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<article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Journal of Geodesy 91: 1313-27</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3390/rs11111391</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>A Review on Precise Orbit Determination of Various LEO Satellites</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Kannan Selvan</string-name>
          <email>kannan.selvan@uwasa.fi</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Akpo Siemuri</string-name>
          <email>akpo.siemuri@uwasa.fi</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Heidi Kuusniemi</string-name>
          <email>heidi.kuusniemi@uwasa.fi</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Petri Välisuo</string-name>
          <email>petri.valisuo@uwasa.fi</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
        </contrib>
        <aff id="aff0">
          <label>0</label>
          <institution>Digital Economy, University of Vaasa</institution>
          ,
          <addr-line>34 Wolffintie, Vaasa</addr-line>
          ,
          <country country="FI">Finland</country>
        </aff>
      </contrib-group>
      <pub-date>
        <year>2017</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>46</volume>
      <issue>11</issue>
      <fpage>1440</fpage>
      <lpage>1450</lpage>
      <abstract>
        <p>The need for precise orbit determination (POD) has grown significantly due to the increased amount of space-based activities appearing at an accelerating pace. POD has a positive contribution in achieving the requirements of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite mission which includes improved reliability and continuity. In this paper, we will review the POD approaches of various LEO satellites and discuss the accuracy levels obtained as well as the methods and algorithms used to achieve the POD of LEO satellites. With recent advancements in miniature space technology, a greater number of smaller low-cost satellites are launched into the LEO for various purposes. Furthermore, development in the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and chipsets played a vital role in revolutionizing the GNSS receiver technology. Lower-cost, smaller size but yet high performing GNSS receivers need to be implemented also in CubeSats in addition to the various terrestrial applications. POD using onboard GNSS receiver data will benefit the development of several upcoming space applications in the field of navigation systems, telecommunication, remote sensing, and earth observation. In the future, it is anticipated that LEO-based satellites enabled by POD can also offer positioning capabilities that will enhance GNSS and create vast opportunities for users with new features and possibilities to the navigation field.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>1 Precise Orbit Determination</kwd>
        <kwd>Low-Earth Orbit</kwd>
        <kwd>Global Navigation Satellite Systems</kwd>
        <kwd>CubeSats</kwd>
        <kwd>Remote Sensing</kwd>
        <kwd>Earth Observation</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
    <sec id="sec-1">
      <title>1. Introduction</title>
      <p>
        From the first man-made satellite, orbit determination has been done using radio transmission with
major improvements seen through the years. GNSS was first applied in precisely determining the
position of fixed ground antennas to aid the study of the dynamics of Earth’s surface. This led to the
first orbit determination of satellites using GPS [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ] and later on, the widespread application of precise
orbit determination to other low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. GNSS receivers have been designed to
meet the need for precise orbit determination (POD) and used in many satellites that required accurate
knowledge of their orbits depending on the objectives of the mission. The performance of the POD
process depends on the measurement environment, the technique used for processing, and the mission
application. The need to reduce the time latency in achieving a precise solution has been of growing
interest besides accuracy. This is beneficial to many end-users as they are able to get fast access to orbit
solutions [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref2">2</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>The precise tracking of the orbit of the satellite using onboard GNSS receiver data will benefit the
development of several new space applications in the field of navigation systems, telecommunication,
remote sensing, and earth observation. Furthermore, in the future, it is anticipated that LEO-based
satellites enabled by POD can also offer positioning capabilities that will enhance the Global Navigation
Satellite Systems (GNSS) and therefore create tremendous opportunities for various users with new
features and possibilities to the navigation field. Therefore, in this paper, we are going to take a look at
the POD approaches of various LEO satellites and discuss the accuracy levels obtained as well as the
methods, techniques, and algorithms implemented.</p>
      <p>The rest of the paper is structured as follows, section 2 presents the materials and approaches applied
in this paper and lists out the research questions used to achieve the goals of this paper. In section 3 the
research questions are addressed to achieve the goal of analyzing the POD used by various LEO
satellites and their methods, techniques, and/or algorithms implemented in estimating POD as well as
the accuracy levels, latencies, and validation techniques. Section 4 discusses and analyzes our findings
and the conclusion is presented in section 5.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-2">
      <title>2. Materials and Approach</title>
      <p>It is essential to review from the existing literature and studies on the different methods and
approaches used for precise orbit determination of various LEO satellites. This review was carried out
by a systematic search for literatures on precise orbit determination of various LEO satellites from some
major digital libraries. The electronic database used for the collection of papers were IEEE Xplore,
ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. The duration of the search criteria was from 2000
to 2021. The search term used to identify the primary studies is “Precise orbit determination AND LEO OR
Precise orbit AND positioning method OR Precise orbit AND positioning algorithm OR Precise orbit AND GNSS
OR Precise orbit AND PNT OR precise orbit AND GPS OR Precision AND real-time orbit”. In addition to the
aforementioned electronic databases, a relevant repository dealing with GNSS was used to collect the
recent papers relevant for our review. This was the extensive archive of The Institute of Navigation
(https://www.ion.org/). From the search results, papers that were deemed relevant and requiring further
screening for detailed information on the POD and their methods or algorithms used in determining the
orbit were selected. A total number of 60 primary papers were then selected based on research questions
(RQ) outlined below to meet the review objectives.</p>
      <p>RQ1- What is the type of GNSS receiver used in the LEO satellites (single, dual or triple frequency)? What are
the accuracy levels obtained in determining the satellite orbit based on such receiver-type?
