A new method for resolving phase ambiguity in radio interferometry using Earth rotation synthesis  

作　　者：Huan Zhou De-Zhen Xu Jian-Guo Yan Shao-Wu Chen Hai-Tao Li 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying,Mapping and Remote Sensing,Wuhan University,Wuhan 430070,China [2]Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications Technology,Beijing 100094,China

出　　处：《Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics》2021年第7期115-122,共8页天文和天体物理学研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42030110 and 61603008);the Innovation Group of Natural Fund of Hubei Province(2018CFA087)。

摘　　要：As a key technique in deep space navigation, radio interferometry can be used to determine the accurate location of a spacecraft in the plane-of-sky by measuring its signal propagation time delay between two remote stations. To improve the measurement accuracy, differential phase delay without phase ambiguity is usually desired. Aiming at the difficulties of resolving phase ambiguity with few stations and narrowband downlink signals, a new method is proposed in this work by taking advantage of the Earth rotation. The high accurate differential phase delay between the spacecraft and a calibrator can be achieved not only in the in-beam observation mode but also in the out-of-beam observation mode. In this paper we firstly built the model of phase ambiguity resolution. Then, main measurement errors of the model are analyzed, which is followed by tests and validations of the model and method using the tracking data of the Cassini mission and Chang'E-3 mission. The results show that the phase ambiguities can be correctly resolved to generate a 10-picosecond level accuracy differential phase delay. Angular measurement accuracy of the Cassini reaches the milli-arc-second level, and the relative position accuracy between the Chang'E-3 rover and lander reaches the meter level.

关 键 词：radio interferometry Earth rotation synthesis phase ambiguity differential phase delay Cassini mission Chang'E-3 mission 

分 类 号：V476.3[航空宇航科学与技术—飞行器设计] V448.2