Application of variance component estimation to precise orbit determination for ERS-2

Variance component estimation (VCE) is applied to precise orbit determination (POD) of the ERS-2 satellite. Twenty 5-day long arcs in the early three months in 1998 were calculated using the SLR and PRARE data. In the data the adjacent arcs overlap for two days except the intervals for orbit maneuver. The effect of VCE orbit determination on the calculation is investigated by an analysis of residuals and comparison of overlapping arcs, and the mean a posteriori standard deviation of each group of measured residuals is given. It is shown by the residuals analysis that the fitting of the measurements is significantly improved by VCD. However, according to Abbey criterion, VCD is not able to eliminate the systematic errors due to errors in the dynamic and geometric models. The results of the comparison of the overlapping arcs show that (1) VCE reduces the mean range deviation of overlapping arcs, especially where there are obviously unreasonable deviations, so that the orbit obtained has a more uniform precision; (2) By using VCE, adjacent arcs tend to close up and this is more apparent in the transverse direction. From the mean a posteriori standard error of each group of measurements, it can be seen that as far as the single normal point measurement is concerned, the data of some SLR stations are more important than other measurements in POD calculation. Generally speaking, determination of weighting by using VCE is more reasonable than by using initial standard deviation.