Sea Surface Height Estimation by Ground-Based BDS GEO Satellite Reflectometry

Abstract

Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) as a mixed constellation consists of not only medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites but also inclined geosynchronous orbit and geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites, of which the GEO satellites remain visible and stationary in the Asia-Pacific region almost all the time so as to better ensure the reflected signals stability and continuity, compared to using only MEO satellites in previous Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry remote sensing research. This article demonstrates ocean altimetry capability using reflected signals from BDS GEO satellite with coastal experiments conducted in Weihai, Shandong, China, on July 6 and July 9, 2019. By using only one GEO satellite, the precision of delay Doppler map and phase altimetry is up to decimeter (close to millimeter) level. And the results show that BDS GEO-R technique can be used to monitor small changes in ocean altimetry with high temporal resolution.

Keywords

• Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)
• delay Doppler map (DDM)
• Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R)
• ocean altimetry
• phase delay