Tracking Loop Performance of the Electra UHF Transceiver
Edgar Glenn Lightsey, Andreas Mogensen, Courtney B. Duncan, Todd Ely · AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit · 2006
∗† The Electra UHF Transceiver is a versatile telecommunications payload that is capable of providing navigation and timing services for on-orbit navigation and surface positioning at Mars. The Electra will allow autonomous real-time trajectory determination using twoway Doppler measurements between a Mars Approach Vehicle and a Mars Network Orbiter, providing increased aerocapture reliability and more accurate surface landings. A software model of the Electra has been developed that allows the performance of the tracking loops to be evaluated for a range of dynamic operating conditions. The paper investigates the ability of the tracking loops to acquire and track a range of binary phaseshift keying signals with various Doppler shifts and signal to noise ratios. The standard approach scenario for the 2010 encounter between the Mars Science Laboratory and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is used as the basis for establishing realistic approach dynamics and link budgets.