A geometric approach to determination of satellite ephemeris over a limited area

Range and,interferometric observations have been examined for their potential, application in a geometric approach to determination of satellite ephemeri. The approach differs from the normal (dynamic) approach in that each satellite position is treated as an independent state variable or benchmark.

Programs have been developed that simulate and format the input, data for the least squares estimation routines, and perform statistical analyses of those results. Random error, tropospheric refraction errors, and atomic clock errors have been considered, and the range observation adjustment program directed to solve for clock errors.