RQ2 - What is the data type used for the determination of the satellite orbit, is it real-time onboard GNSS data,
simulated GNSS data or non-GNSS data?
RQ3 - What are the techniques and algorithms utilized for POD? Are they implemented for LEO orbit satellites?
RQ4 - How is the estimated POD solution validated?</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-3">
      <title>3. Precise Orbit Determination of various LEO Satellites</title>
      <p>This paper will not review the research work focused on the attitude determination of the satellites
from the existing studies but focus on precise orbit determination. The following section provides a
review of the POD of LEO satellites based on the following three categories: GNSS techniques,
nonGNSS techniques and hybrid techniques.
3.1.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-4">
      <title>GNSS Techniques</title>
      <p>This section takes a look at various studies and implementation of LEO POD based on
singlefrequency (SF) and/or dual-frequency (DF), single-GNSS or multi-GNSS tracking data. Using SF
requires the use of algorithms to mitigate the ionospheric delays that remain in the measurement, unlike
when DF is used which has the capability to self-mitigate first-order ionospheric delays. Orbit
determination at precise levels can be obtained using dual-frequency receiver with ionospheric free
carrier phase observations but they are expensive and energy-consuming. Therefore, smaller satellite
missions can use low-cost single-frequency receivers for orbit determination which requires only the
relative position of the satellite.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-5">
      <title>3.1.1. Based on Single Frequency GPS</title>
      <p>
        In [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref3">3</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4">4</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref5">5</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ] and [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref8">8</xref>
        ], the studies use SF tracking data from onboard GPS to compute the
LEO satellites’ POD. Various ways for processing SF GPS observations using reduced-dynamic or
kinematic orbit determination method for LEO satellites are applied. In [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref3">3</xref>
        ], the validation and
assessment of the quality of the pre-processed SF data are done by comparing it against the
corresponding pre-processed DF data. The focus of this study was on the impact of orbital height and
GPS data sampling rate on the quality of the pre-processed GPS data which affects the quality of the
resulting orbit. While in [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4">4</xref>
        ], the estimated orbit is validated with SLR as the satellite is equipped with
a laser retroreflector array (LRA). A 3D RMS of about 0.3 m accuracy levels is obtained for POD using
SLR. Using a real-time onboard navigation filter, 1.1 m accuracy in 3D RMS was achieved while
postprocessing on the ground with flight data offered 0.7 m accuracy in 3D RMS. In [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref5">5</xref>
        ], POD solution
based on Schmidt-Kalman filter performed better in terms of accuracy than the standard Kalman filter
using single-frequency GPS receiver data. POD accuracy is improved by about 6 cm compared to the
standard Kalman filter.
