Functions of retired GEO communication satellites in improving the PDOP value of CAPS

This paper briefly introduces the maneuverable feature of the slightly inclined geosynchronous orbit (SIGSO) satellites under a new control model degraded from the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) communication satellites which will retire as most of the fuel in these satellites has been consumed. Basing on the transmitting Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS), the authors, by analyses, indicate that such satellites can make an improvement to CAPS constellation configuration, especially to the PDOP value from simulation. The results show that the use of SIGSO satellites can (1) actualize three-dimensional (3D) navigation and positioning compared with the situation, which, only using GEO satellites, cannot be carried out, and improve navigation and positioning accuracy to some extent; (2) reuse the communication services of these satellites for more years, and GEO communication satellites will be retired at a later time and delay their time to become space debris and reduce their pollution of the space environment, so that valuable space resources are maximally used. As for the use of these satellites in the transmitting positioning system, the authors present some views and suggestions in this work. Supported by the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815501) and the Chinese National Programs for High Technology Research and Development (Grant No. 2007AA12z343)     

Selection of satellite constellation framework of CAPS

Based on the idea of transmitting the satellite navigation and positioning system, taking the distribution and variation of the Position Dilution of Precision factor (PDOP), which is closely related with the precision of navigation and positioning, within the China area as the primary criterion, we analyze and discuss the tentative plan of constellation configuration consisting of geosynchronous orbit (GEO) communication satellites and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites for the transmitting Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS). We emphatically consider the effect on the PDOP by the three major orbit parameters including the inclination, eccentricity and right ascension of the ascending node (RAAN) of IGSO satellites, to research the strategies of the constellation configuration of CAPS through software emulation. Various constellation configurations are analyzed and compared and the results show that the constellation configuration, consisting of three IGSO communication satellites in three orbits with the same inclination as 50°, the difference in RAAN as 120° and the same “8” shaped ground track centered near 115°E and four or five GEO communication satellites within 60°E to 150°E, can satisfy the requirement that Chinese domain is availably covered and the navigation and positioning with high precision could be obtained. Three relatively excellent constellation configurations are initially suggested and some concerned issues are discussed in this work. Supported by the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815501) and the Chinese National Programs for High Technology Research and Development (Grant No. 2007AA12z343)     

The principle of the positioning system based on communication satellites

It is a long dream to realize the communication and navigation functionality in a satellite system in the world. This paper introduces how to establish the system, a positioning system based on communication satellites called Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS). Instead of the typical navigation satellites, the communication satellites are configured firstly to transfer navigation signals from ground stations, and can be used to obtain service of the positioning, velocity and time, and to achieve the function of navigation and positioning. Some key technique issues should be first solved; they include the accuracy position determination and orbit prediction of the communication satellites, the measuring and calculation of transfer time of the signals, the carrier frequency drift in communication satellite signal transfer, how to improve the geometrical configuration of the constellation in the system, and the integration of navigation & communication. Several innovative methods are developed to make the new system have full functions of navigation and communication. Based on the development of crucial techniques and methods, the CAPS demonstration system has been designed and developed. Four communication satellites in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) located at 87.5°E, 110.5°E, 134°E, 142°E and barometric altimetry are used in the CAPS system. The GEO satellites located at 134°E and 142°E are decommissioned GEO (DGEO) satellites. C-band is used as the navigation band. Dual frequency at C1=4143.15 MHz and C2=3826.02 MHz as well as dual codes with standard code (CA code and precision code (P code)) are adopted. The ground segment consists of five ground stations; the master station is in Lintong, Xi’an. The ground stations take a lot of responsibilities, including monitor and management of the operation of all system components, determination of the satellite position and prediction of the satellite orbit, accomplishment of the virtual atomic clock measurement, transmission and receiving navigation signals to and from each satellite. In the north, the south, the east, the west and the center of Chinese main land, the function of CAPS demonstration system is checked and measured. In cars and on board the system is also checked and measured. The results are as follow: CA-code, horizontal positioning accuracy, 15–25 m (1 σ), vertical, 1–3 m; P-code, horizontal positioning accuracy, 8–10 m (1 σ), vertical, 1–3 m; velocity accuracy, CA-code, 0.13–0.30 m/s, P-code, 0.15–0.17 m/s; time accuracy, CA-code, 160 ns, P-code, 13 ns; determination accuracy of orbit ≤2 m. About 20 million US $ and two years are spent for the development of demonstration. A complete CAPS system is now being established. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10453001), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815500), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2004AA105030), and the Funds of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for Key Topics in Innovation Engineering (Grant No. KGCXI-21)     

