Analysis of Spaceborne GNSS-R Delay-Doppler Tracking

For spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R), the delay and Doppler frequency conditions dynamically change, so the compensation of the delay and Doppler errors using tracking is important to the altimetric and scatterometric performances. This work presents the characteristics of the delay and the Doppler frequency in spaceborne GNSS-R, such as the range of them, the Doppler spreading width, and the change rate. They are important considerations for design of the delay and Doppler tracking strategy. The characteristics of delay-Doppler conditions of spaceborne GNSS-R are presented with additional considerations for tracking design. The tracking methods are discussed, and the error impacts are visually demonstrated by using the spaceborne measured data from United Kingdom’s Disaster Monitoring Constellation (UK-DMC) satellite.