      </p>
      <p>
        The study in [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
        ] utilizes epoch-differenced carrier phase measurements to smooth
GRAPHICderived (GRoup And Phase Ionospheric Correction) positions eliminating ambiguities and ionospheric
effects. The displacement information obtained is highly accurate in that it will constrain the kinematic
positions estimated. Using kinematic POD, position errors and random estimation errors are largely
reduced. The 3D RMS position errors are 0.72 m and 0.79 m for the IGS ultra-rapid products and
broadcast ephemerides respectively (https://www.igs.org/). While [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ] estimated the POD for the SJ-9A
satellite with a sequential Kalman filter (SKF) using SF GPS data and ultra-rapid ephemerides products
along with GRAPHIC and broadcasts ephemeris. The assessments indicate the position and velocity in
3D accuracies of 0.5 m and 0.55 mm/s respectively. In [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref8">8</xref>
        ], an integrated POD method is used based on
simulated GNSS observations. Reduced-dynamic as well as kinematic POD techniques using
pseudorange and carrier phase GPS data are considered in this study. An impressive accuracy
improvement of over 70% for POD of all GNSS satellites was possible using the entire LEO
constellation compared with ground-based POD. However, this results in a computational challenge
due to the usage of entire LEO constellation. This can be resolved by introducing only a part of the
LEO constellation to achieve both orbit accuracy and computational efficiency.
      </p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-6">
      <title>3.1.2. Based on Dual-Frequency GPS</title>
      <p>
        GPS-based POD for very low earth-orbiting gravity missions is of high importance. Since the
altitude is very low (250 km) high precision orbit determination is challenged due to a rapid
accumulation of gravity-field-induced orbit error and uncertainties in describing the effect of
atmospheric drags and solar radiation. These effects can be reduced to a few centimeters’ orbit error by
tuning the precise orbit. Dual-frequency is able to self-mitigate ionospheric effects. [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref9">9</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref11">11</xref>
        ], [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref12">12</xref>
        ],
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref13">13</xref>
        ], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], made use of either one
or two of the following approaches namely dynamic POD, reduced-dynamic and kinematic POD. In
[28], [29] the zero-difference kinematic orbit determination was discussed. [30] proposed extended
Kalman filtering-based POD determination using a GPS receiver. In a later study, [31] proposed a
KPOD algorithm for LEO satellites using zero-differenced (ZD) ambiguity resolution for POD. For this
study, DF GPS data from SWARM-C and Sentinel-3A satellites were utilized. The paper discusses
mainly the ways to improve the KPOD by fixing the ambiguities of onboard GNSS phase observations.
The real-time kinematic POD was carried out for both the satellites with ambiguity fixing and floating
solutions. [32] implemented an efficient orbit integrator/filter which will dramatically reduce the
computational workload for orbit determination onboard the satellite. A precise orbit with an accuracy
level in centimeter to decimeter level is achievable with the proposed numerical method for the integral
equation of satellite orbit.
      </p>
      <p>For [33], a term called pseudo-ambiguity is defined, which eliminates the range errors originated
from the orbit and clock offset errors of the GPS broadcast ephemeris, providing higher accuracies for
orbit determination. The results show that onboard real-time orbit determination for LEO space
missions with the accuracy of 0.2-0.4 m for the position and 0.2-0.4 mm/s for velocity with standalone
dual-frequency GPS receiver and GPS broadcast ephemeris can be obtained. In [34], the approach in
POD is based on the fundamental rule that all observations will be used directly which implies that
single or double difference linear combinations of observations are not employed to avoid the drawback
of linear combinations where the measurement noise is increased. The advantage of this technique is
the ability to directly apply the observed data from the receiver, thereby, preserving the original
measurement accuracy and giving the possibility for full exploitation of the contained information from
each individual observation type. In [35], a consider Kalman filter (CKF)-based reduced-dynamic orbit
determination (RDOD) CKF-RDOD approach was used. The results showed a satisfactory POD with
approximately 1.5m level of 3-Dimenstional RMS error with the CKF-RDOD approach using GPS data
and broadcast messages in real-time scenarios.</p>
      <p>The study in [36] and [37], both proposed a POD algorithm to determine the orbit of the LEO
augmentation satellite at centimeter-level using a dual-frequency GPS receiver. These algorithms were
based on Precise Point Positioning (PPP) preprocessing algorithm utilized to determine the precise
single-point position. In [37], the proposed PPP navigation solutions showed an improvement of about
