Towards Digital Earth 1

— Proceedings of the International Symposium on Digital Earth

Science Press ,1999

The Use of GPS Receiver on Tsinghua-1 Microsatellite

Haiyun Zhang1 Martin Unwin2

1
Tsinghua Space Research Center, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, P. R. China
Tel: 86-10-62785573, Fax::86-10-62784691
E-mail: zhanghy@ntl.pim.tsinghua.edu.cn
h.y.zhang@ee.surrey.ac.uk
2
Surrey Space Center, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU” 5XH, U.K.
Tel: 44-1483-259278, Fax:: 44-1483-259503
E-mail: martin.unwin@ee.surrey.ac.uk

ABSTRACT The use of spaceborne GPS for positioning and orbit determination of low Earth orbit satellites has been
studied for some time, and the immediate research result is that a small number of spacecraft have used GPS receivers
for real time tracking without the need for extra ground based tracking equipment. GPS provides a low cost and
relatively simple way to give autonomous positioning for satellites in orbit.
This paper introduces a spaceborne GPS receiver design that makes use of advanced commercial technology based
on Mitel GPS chip-set. The Space GPS Receiver (SGR) is to be carried on the Tsinghua-1 microsatellite, which is
scheduled for launch in 2000. The SGR has two antennas, 24 GPS L1 correlation channels and uses a 32 bit low power
RISC microprocessor. On the Tsinghua-1 microsatellite, it will be used to provide a position and velocity service; payload
scheduling, for example, camera triggering and transmitter switching; and clock synchronization of some sub-systems on
the microsatellite.
The SGR described in this paper includes the following characteristics: a low cost and power consumption; a simple
architecture; the capability to tolerate orbital radiation effects; the potential capability for attitude determination and the
facility for uploading new software to the GPS receiver to allow functional improvements to be made to the GPS receiver
in the future.
KEY WORDS GPS Receiver, Microsatellite, Positioning

1. Introduction In particular microsatellites are limited by their

For some time people have been devoting their
attention to the use of Global Positioning System
on spacecraft. GPS offers a low cost and relatively
easy method of providing autonomous positioning.
It provides accurate on-board satellite tracking and
a satellite can generate autonomously its own
orbital elements using GPS. Furthermore, now
GPS is being investigated for use on spacecraft in
other ways, e.g. GPS for precise time; payload
planning; attitude determination.
Tsinghua-1 is a collaborative microsatellite
mission between Tsinghua Space Research Center
(TSRC) and Surrey Space Center (SSC), and it is a
50kg microsatellite that is scheduled for launch next
year. It will be used to demonstrate its worth as a
vehicle for technology demonstration,
communications, and remote sensing. Tsinghua-1
carries three payloads: EIS, DSP/DTE and GPS
receiver together with a 3-axis attitude stability and
control system.
As one of the payloads on Tsinghua-1, the GPS
receiver offers the following services:
• Position, Velocity, Time.
• Clock Synchronization.
• Mean Orbital Element Generation.
• Payload Triggering by Position.
power generation capacity, payload volume and
mass. GPS together with the on-board processor of
spacecraft offers real-time high accuracy
positioning, taking the advantage of minimal on-
board resources.
2. Design of Space GPS Receiver
The rapid development of the GPS receiver at a
low cost is made possible by using commercial
available GPS technology to develop a customised
GPS receiver for a specific application. Recently
many semiconductor manufactures have released
their own GPS chip-sets, e.g. ST Microelectronics,
Motorola and Philips, etc. The Mitel ( formerly GEC
Plessey ) chip-set was the first one that was
commercially released together with the required
source code.
The space GPS receiver (SGR) used on
Tsinghua-1 is based on the second generation of
Mitel Semiconductors GPS chip-sets, the latest
generation of these ICs, the GP2010 and the
GP2021 together with an ARM60 microprocessor to
form the heart of SGR. A number of factors helped
with the decision of using the Mitel chip-set for the
spacecraft positioning application, including:
2 Haiyun Zhang, Martin Unwin/The Use of GPS Receiver on Tsinghua-1 Microsatllite

