Single Station Antenna–Based Spacecraft Orbit Determination via Robust EKF against the Effect of Measurement Matrix Singularity

Abstract

In this study, a robust extended Kalman filter (EKF) for estimation of a spacecraft’s position and velocity by single station antenna tracking data against the effect of measurement matrix singularity is proposed. The designed filtering algorithm estimates the position and velocity of the spacecraft on direct nonlinear range-azimuth-elevation measurements. The proposed robust EKF is examined through the geostationary satellite orbital motion simulations and the recommendations on its application for various spacecraft missions are given.