0.5m over the onboard GPS NAV technique of ALOS2 suppressing the error spikes of the onboard GPS
NAV data. For the study in [38], a simulation-based real-time POD solution using GPS pseudorange
observations from HY2A and RINEX/DORIS 3.0 phase observation data is evaluated. For the POD
solution, RTODLEO (Real-Time Orbit Determination Software for Low Earth Orbit Satellite) was
used. The results showed that 3D positional accuracy calculated using GPS pseudorange observations
is 6.803 m. [39] used the Kalman filter algorithm for real-time POD providing seven different solutions
using the onboard and simulated data. From the results, dual-frequency Galileo and BeiDou-3
measurements lead to a significant reduction of 3D RMS orbit errors compared to GPS-only and achieve
a positioning accuracy of about 10.4 cm in 3D RMS.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-7">
      <title>3.1.3. Based on Single &amp; Dual-Frequency GPS</title>
      <p>A reduced-dynamic orbit determination method was applied by [40] to study the POD of the GRACE
satellite. A Kalman filter-based approach and least-squares estimator approach were carried out for the
GRACE satellite equipped with a SF and DF GPS data. The DF orbit determination solution in terms
of typical RMS errors with respect to JPL reference solution of about 4 cm was achieved. While SF
data achieved better than 10 cm in 3D RMS. Both Kalman filter and least-squares approaches provided
similar and accurate results which match an external reference solution. [41] proposed a new onboard
POD algorithm designed with unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and extended Kalman filter (EKF)
method for spaceborne GPS receivers. The real GPS data of CHAMP and KOMPSAT-2 satellites were
used for verifying the onboard orbit determination. Overall, the POD results with UKF were slightly
more accurate than using the EKF method.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-8">
      <title>3.1.4. Based on Single-Frequency GPS/BDS</title>
      <p>Based on the real-time single-frequency GPS/BDS data, [42] explored the optimal force models, the
effect of different measurements, and the effect of GPS and BDS data fusion. SATPODS (Space-borne
GNSS AuTonomous Precise Orbit Determination Software) is used to implement the onboard real-time
orbit determination (RTOD) algorithm and perform all the onboard operational scenarios. PANDA
(Positioning and Navigation Data Analyst) software generates post precise orbits which was used to
assess the accuracy of the orbit estimated using the onboard RTOD algorithm. For FengYun-3C, a
realtime orbit accuracy of 0.4–0.7 m for position and 0.4–0.7 mm/s for velocity is achieved.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-9">
      <title>3.1.5. Based on Dual-Frequency GPS/BDS</title>
      <p>The weak geometry of ground stations was a major concern in determining the precise orbits of the
BDS satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO). The geometry of the BDS satellites can be improved using
a LEO satellite with an onboard GNSS receiver apart from the ground data. In [43], the procedure used
is the reduced-dynamic and a kinematic orbit solution. The combined GPS/BDS data gave good results.
From this study, the procedure is suitable for GOCE and it can meet the accuracy requirements of 2 cm
(1-dimensional). Similarly, in [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52], [53] combined use of
GPS and BDS data are used. The contribution of BDS to the POD of LEO satellites was also discussed.
[47] claims that SLR is one of the main means of external validation for the orbital solution with an
accuracy better than 1 cm. These results indicate that the orbit accuracy obtained can reach
centimeterlevel when GPS/BDS combination is implemented. In addition, due to the fact that large GPS tracking
losses happen and few channels are assigned for BDS signals, increasing the number of DF observations
can further improve the POD performance.
3.2.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-10">
      <title>Non-GNSS Techniques</title>
      <p>This section discusses the various studies and implementation of the LEO POD based on non-GNSS
data. Non-GNSS data utilized in estimating POD of LEO satellites include Satellite Laser Ranging
(SLR) and Doppler Orbitography by Radio positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS).</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-11">
      <title>3.2.1. Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR)</title>
      <p>[54] &amp; [55] utilized the SLR technique in estimating the POD solution. [54] computed the precise
orbits for over six months using the tracking data from the Haiyang-2 satellite. There are no significant
systematic biases compared to the DORIS data. A 3-dimensional orbit accuracy of about 12.5 cm was
achieved. While [55] used SLR to determine the precise orbits of multi-GNSS satellites in geostationary
orbits (GEO), medium earth orbits (MEO). Though multi-GNSS satellites are equipped with various
GNSS receivers, SLR-based estimation of POD solution was analyzed by [55]. There is an increase in
the accuracy levels of multi-GNSS orbit determination using SLR with increases in the number of SLR
observations and the number of stations tracking the satellite. There are not many studies on LEO
satellite orbit determination solely using SLR based on the search term used in this review analysis.
