Impact of tracking station distribution structure on BeiDou satellite orbit determination

The racking station distribution structure plays an important role in GNSS satellite orbit determination. Due to the current satellite distribution of the BeiDou satellite navigation system (BDS), the problem how to construct a reasonable distribution of tracking stations to obtain BDS satellite orbits with high precision has become a highly imperative issue. Based on the theory of dynamic orbit determination, two different station distributions were analyzed to study their impact on BDS precise and real-time orbit determination. Subsequently, the impact of Satellite Position Dilution of Precision (SPDOP) values on orbit determination was analyzed. Finally, an improved scheme for the tracking station distribution was designed based on the original scheme. The numerical results show that the SPDOP value can be used to evaluate the contribution of the tracking stations distribution on the BDS IGSO and MEO satellites orbit determination. In addition, the tracking stations which focus on the Asia-Pacific region play a key role in current BDS orbit determination.