Satellite orbit determination using triple-differenced GPS carrier phase in pure kinematic mode

A new algorithm and computer program, KODAC (Kinematic Orbit Determination And Comparison), was developed for precise satellite orbit determination using a kinematic approach with the ionospheric-free triple-differenced (TD) global positioning system (GPS) carrier phase as the main observable. Epoch-by-epoch satellite positions are estimated by assuming that the GPS satellite ephemerides, ground station positions, and the time series of wet tropospheric zenith delay are known in advance. The technique was demonstrated with TOPEX/POSEIDON GPS data, which gave a final radial root-mean-square orbit accuracy of 8 cm with respect to a fully dynamic solution. This new approach has the advantage of having consistent orbit accuracy regardless of satellite altitude due to its non-dynamic approach.