Inter-Satellite Radio Frequency Ranging Techniques for OFDM Communication Systems

Abstract

Precision formationg flying (PFF) is a solution for the deployment of large scientific instruments in future space missions. Using PFF, multiple satellites can be organized in dynamic formations that can accomodate various mission conditions and can be used to acquire high precision measurements. In such scenarios, precise knowledge of the satellite positioning in terms of distance and orientation is mandatory. This paper presents a comparison between two ranging techniques using a radio frequency inter-satellite link (ISL) based on Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM). Both methods estimate the distance using the frequency-domain properties of an OFDM training symbol. The algorithms are evaluated under multipath and various SNR conditions using MATLAB simulations. The simulations show that the estimation accuracy is at centimeter level and that the distance estimations become biased in the presence of multipath.