Predicting the visibility of LEO satellites

Author

Ali, Irfan ; Al-Dhahir, Naofal ; Hershey, John E.

Author_Institution

Motorola, Arlington Heights, IL, USA

Volume

35

Issue

4

fYear

1999

fDate

10/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1183

Lastpage

1190

Abstract

We present a simple algorithm to determine the visibility-time function of a circular low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite at a terminal on the Earth´s surface. The simplicity of the algorithm is based on approximating the ground trace of the satellite (which is not a great circle due to Earth´s rotation) during a time interval of the order of in-view period, by a great-circle are. This enables us to use spherical geometry to compute the location and time epoch of the observation of the closest approach of the satellite´s ground trace to the terminal. This is also the epoch of the observation of the maximum elevation angle from the terminal to the satellite. Applying a result derived relating the maximum elevation angle to the in-view period, we obtain the visibility-time function of the satellite at the terminal. Numerical results illustrate the accuracy of the algorithm for a wide range of LEO orbit altitudes

Keywords

artificial satellites; mobile satellite communication; personal communication networks; LEO satellites; elevation angle; ground trace; in-view period; maximum elevation angle; orbit altitudes; spherical geometry; visibility-time function; Artificial satellites; Communication channels; Computational geometry; Computer vision; Electronic mail; Global communication; Low earth orbit satellites; Prediction algorithms; Research and development;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9251

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/7.805436

Filename

805436