IP Library Granted Patent US 12669620
Granted Patent B2
US 12669620 · App. 18/874,971 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Method and apparatus for measuring relative position of spacecraft based on GNSS difference

Inventors: Zhaokui Wang (Beijing, CN); Yingkai Cai (Beijing, CN)
Assignee: Tsinghua University
G01S19/44G01S19/37
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12669620
App. No.
18/874,971
Granted
Jun 30, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present application provides a method and an apparatus for measuring a relative position of a spacecraft based on GNSS difference. The method includes: acquiring a first long-wave observation combination and a second long-wave observation combination; performing a double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles search according to a pseudo-range double-difference linear equation and a carrier double-difference equation, and determining N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the first long-wave observation combination and M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the second long-wave observation combination; determining a first ambiguity of whole cycles and a second ambiguity of whole cycles that satisfy a preset ambiguity of whole cycles condition; and then determining a short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles to measure the relative position of the spacecraft.

Claims (32)

1 . A method for measuring a relative position of a spacecraft based on GNSS difference, comprising:

acquiring a first long-wave observation combination and a second long-wave observation combination;

performing a double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles search according to a preset pseudo-range double-difference linear equation and a preset carrier double-difference equation, and determining N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the first long-wave observation combination and M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the second long-wave observation combination, wherein N and M are integers greater than 1;

determining a first ambiguity of whole cycles from the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected, and determining a second ambiguity of whole cycles from the M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected, wherein each of the first ambiguity of whole cycles and the second ambiguity of whole cycles satisfies a preset ambiguity of whole cycles condition; and

determining, according to the first ambiguity of whole cycles and the second ambiguity of whole cycles, a short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles to measure the relative position of the spacecraft;

wherein the first long-wave observation combination and the second long-wave observation combination satisfy a non-linear relationship; the first ambiguity of whole cycles is a unique correct ambiguity of whole cycles in the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected that satisfies the preset ambiguity of whole cycles condition; and the second ambiguity of whole cycles is a unique correct ambiguity of whole cycles in the M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected that satisfies the preset ambiguity of whole cycles condition,

wherein the performing the double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles search according to the preset pseudo-range double-difference linear equation and the preset carrier double-difference equation, and determining the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the first long-wave observation combination and the M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the second long-wave observation combination comprises:

acquiring, under a condition that original observation data is received, an initial calculated point and an ephemeris calculation based on pseudo-range single-point positioning to obtain position coordinates respectively between each of the navigation satellites of P navigation satellites and a receiver, wherein P is an integer greater than 1;

determining elevation angles of the navigation satellites according to the position coordinates respectively between each of the navigation satellites and the receiver;

determining a priori variance of observation values and a reference navigation satellite according to the elevation angles of the navigation satellites;

obtaining a covariance matrix of the priori variance according to the priori variance and the reference navigation satellite,

obtaining an observation weight matrix based on the covariance matrix;

calculating a first baseline vector, a first channel residual and a weighted variance based on the observation weight matrix and the pseudo-range double-difference linear equation to determine a first search interval; and

performing the double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles search in the first search interval according to the carrier double-difference equation, and determining the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the first long-wave observation combination and the M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected of the second long-wave observation combination.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first long-wave observation combination is φ 1 −φ 2 , and the second long-wave observation combination is −3φ 1 +4φ 2 ;

wherein φ 1 is a carrier phase measurement value of a navigation satellite observed at a frequency point L1 received by the receiver; and φ 2 is a carrier phase measurement value of the navigation satellite observed at a frequency point L2 received by the receiver.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein each of N second channel residuals corresponding to the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected is in a preset residual filtering interval.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining the first ambiguity of whole cycles from the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected, and determining the second ambiguity of whole cycles from the M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected comprises:

determining Q residual sums of squares corresponding to Q target ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected, wherein Q is an integer greater than 1;

determining a minimum residual sum of squares and a sub-minimum residual sum of squares of the Q residual sums of squares; and

determining the target ambiguity of whole cycles to be detected corresponding to the minimum residual sum of squares as a target ambiguity of whole cycles under a condition that a ratio of the sub-minimum residual sum of squares to the minimum residual sum of squares is greater than a preset first detection threshold value;

wherein the target ambiguity of whole cycles is the first ambiguity of whole cycles under a condition that the Q target ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected are the N first ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected; and the target ambiguity of whole cycles is the second ambiguity of whole cycles under a condition that the Q target ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected are the M second ambiguities of whole cycles to be detected.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein after the determining the minimum residual sum of squares and the sub-minimum residual sum of squares of the Q residual sums of squares, the method further comprises:

ranking the Q residual sums of squares from small to large under a condition that the ratio of the sub-minimum residual sum of squares to the minimum residual sum of squares is less than or equal to the preset first detection threshold value; and

determining the target ambiguity of whole cycles to be detected corresponding to the minimum residual sum of squares as the target ambiguity of whole cycles under a condition that a ratio of a k th residual sum of squares to the minimum residual sum of squares is greater than a preset second detection threshold value, wherein k is an integer greater than 1 and k is less than or equal to Q.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining, according to the first ambiguity of whole cycles and the second ambiguity of whole cycles, the short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles to measure the relative position of the spacecraft comprises:

determining a short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles to be detected and a third channel residual corresponding to the short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles to be detected according to the first ambiguity of whole cycles and the second ambiguity of whole cycles;

determining the short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles to be detected as the short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles under a condition that the third channel residual is in a preset residual detection interval; and

measuring the relative position of the spacecraft according to the short-wave double-difference ambiguity of whole cycles.

7 . An electronic device, comprising: a processor and a memory storing programs or instructions;

wherein the processor, when executing the programs or the instructions, implements the method according to claim 1 .

8 . A non-transitory readable storage medium having programs or instructions stored thereon, wherein the programs or instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method according to claim 1 .