Initiating an error budget of the DORIS ground antenna position: Genesis of the Starec antenna type C

The DORIS system measures distances between phase centers of onboard and ground antennas to determine the position of the satellites in their orbits. To this end, the ground antenna phase center position must be known in a terrestrial reference frame. Its position is linked and defined with respect to the antenna reference point (ARP), a conventional physical point for which coordinates are assigned. Although the determination of the ARP position with respect to ground markers can be achieved by traditional surveys, the connection with the actual measurement point (phase center) is far more difficult to determine. This is the main concern explored in this paper. Regardless of the need for a good antenna characterization, CNES and IGN jointly worked to establish a first error budget of the ground antenna position. With this aim in view, each component was clearly identified and studied separately. We distinguished between errors from manufacturing and from site surveying and, on the other hand, errors affecting horizontal and vertical position. The knowledge of the antenna geometry and the guarantee of a good reproducibility in the manufacturing process are essential. Based on these requirements, we have defined new manufacturing specifications to create a new antenna type: Starec type C. Compared to the previous antenna (Starec type B), the standard uncertainty of the 2 GHz phase center position in the vertical direction has been reduced from 5 mm to 1 mm. Following this work, we provide for the new Starec antenna (type C) total uncertainties involved in the ground antenna positioning in a local reference frame: 2 mm in the horizontal plane, 2.5 mm for the vertical component and 3.2 mm in three-dimensional combination. We also propose for DORIS new definitions of conventional points and a new method to determine ground antennas position that were not possible before this manufacturing specifications change.