• The second generation chip-set was chosen Fig.2 shows the architecture of the SGR used on
as the basis for the spacecraft GPS receiver, Tsinghua-1 microsatellite and modified based on
and can be considered a reasonably mature the GPS Architect.
reliable product. The SGR consists of the following sub-systems:
• The Mitel chip-set is known to be of a high GPS antennas, LNAs, The RF section, the digital
performance design with 2 bit sampling, 3 stage section and the Tlm/Tcd Node.
down-conversion, 12 channels, integrated
phase tracking capability and a highly flexible Antenna / LNA
architecture. The SGR only requires one antenna for positioning.
• Each GP2021 can accept two simultaneous The GPS receiver has two antennas, one is used
signal inputs enabling the phase difference as the master antenna and another one is
measurement between the signals from two redundant. For positioning, the location of antenna
antennas. is not critical as long as at least four GPS satellites
• The correlator DCO is known to be capable of are visible to the antenna, but the low noise
tracking in the presence of Doppler shifts amplifier (LNA) must be positioned such as the
encountered at velocities of greater than 10km/s length from the antenna is minimised and can be
(greater than expected in orbit). integrated with the antenna to reduce cable loss
• ARM60 is a 32 bit low power RISC processor before amplification.
that operates at 20MHz and is capable of
executing 14-20 million instructions per second The RF Section
(MIPS). The SGR has two separate RF front-ends in the RF
section which are responsible for downconverting
2.1.Hardware Design the GPS signals and digitising the IF signals. The
The hardware of the Tsinghua-1 microsatellite SGR RF sections use the same local oscillator so that
is based on the GPS Architect which is a complete the measurements are referenced to the same
stand-alone GPS receiver and uses a dedicated fundamental TCXO clock.
ARM60 microprocessor. Fig.1 is a block diagram
for the GPS Architect. The Digital Section
This part consists of hardware correlator channels,
ARM 60 memory, a 32 bit RISC microprocessor with
GP2010 GP2021

RF-Front End Correlator Clock RISC μprocessor supporting peripherals and the interface circuitry.
DUART
There are 24 C/A code correlation channels
0.5 MB SRAM
TCXO
available, although only 12 channels are avaiable if
EPROM only 2 antennas are used.

TLM/TTC Node
Fig.1 The GPS Architect For the purpose of flexibility and diagnostics, a
separate 8-bit microcontroller is used to provide
telemetry and telecommands. The telemetry
GPS Antennas
includes status monitoring of SGR, while
telcommands include reset, power down parts of
LNA LNA the receiver, some redundancy switching etc.

GPS TLM/TCD RS422 TTC The SGR Interfaces

RF Section Node
TTC Interface
The satellite supplies 0V/5V digital and analogue
CAN Data
Dual CAN Bus powers to the SGR.
Interface
Primary
The main data and tlm/tcd interface is the
Data
GPS RS422 Data Interface
Interface automobile industry standard CAN (controller area
Digital
Processing Auxiliary Data Interface network) interface. This provides a complete multi-
Unit Synchronising PPS Signals(1-6)
point communication protocol which has been
Power 5V & 0V analogue power extended for spacecraft use. The interface contains
Supply 5V & 0V digital power
a dual redundant CAN bus with self-switching
capability; The tlm/tcd and the data interface can be
Fig. 2 Architecture and Interfaces of the SGR both accessed over the CAN bus.
The RS422 provides a point-to-point differential
link with a good immunity to noise. There are two
 Haiyun Zhang, Martin Unwin/The Use of GPS Receiver on Tsinghua-1 Microsatllite
RS422 links. One provides access to the primary
SGR computer and is the main means for control
and communication. The second link provides
direct access to the TTC node so that telemetry can
be obtained and telecommands sent independently
from the primary computer, although most TTC
functions can be obtained indirectly from the TTC
node via the primary computer.
A high speed point-to-point data link is provided
to transfer raw measurements to a coprocessor at
10/20 MBps.
The GPS receiver also has six buffered pulse-
per-second outputs that can be distributed to
satellite clocks to enable the synchronisation of
system clocks to UTC.
All the interfaces mentioned above are shown in
Fig.2.
3
Antenna and LNA are two in one, the box size is
70×45×20mm3 .
• SGR total mass is 1.355kg, including
antenna/LNA , which is 55g.
• The SGR power consumption is 4W@5V,
antenna power down (including LNAs) is 0.4W
(single antenna).
• The accuracy of positioning, velocity and time
synchronisation under Selective Availability on
G PS) are respectively 150m, 1m/s, 3-D, 2σ
approximately and + 1μs.
• It can be powered up and operated (under
vacuum) with in the limits of temperature : -20
o
C to +50 oC. The survival limits are -50 oC to
+80 oC.

