Small Satellite Orbit Determination Methods Based on the Doppler Measurements by Belarusian State University Ground Station

The Doppler measurements of the small satellites (SSs) were carried out using the Belarusian State University ground station. Measurements of a telemetry signal for the several satellite orbits with a limited number of data on one pass were performed. Two methods for orbit determination of an SS are considered. The first method is based on the perturbed circular motion prediction model for the satellite orbit with experimental data from radio signal processing. It does not require additional information from the NORAD database of satellite orbital parameters. Using predicted data of the tracking angles of antenna systems and the Doppler frequency shift of the telemetry radio signal, the ground station of the Belarusian State University received and successfully decoded telemetry packets from unknown SS LUOJIA-1 01. The second method is based on the SGP4 model and requires additional information from the NORAD two-line element (TLE) catalog of the satellite orbital parameters. An unknown SS LUOJIA-1 01 was identified using the NORAD TLE catalog based on a probabilistic estimation of the elevation angle and the Doppler frequency shift of receiving telemetry signals.