3.2.2. DORIS</p>
      <p>[56] utilized DORIS alone to estimate the POD of HY-2A which delivers phase and pseudorange
measurements. Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) provide the raw phase and pseudorange
measurements, preprocessed DORIS 2.2 Doppler range-rate product. VMSI software used in estimating
HY2A DORIS orbits process only doppler range-rate product. A suitable method is implemented in
constructing the phase increment data and estimating POD based on the phase incremented data and
doppler range-rate data. The orbits estimated are evaluated by comparing with the CNES precise orbits
and SLR residuals. HY2A DORIS POD is estimated using the VMSI software and the comparison of
POD results with the CNES orbits and SLR range measurements shows that the two orbits have
nearidentical accuracy, radially approaching 1-cm.
3.2.3. DORIS &amp; SLR</p>
      <p>[57] on the other hand, estimated POD for Haiyang-2A satellite using DORIS, SLR, and a
combination of both DORIS + SLR. The three different orbit solutions estimated from this study were
compared with the CNES orbits. A centimeter-level accuracy of the POD solution was obtained. From
the analysis, SLR data directly contribute to the overall estimation of precise orbits of the satellite while
DORIS + SLR data requires further investigation in terms of biases from observations, tropospheric
effect, and DORIS network time.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-12">
      <title>Hybrid Techniques</title>
      <p>Hybrid techniques are the combination of the GNSS and non-GNSS techniques which utilize the
onboard GNSS receiver data and one or more non-GNSS data such as accelerometer data, DORIS data,
star tracker’s attitude data.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-13">
      <title>3.3.1. GNSS &amp; Accelerometer Data</title>
      <p>Hybrid techniques using onboard dual-frequency GPS receiver data and accelerometer data were
proposed by [58] &amp; [59] for POD. [58] discussed the usage of accelerometer (ACC) data on the GRACE
satellite during high solar activity to study its effect on the POD of the GRACE satellite. The orbit
accuracy estimated is assessed by making use of a number of varying tests from SLR residuals, K-Band
Ranging (KBR), and external orbit comparison. The residuals using accelerometer data were always
better. Also, from the external orbit comparison, the results showed better orbit comparison when using
GPS and ACC combinations than using only GPS data. There is no need to model the non-gravitational
forces using accelerometer data for GRACE POD resulting in more accurate orbits. [59] stated that
accelerometer data from the GRACE satellite offered by Information System and Data Center (ISDC)
contains measurement errors. It is removed by using a certain smoothing technique such as the Vondrak
method utilized in this paper and in addition, ACC data of 1-second interval is converted to a 10-second
interval for POD. The ACC data provided by the GRACE satellite offers new ways to solve the effects
of force model errors. The previous studies experimented using only GRACE data for reducing the
effects of the force models on the POD. The results obtained from the previous study are compared
with the same GRACE data processed along with ACC data to understand the performance of ACC
data in POD accuracy. For this study, the zero-difference (ZD) and single-difference (SD) POD method
was utilized in estimating the orbit of the satellite. The obtained POD solutions from ZD and SD POD
methods are compared with the precise science orbits (PSO) provided by GeoForschungesZentrum
(GFZ). The comparison shows that there are no significant offsets in all three orbital components with
root-mean-square (RMS) in centimeter-levels.
3.3.2. GNSS &amp; DORIS</p>
      <p>The onboard GPS data and DORIS data are combined to form a hybrid technique in estimating the
precise orbits for LEO. [60] focused on POD using DF GPS data and DORIS as well as validation with
SLR. With dynamic and reduced-dynamic methods, three orbit solution strategies are applied such as
(1) DORIS dynamic (DORIS Dyn); (2) GPS reduced dynamic (GPS RD); (3) DORIS and GPS reduced
dynamic (DORIS+GPS RD). The radial orbit differences among the three solutions and DORIS (CNES)
solution are calculated. Though there exist certain abnormal values, DORIS (CNES) and GPS solutions
estimated RMS error is 1.66 cm while the worse comparison results among the four solutions are only
3.16 cm RMS. Validated HY-2A POD solution with SLR data from several global stations. The
validation results show that SLR residuals for DORIS (CNES) and GPS solution are better than DORIS
and GPS/DORIS solutions with SLR residual RMS for GPS solution of 2.75cm. From the SLR residuals
results and independent solution orbit comparison analyses, a centimeter-level POD accuracy has been
obtained for all solutions of the HY-2A satellite.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-14">
      <title>3.3.3. GNSS, Accelerometer &amp; Attitude Data</title>
      <p>[61] discussed POD for GRACE satellite using a hybrid of GPS, accelerometer data, and attitude
data from the star trackers. The study was performed using the CSR Multi-Satellite Orbit Determination
Program (MSODP), which is based on a dynamic orbit determination method utilizing the batch
processing approach. Orbit accuracy depends heavily on the force models which are currently not
modeled precisely enough. Using accelerometer data from GRACE, it is possible to reduce the effects
of force model errors on POD. POD solution is estimated for GRACE GPS data with and without
accelerometer data. For GPS alone case, RMS and residuals decrease as the sub-arc length decreases.
