The present invention relates to satellite terrestrial positioning systems.
It is known that satellite positioning systems comprise a constellation of navigation satellites placed in medium-altitude orbits (of the order of 25 000 km) around the Earth. These navigation satellites and their orbits are generally designated “MEO satellites” and “MEO orbits”, respectively (Medium Earth Orbit) in the art. MEO satellites are distributed uniformly in several orbital planes, so that, at any point on the Earth, a user can see several MEO satellites, that is to say be in direct lines with them (at least three, but four if the user desires to ascertain his altitude) and deduce his own terrestrial coordinates therefrom.
Each MEO satellite carries an atomic clock of high stability and precision, as well as an electronic item of equipment which addresses to the terrestrial users a message comprising the corrected time (relative to a common reference) and the ephemerides of the satellite. On the basis of these messages received from several MEO satellites, the user determines his distance from the various satellites by visibility and therefore deduces therefrom his position in terrestrial coordinates. To ensure nominal operation of the constellation of MEO satellites, a terrestrial control centre performs the measurement of the orbit and of the onboard time for each MEO satellite. This control centre computes the ephemerides of the MEO satellites and the correction of the time to be broadcast by each MEO satellite for the forthcoming times.
The main drawback of these terrestrial-positioning systems is that the quality of the positioning of the terrestrial users is based on the quality of the ephemerides and of the corrected time broadcast by each MEO satellite. So, subsequent to a control centre error or a fault aboard an MEO satellite, it may happen that the real position, the corrected time and/or the ephemerides broadcast by one or more MEO satellites become false, thereby giving rise to a positioning error for all the users in the satellite visibility zone. The error will eventually be detected and corrected by the control centre which monitors the MEO satellites, but, meanwhile, certain users who are using the system for important functions, navigation for example, may be in a situation of serious insecurity.
Several solutions for changing the design of MEO satellites and slaving them to external time references so as to increase the reliability of the messages transmitted by MEO satellites have already been proposed. However, in all these solutions, the detection of anomalies in the MEO satellites is ensured by a network of ground monitoring stations, which transmit to the control centre an information cue regarding these anomalies, and the correction of the latter is entrusted to the said control centre. Additionally, to be effective, these solutions implement at least fifty monitoring stations permanently connected to the said control centre by multiple channels in parallel. This results in high installation and utilization costs.
Moreover, the detection of anomalies by a network of terrestrial monitoring stations gives rise to a strong dilution of precision in retrieving the position of the MEO satellites. Specifically, for a particular MEO satellite, all the distance measurements are performed from terrestrial stations which are therefore all located within a reduced solid angle because the diameter of the Earth is small with respect to the diameter of MEO orbits. The precision in the horizontal plane is consequently limited, correspondingly reducing the reliability in the instantaneous detection of anomalies.
Additionally, all the measurements performed by such a network of terrestrial monitoring stations are disturbed by local effects (tropospheric, ionospheric, multipath errors), thereby causing measurement errors which degrade the reliability of detecting anomalies and risk generating false alerts, if a tolerance threshold very close to these errors has been fixed.
An additional drawback of detecting anomalies by a network of terrestrial monitoring stations stems from the latency time between the moment when an anomaly arises in an MEO satellite and the instant when the user is finally warned of this anomaly. Specifically, the detection/notification chain includes the world network of stations, the control centre, which on the basis of all the measurements of the stations will detect the anomaly, the stations for broadcasting the alert message to the satellites and the system for repeating the alert message aboard the MEO satellite. This long and complex chain induces latency times between the occurrence of the anomaly and the notification to the users that are hardly compatible with the highest operational dependability requirements, such as for example those applicable in the aeronautical field.
The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks.
To this end, according to the invention, the method for positioning a user on the Earth, the said method implementing a plurality of navigation satellites which are placed in medium-altitude orbits and which are managed by at least one terrestrial control centre, each of the said navigation satellites transmitting first time and position information which is individual to it, is noteworthy in that:
Thus, by virtue of the present invention, each MEO navigation satellite is in unidirectional communication with the said transmitting beacons and can verify in an autonomous manner that the essential information that it transmits to the users is valid at each instant. If the verification is interrupted or if it reveals deviations with respect to this essential information, the navigation satellite concerned includes in the latter a message indicating that the said information is either suspect (cases in which the verification chain is interrupted or the deviation detected is significant but acceptable), or false. The users can therefore immediately either ignore the information originating from the corresponding navigation satellite, or reduce the weight allocated to the latter in the position computation.
The said reference beacons can, at least in part, be disposed on the Earth or, preferably, aboard satellites in high orbits (for example of the order of 40,000 km). In the latter case, it is advantageous that the said beacon carrier satellites be geosynchronous so as to constantly remain in view of the said control centre. In the case where the high orbits are not geosynchronous, several stations are provided, distributed around the Earth and linked to the said control centre.
In accordance with the present invention, an MEO satellite positioning system comprising a plurality of navigation satellites which are placed in medium-altitude orbits and which are managed by at least one terrestrial control centre, each of the said navigation satellites comprising an atomic clock, a receiver-decoder of telecommands transmitted by the said terrestrial control centre, a generator of first time and position information which is linked to the said clock and to the said receiver-decoder, and a transmitter transmitting the said first information to the said user, is noteworthy in that:
The decision logic applied by the computation means to determine the quality and the security of the navigation data can be the following:
The said first information addressed to the said computation means can be sampled directly at the output of the said generator of the first information. However, so as to ensure that the quality of the signal ultimately transmitted is good, it is possible moreover to provide, in each navigation satellite, an auxiliary receiver-decoder for receiving and decoding the said first information transmitted by the said transmitter, the said auxiliary receiver-decoder addressing the said first information to the said computation means.
The present invention moreover comprises a navigation satellite such as described above.
The figures of the appended drawing will elucidate the manner in which the invention may be embodied. In these figures, identical references designate similar elements.
The satellite positioning system represented schematically and partially in
In a known manner, on board each MEO satellite 1 is an electronic item of equipment 6 (see
In accordance with the present invention, the satellite positioning system of
The reference beacons 11 are disposed either on the Earth T, or aboard satellites 14 describing high orbits 15. In the latter case, the antennas 12 of the reference beacons 11 constitute a part of the antenna systems 16 of the satellites 14.
The signals transmitted by the reference beacons 11, by way of the antennas 12, are managed and synchronized by the terrestrial control centre 4.
In accordance with the invention, the signals coming from the reference beacons 11 are used by the satellites 1 to validate the signals that they themselves transmit to the terrestrial users.
To this end, as illustrated schematically in
The electronic item of equipment 17 comprises receivers 18 receiving the said signals from the beacons 11 by way of the said antenna part 3.3. The receivers 18 measure the Doppler signals of the radio frequencies transmitted by the various reference beacons 11 and address these Doppler signals to a consistency computer 19 through a link 20. Moreover, the receivers 18 address the data received from the reference beacons 11 to a decoder 21. The said decoder 21 extracts the position and time information received from the said reference beacons 11 and addresses it to the said consistency computer 19.
Additionally, through a link 22, the consistency computer 19 receives the navigation frames generated by the generator 9 of the electronic item of equipment 6. Thus, the consistency computer 19:
In
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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07 03562 | May 2007 | FR | national |