Preparation of the satellite receiving station at Ny-Ålesund for upcoming satellite missions by means of new made-to-measure antenna operation software

• Main Author: Falck, C.
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences 2018
• Subjects: Ny-Ålesund; Ny Ålesund; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_3042917; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_3042917_2/component/file_3142891/STR_1711_Falck.pdf; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_3042917_2/component/file_3142892/STR_1711_Falck_a.pdf

The German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ operates a satellite-receiving station at Ny-Ålesund, Spitsbergen since 2001. Valuable support for several satellite missions was provided by the station on a best effort basis, while technical and software related issues, as well as uncertainties regarding important system properties, hindered any project participations with more binding commitments. The upcoming US-German GRACE-Follow On satellite mission with on-board GNSS-RO and gravity measurements and subsequent “near real-time” respectively low latency processing chains raised the demand to integrate the Ny-Ålesund station as the primary data receiving station of the mission’s ground segment. This required the demonstration of improved station performance and reliability with a perspective of sustainability as well as the determination of important antenna system parameters, such as the ratio of antenna gain to system noise (G/T). Analysis of receiving problems at the station in the past and considerations on methods to determine the station antennas characteristics suggested that improved antenna operation software was the most important and straightforward element on the planned way. Disappointing experiences with antenna operation programs of third parties, e.g., from shortcomings of functions, flexibility and support, indicated that the effort for an in-house development would pay off. Consequently new software for the semi-automatic operation of the antennas at the satellite receiving station at Ny-Ålesund was developed within this work. Main development objectives were the elimination of antenna operation problems which occurred in the past, to improve the station reliability, and to introduce program features for the support of required antenna measurements, e.g., such that use the sun as a natural radio signal source. Other focal points during the development were the program-internal timing routines, a compact, informative and operation-safe graphical user interface (GUI) and advanced operation ...