Satellite Orbit Determination Based on Gradient Method

In this paper, gradient method is applied to the problem of satellite orbit determination. We used the ground station data (range, azimuth and elevation), for calculating the satellite position vector in the ECI frame. Satellite orbit is in the elliptic shape and satellite turns in orbital plane. Hence, orbit frame (PQW) is defined. Based on representation of input data in the PQW frame, we can define an ellipse. With the characteristics of an ellipse, beside definition of cost function and optimization technique, the satellite orbit is determined. This method, which can be easily implemented in hardware with moderate computational complexity, yield an efficient satellite positioning without assuming a prior knowledge of measurement noise. The performance, accuracy and error of algorithm are checked, by a test case.