Global coverage performance analysis based on 4 BeiDou MEO satellites

Abstract

Constellation coverage performance is an important indicator of assessing constellation design, therefore this paper intended to provide reference for the deployment of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the future by analyzing the coverage performance of BeiDou navigation satellites. This paper studied two navigation constellation performance indicators which are continuous coverage and spatial configuration, and studied the design method for global coverage performance simulation based on 4 BeiDou MEO satellites constellation. Firstly, this paper analyzed global area which can be quadruple covered, time percentage of navigation availability and the PDOP average value within time of navigation availability; Secondly, this paper calculated PDOP value of observation points sharing the same longitude within one regression cycle, made statistical analysis of maximum coverage gap and average coverage gap of each point, and analyzed the variation of PDOP value in different latitudes; Finally, this paper analyzed periodic changes of global coverage area of navigation availability. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.