A new method of ionospheric-free hybrid differential positioning based on a double-antenna CAPS receiver

Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS) is a transmitted satellite navigation system moved by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Three basic modes of navigation and positioning with CAPS are given, and then a comparative analysis is made in this paper. In terms of the principle that the ionospheric delay is at an inverse ratio to the frequency square, a new ionospheric-free positioning method based on a double-antenna CAPS receiver is put forward. Then the hybrid differential observations and the solving equations and algorithms for one epoch and multi epochs are deduced according to the basic principle of the method. The method may remove the global errors in signal emission, propagation, transmission and receiving (e.g., ionospheric delay, hardware delay, and clock error). So it is very convenient for the single-epoch solution and multi-epoch navigation and positioning, and may efficiently improve the precision of real time CAPS navigation. Furthermore, the method can be used not only for the geometric orbit determination of CAPS GEO and IGSO satellites and the navigation and positioning, but also for the estimation of the tropospheric zenith delay, which is useful for the study of water vapor changes in the atmosphere. Polynomials are used in this method to express the tropospheric zenith delay and CAPS satellite orbits within the limited time interval, which reduces the number of unknown parameters and thus speeds the computation. Supported by the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KGCX1-21), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815500), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA12z303), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40774009), and the Special Project of Taishan Scholars of Shandong Province of China (Grant No. TSXZ0502)     

Signal structure of the Chinese Area Positioning System

Proper signal structure is very important in the navigation, positioning, and time services of a satellite navigation system. In this paper, the carrier wave characteristics, ranging code functions, BOC modulation, navigation data rate, the error-correcting methods, and signal channel resource allocation are discussed in terms of the technical characteristics of the transforming satellite navigation system and the resources of communication satellites. The results show that dual-frequency of C band in the Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS), compound ranging code, a combination of the coarse code and precise code, BOC modulation, separate-channel transmission of different users are compatible with the satellite navigation system at present. The experiments show that the current signal structure can meet the demand of CAPS. Supported by the Major Knowledge Innovation Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KGCX1-21), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2004AA105030), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10453001), and the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815502)     

Methods of rapid orbit forecasting after maneuvers for geostationary satellites

A geostationary (GEO) satellite may serve as a navigation satellite, but there is a problem that maneuvers frequently occur and the forces are difficult to model. Based on the technique of determining satellite orbits by transfer, a predicted orbit with high accuracy may be achieved by the method of statistical orbit determination in case of no maneuver force. The predicted orbit will soon be invalid after the maneuver starts, and it takes a long time to get a valid orbit after the maneuver ends. In order to improve ephemeris usability, the method of rapid orbit forecasting after maneuvers is studied. First, GEO satellite movement is analyzed in case of maneuvers based on the observation from the orbit measurement system by transfer. Then when a GEO satellite is in the free status just after maneuvers, the short arc observation is used to forecast the orbit. It is assumed that the common system bias and biases of each station are constant, which can be obtained from orbit determination with long arc observations. In this way, only 6 orbit elements would be solved by the method of statistical orbit determination, and the ephemeris with high accuracy may be soon obtained. Actual orbit forecasting with short arc observation for SINOSAT-1 satellite shows that, with the tracking network available, the precision of the predicted orbit (RMS of O-C) can reach about 5 m with 15 min arc observation, and about 3 m with 30 min arc observation. Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA12Z322), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815503), and the West Light Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 2007LH01)     

