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- Title
Precision of Spacecraft Doppler Tracking at Low Signal‐To‐Noise Ratios.
- Authors
Buccino, D. R.; Oudrhiri, K.; Parisi, M.; Park, R. S.; Mazarico, E.; Tortora, P.; Withers, P.; Genova, A.; Zannoni, M.
- Abstract
The signal‐to‐noise ratio received at Earth is typically larger than 10 dB‐Hz for radio tracking of a spacecraft in deep space, allowing a phase‐locked loop to execute reliable carrier tracking. Recently, missions have been proposed to utilize low‐gain antennas for Doppler tracking where the signal‐to‐noise ratio may be at the single‐digit (dB‐Hz) level. In this work, we discuss spacecraft Doppler tracking at these low signal‐to‐noise ratios through an analysis of thermal noise on the radio link, results from ground testing with the Deep Space Network, and demonstrations with an active spacecraft. We show that by utilizing an open‐loop receiver to capture the carrier signal and by applying post‐processing techniques, radio data with the signal‐to‐noise ratio as low as 4 dB‐Hz can be used to derive Doppler data with precision sufficient for tracking a spacecraft in deep space. Plain Language Summary: Typical deep‐space probes utilize High Gain Antennas for radio tracking that enable large signal‐to‐noise ratios despite the long distances from Earth. When a Low Gain Antenna is used instead, the signal‐to‐noise ratio is decreased, resulting in increased thermal noise and questions about the ability to track. This work shows that signals can be tracked with the Deep Space Network's Open Loop Receiver down to 4 dB‐Hz with sufficient precision for radio science experiments. Key Points: Spacecraft Doppler measurements can be acquired at low signal‐to‐noise ratios with open‐loop receiversExperiments with Deep Space Network ground systems show Dopper data with a signal‐to‐noise ratio as low as ∼4 dB‐Hz can be usedTypical Doppler measurements at low signal‐to‐noise ratio maintain a line‐of‐sight velocity precision of <0.1 mm/s at 60‐s integration time
- Subjects
SIGNAL-to-noise ratio; RADIO antennas; THERMAL noise; PHASE-locked loops; ANTENNAS (Electronics); SPACE vehicles
- Publication
Radio Science, 2023, Vol 58, Issue 7, p1
- ISSN
0048-6604
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2023RS007703