistic Geodesy and Gravimetry with Quantum Sensors (geo-Q) for financial support. The authors would also like to thank Prof. J. Flury for providing the space and resources to work.",
year = "2018",
month = jun,
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.1802.02634",
language = "English",
volume = "2",
journal = "IEEE Sensors Letters",
publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",
number = "2",
}