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Regional Positioning System Using Turksat Satellites

Conference Paper · June 2013

DOI: 10.1109/RAST.2013.6581207

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Regional Positioning System Using Turksat Satellites
Ahmet Fazil Yagli, Mesut Gokten, Senol Gulgonul, Ibrahim Oz, Ozkan Dalbay
R&D and Satellite Design Dept. TURKSAT
Ankara, Turkey
afyagli@turksat.com, mgokten@turksat.com, sgulgonul@turksat.com, ioz@turksat.com, odalbay@turksat.com
Abstract—A Regional positioning system using three
geosynchronous Turksat satellites is investigated in this paper. In
this system, a time code signal sent from an earth station to three
geostationary satellites is received by a user on Earth. Time delay
differences from three satellites are measured by the user and are
used to calculate the user’s position. The user's location
information includes latitude and longitude coordinates. It is
assumed that the user's altitude is measured by an altimeter.
Keywords-component; regional positioning, GEO satellite,
Turksat
I. INTRODUCTION
The determination of position is becoming a
substantial issue in modern world. To get the
position information of a user, there are various
alternative methods developed, one of which is
using geosynchronous (GEO) satellites. GEO
satellites have the advantage of wider coverage area
and keeping the same position relative to a user on
Earth. Omnitracs, Euteltracs, and Beidou are widely
known position information providers utilizing
GEO satellites [1-3]. General approach to fınd the
location coordinates is employing the time
difference of arrival (TDOA) of signals coming
from each one of several GEO satellites [4-8].
Turksat has orbital rights at 31o, 42o, and 50o E
longitude GEO orbits, where a constellation of three
satellites can be designed to offer regional
positioning service. In accordance to this design, a
conceptual study is performed and the
precision/accuracy results are presented in this
paper. The system consists of three GEO satellites,
a time code signal generator at the transmitting
Earth station and an altimeter at the end user.
√ (4)
II. CALCULATION
Since the equations obtained from time delay
calculations have nonlinear characteristics, it is
necessary to use special methods. In this study an
iterative method is used to solve the time delay
calculation equations. Delay formulas can be
written as:
(1)
(2)
The time between the transmitting station and the
user is calculated as shown in (3), where c is the
speed of light.
(3)
For this conceptual study, the payload delays of
three satellites are assumed to be the same. The
distance between one satellite and the user is
calculated as in (4). The locations of the three
satellites and the altitude of the user are known. The
latitude and longitude coordinates of the user are to
be found using two equations. Three locations of
the satellites are chosen according to the orbit rights
of Turksat, which are 31o, 42o, and 50o E longitude
geostationary orbit positions (Fig. 1). The distance
from the transmitting station and the satellites are
deducted from the time differences in order to have
only the traveling time of signal from the satellite to
the end user.
 Figure 1. The positions of three satellites and two earth stations.
III. RESULTS AND ERROR ANALYSIS 15 1,25 0,23
20 1,67 0,31
When the user is assumed to be in Ankara, Turkey
25 2,13 0,39
(40o N, 32o E), the written computer code gives
39.9999999999939o N and 31.9999999999981o E
coordinates as the simulation results. Knowing that, Table 2. The position deviation of the user due to
at 40o N latitude, a longitude error of 0.001o refers the error in the latitude information of the satellite
to 111 m of position deviation, the results can be at 31o E.
Deviation error of
seen as highly accurate. Longitude Latitude
the satellite
In satellite communications there can occur some deviation (m) deviation (m)
towards North (m)
computation error due to various factors. These 1 4,02 0,74
errors affecting the position knowledge of the
2 8,04 1,48
satellites can dramatically disturb the correct
3 12,07 2,22
position information of the end user. In our three
4 16,09 2,97
satellite system, we introduced some error in our
code to investigate the magnitude of the deviation in 5 20,11 3,71
the position of the user due to the amount of the
error inserted. Table 3. The position deviation of the user due to
First, we assumed an error in the longitude, latitude the error in the radial distance information of the
and radial distance information of one of the satellite at 31o E.
satellites (31o E). The deviation in the position due Deviation error
in the radial Longitude Latitude
to the position error of only one satellite is given in
distance of the deviation (m) deviation (m)
Tables 1, 2 and 3. satellite (m)
1 36,57 6,74
Table 1. The position deviation of the user due to 2 73,14 13,48
the error in the longitude information of the satellite 3 109,71 20,22
at 31o E.
4 146,27 26,96
Deviation error
Longitude Latitude 5 182,84 33,70
of the satellite
deviation (m) deviation (m)
towards East (m)
5 0,42 0,08 As can be seen from the Tables 1, 2 and 3, the
10 0,84 0,16 major deviation factor is the error in the radial
distance information. Assuming all three satellites
having the same amount of radial distance error, the Table 5. The position deviation of the user due to
deviation increases rapidly with increasing radial the error in the radial distance information of three
distance error, which is tabulated in Table 4. satellites.
Altimeter error Longitude Latitude
Table 4. The position deviation of the user due to (m) deviation (m) deviation (m)
the error in the radial distance information of three 1 1,16 0,00
satellites. 2 2,32 0,00
Deviation error 3 3,47 0,00
in the radial Longitude Latitude 4 4,63 0,00
distance of the deviation (m) deviation (m) 5 5,79 0,00
satellites (m)
1 177,51 19,52
The distances between the satellites are also
important for the accurate position calculation. In
2 355,02 39,06
the calculations above the angular distance between
3 532,52 58,59
the satellites is around 10o according to the center of
4 710,02 78,12
the Earth. The case of narrower angular gap is also
5 887,51 97,66 analyzed. When the satellites are located at 41o, 42o
and 43o E longitudes, the position deviation of the
In addition to these analyses, the height information end user is huge compared to the previous
obtained from the user altimeter can be wrong, this configuration. The delay differences when the user
error source is analyzed and the position deviations is at Ankara are plotted in Fig. 2, while the delay
are given in Table 5. differences of the previous satellite constellation are
shown in Fig. 3.
0 0
Delay differences (ms) (User: 40 N, 32 E)
80 0 -0 .1

60 0
0.1 -0 .2
1
-0 .

40

20
0.2
Latitude (0)

-0 .3
0.1

-0.2
0

0
-0 .1

-20

-40
0.1 -0 .
2

-60 0
-0 .1
0
-80
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Longitude (0)

Figure 2. The differences between the delays of the signals coming from three satellites (41o, 42o and 43o E),
when the user is at Ankara.
 0 0
Delay differences (ms) (User: 40 N, 32 E)
80 0
-1

60 1
-2

-1
40

0
2

20

-3
1
Latitude (0)

-2
0

-1
-20
2 0

-40 -2
1

-60 -1

0
-80
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Longitude (0)

Figure 3. The differences between the delays of the signals coming from three satellites (31o, 42o and 50o E),
when the user is at Ankara.

The delay contours in Fig. 2 are nearly coinciding,

which makes the position calculation using the
signal delay times very difficult and highly sensitive
to the errors in the satellite position information.
IV. CONCLUSION
Three geostationary satellites assumed to be located
at the three orbital locations of Turksat are used to
estimate the geographic location of a user on Earth.
The system is utilizing the time differences of
arrivals of the signals coming from each of the
satellites and the altitude of the user to calculate the
latitude and longitude of the user. In this paper, the
effect of the angular distance between the satellites
is also investigated. Moreover, the position
deviation due to the possible error in the location
information of the satellites is analyzed and
tabulated.
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