Delay calibration of transmitter for inter-satellite link using sub-sampling and partial correlation

High precision of the inter-satellite ranging is very important for the realization of system function for the formation of satellite constellation. The delay of transmitter is a key parameter relating to range. A high accurate delay calibration algorithm of V-band transmitter is developed. The ranging signal and the 1PPS (1 Pulse Per Second) are sampling in synchronization. The sampling frequency is lower than the frequency of inter-satellite link ranging signal. The duration of ranging signal data to process is less than a period of the PRN (Pseudo-Random Noise) sequence. Using carrier-phase acquisition, the start point of the PRN sequence is obtained and absolute delay of transmitter can be calculated. The absolute uncertainty with the proposed algorithm is less than 0.2ns with the sampling frequency is 10 G Sa/s.