Time Difference of Arrival for stratospheric balloon tracking: design and development of the STRAINS Experiment

Palo, Luigi di; Garofalo, Riccardo; Bedetti, Emanuele; Celesti, Paola; Iovanna, Francesco; Frezza, Lorenzo; Marzioli, Paolo; Piergentili, Fabrizio; Volpe, A.; Curianò, Federico; Santoni, Fábio

doi:10.1109/metroaerospace48742.2020.9160339

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The error is assumed with a Gaussian distribution centered on the selected mean error value. The distribution fits with the preliminary tests conducted on TDOA measurements on SDR devices for stratospheric flight TDOA navigation [18]. The error is homogeneously assigned to each simulated angular position (in terms of azimuth and elevation).…”

Section: Evaluation Of Minimum Dop (Mdop)supporting

confidence: 66%

“…TDOA could be easily applicable for supporting orbit determination and spacecraft tracking, as all the operational potential targets down-link frequencies (e.g., of the beacon or telemetry channels) are well-known and often concentrated in a limited number of bands [15][16][17]. This method could also be supporting near-space flights, such as launcher missions, stratospheric balloons [18] and suborbital flights [2]. The nature of the targets, i.e., high altitude vehicles, allows for a wide accessibility of their signals from the ground, thus improving the impact of a wide baseline network for TDOA positioning and orbit determination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) Networks Performance for Launcher Vehicles and Spacecraft Tracking

2020

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Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) networks could support spacecraft orbit determination or near-space (launcher and suborbital) vehicle tracking for an increased number of satellite launches and space missions in the near future. The evaluation of the geometry of TDOA networks could involve the dilution of precision (DOP), but this parameter is related to a single position of the target, while the positioning accuracy of the network with targets in the whole celestial vault should be evaluated. The paper presents the derivation of the MDOP (minimum dilution of precision), a parameter that can be used for evaluating the performance of TDOA networks for spacecraft tracking and orbit determination. The MDOP trend with respect to distance, number of stations and target altitude is reported in the paper, as well as examples of applications for network performance evaluation or time precision requirement definitions. The results show how an increase in the baseline enables the inclusion of more impactive improvements on the MDOP and the mean error than an increase in the number of stations. The target altitude is demonstrated as noninfluential for the MDOP trend, making the networks uniformly applicable to lower altitude (launchers and suborbital vehicles) and higher altitude (Low and Medium Earth Orbits satellites) spacecraft.

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Section: Evaluation Of Minimum Dop (Mdop)supporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) Networks Performance for Launcher Vehicles and Spacecraft Tracking

2020

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“…For example, a further experiment developed by S5Lab for the REXUS/BEXUS Programme, named TARDIS (Tracking and Attitude Radio-based Determination In Stratosphere [32]), was aimed at real-time determination of the position and attitude of the BEXUS gondola while in stratospheric flight through SDRs. New concept experiments on innovative tracking systems are the aim of STRAINS (Stratospheric Tracking Innovative Systems, [33]), a new experiment aimed at demonstrating large baseline Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) for stratospheric and suborbital vehicles, in the perspective of a future implementation for satellite tracking and Space Traffic Management. For the adopted technologies and for their implementation on-board the flight unit, STRATONAV can be considered a precursor of the mentioned new projects that have profited from the lessons learned from this successful experimentation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) Experimental Positioning for Stratospheric Vehicles

et al. 2021

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The usage of aeronautical radio-frequency navigational aids can support the future stratospheric aviation as back-up positioning systems. Although GNSS has been extensively redundant in the last years of space operations, radio NavAids can still be supportive of navigation and tracking for novel mission profiles. As an example, in 2016, VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) has been proven to work well above its standard service volume limit on a stratospheric balloon flight with the STRATONAV experiment. While VOR provides the “radial” measurement, i.e., the angle between the Magnetic North and the line between the receiver and the transmitting ground station, the intersection of two or more radials at a time allows to perform ground track reconstruction for the vehicle to be tracked. This paper reports the results from the data re-processing from STRATONAV: the acquired radials have been intersected in order to achieve positioning. The radials interfacing method, the position calculation methodology, and the data acquisition strategies from STRATONAV are reported together with the data analysis results.

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“…S5Lab has developed in the last six years the following projects designed for stratospheric balloons: [5], [6]), selected for the 2020 HEMERA balloon campaign from Esrange Space Center. The flight was then delayed of one year for the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe.…”

Section: Stratospheric Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From BEXUS to HEMERA: The application of lessons learned on the development and manufacturing of stratospheric payloads at S5Lab

Marzioli¹,

Frezza²,

Picci³

et al. 2022

4th Symposium on Space Educational Activities

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In the last years the S5Lab (Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory) from Sapienza University of Rome has given to the students the opportunity to gather knowledge on stratospheric payloads by supporting the design and development of two experiments selected for the participation in the REXUS/BEXUS educational Programme, managed by three european space institutions. The insights and lessons learned gathered during the participations in the REXUS/BEXUS educational programme gave the possibility to the student to take part in the development of a third experiment in the frame of the professional research programme HEMERA and complete it successfully. STRATONAV (STRATOspheric NAVigation experiment) was a stratospheric experiment based on Software Defined Radios (SDRs) technology whose aim was the testing of the VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) navigation system, evaluating its performance above the standard service volume, which was launched on BEXUS 22 in October 2016. TARDIS (Tracking and Attitude Radio-based Determination In Stratosphere) was developed as a follow up of STRATONAV between 2018 and 2019. Similarly to its predecessor TARDIS was a stratospheric experiment aimed at exploiting the VOR signal, with the aid of SDRs, to perform in-flight attitude and position determination, and was launched on BEXUS 28 in October 2019. After the launch of TARDIS, a team composed both by former STRATONAV and TARDIS students was formed for the development of a third stratospheric experiment going by the name of STRAINS (Stratospheric Tracking Innovative Systems), conceived by Sapienza University of Rome and ALTEC and supported by ASI. STRAINS main objective was the proof of concept of the possibility of achieving the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and the Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA) for navigation purposes with the aid of SDRs. The experiment was developed between 2020 and 2021 exploiting the lessons learned from the former team members of the two BEXUS campaigns and was launched on board of the Hemera H2020 stratospheric balloon in September 2021 from Esrange Space Center, Kiruna, Sweden. After a brief description of the stratospheric payloads design and manufacturing, the paper will present the major lessons learned from the previous stratospheric experiments, STRATONAV and TARDIS, and their application to the development and manufacturing of the latest launched stratospheric experiment STRAINS, as well as their educational return to the students involved in the projects.

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Time Difference of Arrival for stratospheric balloon tracking: design and development of the STRAINS Experiment

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

Evaluation of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) Networks Performance for Launcher Vehicles and Spacecraft Tracking

Evaluation of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) Networks Performance for Launcher Vehicles and Spacecraft Tracking

VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) Experimental Positioning for Stratospheric Vehicles

From BEXUS to HEMERA: The application of lessons learned on the development and manufacturing of stratospheric payloads at S5Lab

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