The transmission link of CAPS navigation and communication system

The Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS) is based on communication satellites with integrated capability, which is different from the Global Positioning System (GPS), the International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) and so on. CAPS works at C-band, and its navigation information is not directly generated from the satellite, but from the master control station on the ground and transmitted to users via the satellite. The slightly inclined geostationary-satellite orbit (SIGSO) satellites are adopted in CAPS. All of these increase the difficulty in the design of the system and terminals. In this paper, the authors study the CAPS configuration parameters of the navigation master control station, information transmission capability, and the selection of the antenna aperture of the communication center station, as well as the impact of satellite parameters on the whole communication system from the perspective of the transmission link budget. The conclusion of availability of the CAPS navigation system is achieved. The results show that the CAPS inbound communication system forms a new low-data-rate satellite communication system, which can accommodate mass communication terminals with the transmission rate of no more than 1 kbps for every terminal. The communication center station should be configured with a large-aperture antenna (about 10–15 m); spread spectrum communication technology should be used with the spreading gain as high as about 40 dB; reduction of the satellite transponder gain attenuation is beneficial to improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the system, with the attenuation value of 0 or 2 dB as the best choice. The fact that the CAPS navigation system has been checked and accepted by the experts and the operation is stable till now clarifies the rationality of the analysis results. The fact that a variety of experiments and applications of the satellite communication system designed according to the findings in this paper have been successfully carried out confirms the correctness of the study results. Supported by the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815504) and the Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA12z343)     

An analysis of the wide area differential method of geostationary orbit satellites

This work aims to obtain a wide area differential method for geostationary orbit (GEO) constellation. A comparison between the dilution of precision (DOP) of four-dimensional (4D) calculation including satellite clock errors and ephemeris errors and that of three-dimensional (3D) calculation only including ephemeris errors with the inverse positioning theory of GPS shows the conclusion that all the 3D PDOPs are greatly reduced. Based on this, a basic idea of correcting satellite clock errors and ephemeris errors apart is put forward, and moreover, a specific method of separation is proposed. Satellite clock errors are separated in a master station with time synchronization, and all the remaining pseudo-range errors after the satellite clock errors have been deducted are used to work out ephemeris corrections of all GEO satellites. By a comparative analysis of user positioning accuracy before and after differential, the wide area differential method is verified to be quite valid for GEO constellation. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10778715), the National Key Basic Research Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815502), and the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (Grant No. 08B039)     

Satellite virtual atomic clock with pseudorange difference function

Satellite atomic clocks are the basis of GPS for the control of time and frequency of navigation signals. In the Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS), a satellite navigation system without the satellite atomic clocks onboard is successfully developed. Thus, the method of time synchronization based on satellite atomic clocks in GPS is not suitable. Satellite virtual atomic clocks are used to implement satellite navigation. With the satellite virtual atomic clocks, the time at which the signals are transmitted from the ground can be delayed into the time that the signals are transmitted from the satellites and the pseudorange measuring can be fulfilled as in GPS. Satellite virtual atomic clocks can implement the navigation, make a pseudorange difference, remove the ephemeris error, and improve the accuracy of navigation positioning. They not only provide a navigation system without satellite clocks, but also a navigation system with pseudorange difference. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815502) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA12Z300)     

Barometric altimetry system as virtual constellation applied in CAPS

This work describes the barometric altimetry as virtual constellation applied to the Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS), which uses the transponders of communication satellites to transfer navigation messages to users. Barometric altimetry depends on the relationship of air pressure varying with altitude in the Earth’s atmosphere. Once the air pressure at a location is measured the site altitude can be found. This method is able to enhance and improve the availability of three-dimensional positioning. The difficulty is that the relation between barometric pressure and altitude is variable in different areas and under various weather conditions. Hence, in order to obtain higher accuracy, we need to acquire the real-time air pressure corresponding to an altimetric region’s reference height. On the other hand, the altimetry method will be applied to satellite navigation system, but the greatest difficulty lies in how to get the real-time air pressure value at the reference height in the broad areas overlaid by satellite navigation. We propose an innovational method to solve this problem. It is to collect the real-time air pressures and temperatures of the 1860 known-altitude weather observatories over China and around via satellite communication and to carry out time extrapolation forecast uniformly. To reduce data quantity, we first partition the data and encode them and then broadcast these information via navigation message to CAPS users’ receivers. Upon the interpolations being done in receivers, the reference air pressure and temperature at the receiver’s nearby place is derived. Lastly, combing with the receiver-observed real air pressure and temperature, the site’s altitude can be determined. The work is presented in the following aspects: the calculation principle, formulae, data collection, encoding, prediction, interpolation method, navigation message transmission together with errors causes and analyses. The advantages and shortcomings of the technique are discussed at the end. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815500), the National High Technology Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2004AA105030), the Pilot Project of the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KGCX1-21), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10453001)     

