Realization of 3D coordinate estimation for spaceborne interferometric antenna

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2025.000055

Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2025, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6): 1428-1442.doi: 10.23919/JSEE.2025.000055

• ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY • Previous Articles

Realization of 3D coordinate estimation for spaceborne interferometric antenna

Wangjie CHEN¹^,²(), Weiqiang ZHU²^,*(), Zhenhong FAN¹(), Qin MA²(), Jian YANG²(), Li WU¹()

¹ School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
² Nanjing Electronic Equipment Institute, Nanjing 210007, China

Received:2024-11-11 Online:2025-12-18 Published:2026-01-07
Contact: Weiqiang ZHU E-mail:tiandizhongzi@126.com;zhuweq8511@sina.com;zhfan@mail.njust.edu.cn;maqin8511@sina.com;james200586@163.com;li_wu@njust.edu.cn
About author:
CHEN Wangjie was born in 1986. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronic engineering from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China, in 2009 and 2012, respectively. He is a senior engineer with the Nanjing Electronic Equipment Institute. His main research areas include signal and information processing, passive localization technology. E-mail: tiandizhongzi@126.com

ZHU Weiqiang was born in 1964. He received his Ph.D. degree in navigation, guidance and control from the Defense Technology Academy of China Aerospace Science & Industry, Beijing, China, in 2011. He is currently a professor with the Nanjing Electronic Equipment Institute. His main research areas include space electronic countermeasure technology, signal and information processing, passive localization technology. E-mail: zhuweq8511@sina.com

FAN Zhenhong was born in 1978. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electromagnetic field and microwave technique from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. In 2006, he was with the Center of Wireless Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, as a research assistant. He is currently a professor with the School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology. His research interests include computational electromagnetics, electromagnetic scattering, and radiation. E-mail: zhfan@mail.njust.edu.cn

MA Qin was born in 1983, She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronic engineering from the Second Research Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, Beijing, China, in 2005 and 2008, respectively. She is a researcher with the Nanjing Electronic Equipment Institute. Her main research areas include signal and information processing, passive localization technology. E-mail: maqin8511@sina.com

YANG Jian was born in 1986. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in communication and information system from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China, in 2008 and 2014, respectively. He is currently a Researcher with the Nanjing Electronic Equipment Institute. His main research interest include signal and information processing, passive localization technology. E-mail: james200586@163.com

WU Li was born in 1981. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China, in 2003, 2005, and 2009, respectively. He is currently an associate professor with the School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology. His research interests include millimeter wave antennas, microwave imaging, and millimeter wave systems. E-mail: li_wu@njust.edu.cn

Abstract

Abstract:

This paper introduces a hybrid configuration design to enhance the precision of satellite antenna position measurement. By fixing the circular array antenna on the antenna mounting surface and integrating coordinate system transformation relationships with interferometric direction finding (DF) and positioning technology, accurate estimation of the antenna position is ensured. This method optimizes the quality and stability of data fusion by integrating pulse parameter characteristics, satellite orbit and attitude information, as well as the field of view information from observation stations, using techniques such as maximum-ratio-combining (MRC) and orbit extrapolation. Specifically, the sampling-importance resampling particle-filtering and Kalman-filtering (SIR-PF-KF) hybrid filtering prediction technology is employed to precisely predict and correct the three-dimensional (3D) position errors of the L-array antenna. Through data processing of five to nine orbits, accurate estimation of the antenna’s 3D position is achieved, achieving an estimation accuracy of 3 μm, significantly improving the accuracy of on-orbit rapid calibration. Experimental results show that the interferometer positioning accuracy is improved from 7.9 km before antenna position correction to within 0.2 km after correction, verifying the effectiveness and practicability of this method, which aims to address issues with positioning accuracy.

Key words: three-dimensional (3D) coordinate, maximum-ratio-combining (MRC), hybrid filtering, interferometric

Wangjie CHEN, Weiqiang ZHU, Zhenhong FAN, Qin MA, Jian YANG, Li WU. Realization of 3D coordinate estimation for spaceborne interferometric antenna[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2025, 36(6): 1428-1442.

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SNR/dB	$ \Delta {\phi _{}} $/(°)
SNR/dB	Single pulse	MRC pulse
−10	110.392	32.654
0	35.263	9.822
10	11.52	3.408
20	3.745	0.982
30	1.148	0.278
40	0.361	0.095
50	0.111	0.029

Number	RMSE
Number	X	Y	Z	Position
1	139 675	199 923	88 142	259 321
2	3 974.21	10 785.90	7 419.95	13 681.60
3	312.21	1,517.17	2 995.07	3 372.88
4	379.02	181.14	5 614.98	5 630.67
5	125.72	60.95	972.52	982.50
6	81.97	47.80	704.82	711.18
7	77.48	47.38	537.33	544.95
8	76.11	39.61	534.24	541.09
9	74.99	36.18	484.05	491.16
10	76.40	37.39	472.63	480.23

Iteration	RMSE
Iteration	x	y	z	Position
1	11.93	6.74	86.08	87.16
2	7.68	4.35	52.46	53.20
3	9.03	2.58	65.54	66.21
4	6.71	2.88	47.65	48.20
5	5.33	3.10	49.87	50.25
6	4.07	2.10	46.50	46.72
7	3.12	1.80	34.31	34.50
8	3.80	1.64	20.88	21.29
9	6.01	2.38	27.07	27.83
10	3.68	1.63	30.63	30.89

Number	RMSE
Number	X	Y	Z	Position
1	9.31	3.76	66.96	67.71
2	7.36	3.50	27.55	28.72
3	9.31	3.67	27.76	29.51
4	3.29	2.42	19.72	20.13
5	2.26	0.81	14.46	14.65
6	1.35	0.70	10.11	10.22
7	0.86	0.52	10.29	10.34
8	1.35	0.50	8.03	8.16
9	1.43	0.58	6.59	6.77
10	0.98	0.58	7.48	7.57

Frequency/GHz	RMSE
Frequency/GHz	X	Y	Z	Position
1.5	5.29	3.85	22.39	23.32
2.5	4.43	2.51	10.23	11.43
3.5	3.62	1.53	7.24	8.24
4.5	2.75	1.41	4.08	5.12
5.5	2.08	1.08	5.66	6.13
6.5	1.59	1.02	4.43	4.82
7.5	1.28	0.73	4.70	4.92
8.5	1.13	0.71	3.97	4.19
9.5	0.88	0.67	2.90	3.10
10.5	0.81	0.54	2.94	3.09

Realization of 3D coordinate estimation for spaceborne interferometric antenna

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Figures/Tables 19

References 44

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Method	Technology	RMSE
Method in [40]	Levenberg marquardt method	5.35
Method in [41]	Modular kinematic error model	18.97
Method in [42]	Laser displacement sensors	41.23
Method in [43]	Point cloud data based on airborne LiDAR scanner and terrestrial LiDAR scanner	1000
Method in [44]	Digital image grating method	3.10
Proposed method	MRC-SIR-PF-KF method	3.09

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