2.2.Software Design
The SGR software is based on the software UHF Antennas
environment provided by the Mitel Semiconductors
but has been modified to suit use on a satellite in
orbit. To improve the SGR software in the future,
new code can be uploaded and booted into SGR Sun Sensor
Magnetometer
even once the spacecraft is in orbit. This provides a
chance for SGR to improve its function at any time.

2.3.Radiation of SGR NAC-0 Wheel NAC-1

146

The space environment is utterly different from that

on the ground. The radiation environment causes Earth Observation Compartment

three radiation effects on electronics that must be (11) 26

Attitude Determination, Control and Safety
considered: Single Event Upset (SEUs), Single (10)
GPS 26

Event Latch-up (SEL) and total Dose effects. The (9)

Transputer 26

EDAC circuitry protects from SEUs. SELs are (8)

DTE 26

protected through the use of an overload switch (7)

On-Board Computer - 386 32

that cuts the power on a current surge. The (6)

On-Board Computer -186 26

components selected have a radiation tolerance of

(5) 26
Telemetry and Telecommand Module
(4) 35
Power Module
10 kRads more.
(3) 32
Downlink Module
(2) 32
Uplink Module
3. Space GPS Receiver on Tsingua-1
(1) 50

3.1. SGR on Tsinghua-1 Battery Module

The size of the Tsinghua-1 microsatellite is GPS GPS

Attach Fitting
approximately 350×350×640mm3 . Module trays
carry the standard platform modules and payloads.
Boom (Stowed)
The GPS module box is between the tansputer and
ADCS boxs. Two GPS antennas are fixed on the
Tipmass
face pointing towards space ( +Z facet ), shown in
Fig.3.

3.2.•SGR Approximate Specification

The approximate specifications for the SGR are
given below. VHF Antennas

• L1 (1.57542GHz) from US DoD GPS

satellites, C/A code only, 12 channels.
• Receiver box size is 295×160×35mm3 , but (a) Array of Modules
the SGR only occupies half module tray.
4 Haiyun Zhang, Martin Unwin/The Use of GPS Receiver on Tsinghua-1 Microsatllite

Sun Sensor
UHF Antennas

-X +X

Magnetometer Magnetometer

Sun Sensor

+Y

(b) -Z Facet ( pointing to the earth )

SEPAR ATION PYRO

VHF ANTENNAS

GP S ATTACH FITTING G PS

BOO M TIPM ASS

SEPAR ATION
SW ITCH

(c) +Z Facet ( pointing to the space )

Fig. 3 Layout of Tsinghua-1

• Estimated survival limit is about 10+krads (Si). Mitel commercial GPS chip-set and the tolerance to
• The dynamic capability is as follows: the radiation effects has been considered. Uniquely, it
maximum velocity is 8km/s, the maximum has the ability to upload new code and improve its
acceleration is 2g. function while the satellite is in orbit.

4. Conclusion References
This paper has described the space GPS (SGR) Unwin MJ, 1998, Design of A Space GPS Receiver,
receiver which is used on Tsinghua-1 microsatellite. Surrey Space Center
It is as one of the payloads to be used for a real- You Zheng etc, 1999, Tsinghua Micro/Nanosatellite
time positioning for tracking the satellite and research and it抯 application, 13th Annual AIAA/USU
providing orbit elements for the spacecraft mission Conference on Small Satellites, SSC99-IX-3, Utah
and ground station. The receiver is built from the