The solutions of navigation observation equations for CAPS

Chinese scientists invent the navigation and positioning system based on commercial communications satellites and develop them successfully into China Area Positioning System (CAPS). In principle, this system is different from the GPS broadcasting satellite navigation class, where the propagation epoch of original navigation signals for pseudo-range measurement is from a ground master control station rather than from satellite transponders. This paper addresses the establishment of the three observation equation models for the navigation and positioning system based on communications satellites, and expresses them identically to operator equations and optimized models. Furthermore, both algorithms of the linear solution for the observable characteristic equation and the least-squares solution for the condition number more than 4 are discussed, with several methods for the exact solution, such as improving the behavior of coefficient matrices, right estimation for the weighted right hand side and selection of iteration forms of solutions, and the influence of the condition number on improving navigation and positioning accuracy is also analyzed carefully. Hopefully, all the works would be contributive to further development of the navigation and positioning system based on communications satellites, and be potentially valuable to other satellite navigation and positioning systems. Supported by the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815500)     

Threshold quantum secret sharing between multi-party and multi-party

A threshold quantum secret sharing (TQSS) scheme between multi-party and multi-party was proposed using a sequence of single photons, which is useful and efficient when the parties of communication are not all present. We described the process of this TQSS scheme and discussed its security. It was shown that entanglement is not necessary for quantum secret sharing. Moreover, the theoretic efficiency was improved to approach 100% as almost all the instances can be used for generating the private key, and each photon can carry one bit of information. This protocol is feasible with the present-day technique. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)(Grant No. 2007CB311100), the National High-Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2006AA01Z419 and 2006AA01Z440), the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 90604023), the Scientific Research Common Program of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (Grant No. KM200810005004), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Youth of Beijing University of Technology (Grant No. 97007016200701), the Doctoral Scientific Research Activation Foundation of Beijing University of Technology (Grant No. 52007016200702), the ISN Open Foundation, and the National Laboratory for Modern Communications Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 9140C1101010601)     

CAPS satellite spread spectrum communication blind multi-user detecting system based on chaotic sequences

Multiple Path Interference (MPI) and Multiple Access Interference (MAI) are important factors that affect the performance of Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS). These problems can be solved by using spreading sequences with ideal properties and multi-user detectors. Chaotic sequences based on Chebyshev map are studied and the satellite communication system model is set up to investigate the application of chaotic sequences for CAPS in this paper. Simulation results show that chaotic sequences have desirable correlation properties and it is easy to generate a large number of chaotic sequences with good security. It has great practical value to apply chaotic sequences to CAPS together with multi-user detecting technology and the system performance can be improved greatly. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815500) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA12z343)     

Morphological study of atherosclerotic plaque and its application in vulnerability evaluation

The relationships between the morphological characteristics and the vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaque were analyzed theoretically and several suggestions were proposed to evaluate the plaque vulnerability. Validated by animal experiments and clinical studies, the theoretical results were confirmed. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10302016 and 60402023), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)(Grant No. 2006CB503803), and the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (Grant No. 2007AA02Z448)     

Time synchronization and carrier frequency control of CAPS navigation signals generated on the ground

The Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS) works without atomic clocks on the satellite, and the CAPS navigation signals transmitted on the ground may achieve the same effect as that with high-performance atomic clocks on the satellite. The primary means of achieving that effect is through the time synchronization and carrier frequency control of the CAPS navigation signals generated on the ground. In this paper the synchronization requirements of different time signals are analyzed by the formation of navigation signals, and the theories and methods of the time synchronization of the CAPS navigation signals generated on the ground are also introduced. According to the conditions of the high-precision satellite velocity-measurement signal source, the carrier frequency and its chains of the navigation signals are constructed. CAPS velocity measurement is realized by the expected deviation of real time control to the carrier frequency, and the precision degree of this method is also analyzed. The experimental results show that the time synchronization precision of CAPS generating signals is about 0.3 ns and the precision of the velocity measurement signal source is about 4 cm/s. This proves that the theories and methods of the generating time synchronization and carrier frequency control are workable. Supported by the Major Knowledge Innovation Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KGCX1-21), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2004AA105030 and 2006AA12Z314), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10453001), and the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815502)     

