Orbit determination using incremental phase and TDOA of X-ray pulsar

X-ray pulsars offer stable, periodic X-ray pulse sequences that can be used in spacecraft positioning systems. A method using X-ray pulsars to determine the initial orbit of a satellite is presented in this paper. This method suggests only one detector to be equipped on the satellite and assumes that the detector observes three pulsars in turn. To improve the performance, the use of incremental phase in one observation duration is proposed, and the incremental phase is combined with the time difference of arrival (TDOA). Then, a weighted least squares (WLS) algorithm is formulated to calculate the initial orbit. Numerical simulations are performed to assess the proposed orbit determination method.