The orbit accuracy cannot be substantially improved by the tuned gravity model when compared with
TEG4. From the hybrid data, GRACE cross-track component using GPS data is better than using
combination of all the three data due to the accelerometer biases where cross-track bias is more difficult
to estimate accurately. GRACE orbit accuracy better than 5 cm in each direction is achieved.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-15">
      <title>4. Discussion</title>
      <p>The conducted review has indicated significant success in applying the onboard GPS technique for
precise orbit determination of the satellite. The review analysis shows that a lot of work has been carried
out in estimating POD solutions based on dual-frequency GPS receivers due to their advantages over
the single-frequency receiver. There are very few existing studies that focused on using non-GNSS
techniques-based determination of the precise orbit of the LEO satellites. There is still a need for more
efficient alternative solutions for non-GNSS-based estimation of the precise orbits of LEO satellites
apart from the GNSS receivers, SLR, DORIS, accelerometer, and star tracker attitude data. In addition,
research work based on hybrid techniques utilized onboard GPS along with SLR and/or accelerometer
data and/or DORIS and/or attitude data to estimate orbit solutions with high accuracy. From Figure 1.,
we can see the different methods for POD and the frequency of use based on the reviewed papers.</p>
      <p>With the advancement in technology, CubeSat with low-cost high performing multi-constellation
GNSS receivers are yet to be launched into space apart from the recently launched Bobcat-1 satellite
mission [62]. Most of the research work on precise orbit determination was carried out on GEO and
MEO satellites with GNSS payloads of higher mass, volume, and power. LEO being the future of space
technology applications with CubeSats of smaller size and power, high computing, and advanced GNSS
receivers require research work to be done in developing new algorithms and methods to improve the
accuracy levels and reduce the latencies in the determination of real-time precise orbits of the LEO
satellites. Accuracies of LEO satellite orbit determination can be improved with highly sophisticated
orbital models, integrated algorithms, and filtering techniques. It involves intensive computation for the
onboard orbit determination processing due to the estimation of several parameters. Also, such high
computational power is a limiting factor in small satellites. Therefore, the need for models that balance
between accuracy and computation efficiency making use of simple but efficient models, integrated
algorithms and filtering techniques.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-16">
      <title>5. Conclusion</title>
      <p>This paper discussed several techniques, methods, and models that have been used in various
research for the precise orbit determination of LEO satellites. The various techniques presented include
GNSS (single-frequency, dual-frequency), Non-GNSS and Hybrid. Onboard GNSS data have now
become a major means of precise orbit determination for satellites on low earth orbit. Several of the
research made use of GNSS-based POD while using Non-GNSS methods (SLR) for Validation.</p>
      <p>The precise tracking of the orbit of the satellite using onboard GNSS receiver data will benefit the
development of several new space applications in the field of navigation systems, telecommunication,
remote sensing, and earth observation. Furthermore, in the future, it is anticipated that LEO-based
satellites enabled by POD can also offer positioning capabilities that will enhance the Global Navigation
Satellite Systems (GNSS) and therefore create a tremendous opportunity for various users with new
features and possibilities to the navigation field. Future satellites with altimeter and radio-occultation
payloads may require real-time POD to enable onboard processing of science data for forecasting or
nowcasting of meteorology data, open-loop instrument operations of radar payloads, or quick-look
onboard science data generation. Also, precise real-time orbit information may be utilized for
constellation maintenance of satellite formations.</p>
      <p>An interesting area of study for future research is in the CubeSat as not all LEO satellites equipped
with GNSS receivers at present are CubeSats. Therefore, research need to be done on LEO CubeSats
of smaller size and power, high computing, and advanced GNSS receivers to develop new algorithms
and methods to achieve high accuracy levels and with minimum latencies in the determination of the
precise orbits of the CubeSat.</p>
      <p>Conflict of interest</p>
      <p>The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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