GPS/CAPS dual-mode software receiver

The positioning of the GPS or Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS) software receiver was developed on a software receiver platform. The structure of the GPS/CAPS dual-mode software receiver was put forward after analyzing the differences in the satellite identification, ranging code, spread spectrum, coordinate system, time system, carrier band, and navigation data between GPS and CAPS. Based on Matlab software on a personal computer, baseband signal processing and positioning procedures were completed using real GPS and CAPS radio frequency signals received by two antennas. Three kinds of experiments including GPS positioning, CAPS positioning, and GPS/CAPS positioning were carried out. Stability and precision of the results were analyzed and compared. The experimental results show that the precision of CAPS is similar to that of GPS, while the positioning precision of the GPS/CAPS dual-mode software receiver is 1–2 m higher than that of CAPS or GPS. The smallest average variance of the positioning can be obtained by using the GPS/CAPS dual-mode software receiver. Supported by the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815500) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA12z343)     

Revisiting the security of quantum dialogue and bidirectional quantum secure direct communication

From the perspective of information theory and cryptography, the security of two quantum dialogue protocols and a bidirectional quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol was analyzed, and it was pointed out that the transmitted information would be partly leaked out in them. That is, any eavesdropper can elicit some information about the secrets from the public annunciations of the legal users. This phenomenon should have been strictly forbidden in a quantum secure communication. In fact, this problem exists in quite a few recent proposals and, therefore, it deserves more research attention in the following related study. Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA01Z419), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 90604023 and 60373059), the National Research Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20040013007), the National Laboratory for Modern Communications Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 9140C1101010601), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (Grant No. 4072020) and the ISN Open Foundation     

Synchronously pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator at 1053 nm

A femtosecond optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by a Ti:Sapphire oscillator is reported. By the cavity length tuning, the signal wavelength is continuously tuned from 1000 to 1200 nm. The average output power of 32 mW is obtained at 1053 nm. The pulse width is measured to be 342 fs by intensity autocorrelation method. In addition, we observed bichromatic emission during the cavity length tuning process. Supported by the National High Technology Program Research and Development Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60490280 and 10804128), and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB815104)     

Threshold quantum secure direct communication without entanglement

For the first time, a threshold quantum secure direct communication (TQSDC) scheme is presented. Similar to the classical Shamir's secret sharing scheme, the sender makes n shares, S1, …, Sn of secret key K and each receiver keeps a share secretly. If the sender wants to send a secret message M to the receivers, he en-codes the information of K and M on a single photon sequence and sends it to one of the receivers. According to the secret shares, the t receivers sequentially per-form the corresponding unitary operations on the single photon sequence and ob-tain the secret message M. The shared shares may be reusable if it can be judged that there is no eavesdropper in line. We discuss that our protocol is feasible with current technology.     

Threshold proxy quantum signature scheme with threshold shared verification

A threshold proxy quantum signature scheme with threshold shared verification is proposed. An original signer could authorize a group as its proxy signers. Then only t or more of n persons in the proxy group can generate the proxy signature on behalf of the original signer and any t − 1 or fewer ones cannot do that. When the proxy signature needs to be verified, any t or more of n persons belonging to the verification group can verify the message and any t − 1 or fewer ones cannot verify the validity of the proxy signature. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)(Grant No. 2007CB311100), the National High-Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2006AA01Z419 and 20060101Z4015), the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 90604023), the Scientific Research Common Program of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (Grant No. KM200810005004), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Youth of Beijing University of Technology (Grant No. 97007016200701), the Doctoral Scientific Research Activation Foundation of Beijing University of Technology (Grant No. 52007016200702), and the National Laboratory for Modern Communications Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 9140C1101010601)