Studies and Analysis of Combining BDS-3/GNSS Ultra-Rapid Orbit Products from Different IGS Analysis Centers

The third generation of China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) began to provide global service at the end of 2018, and the completion of BDS was announced in July 2020, which includes GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit), IGSO (Inclined Geosynchronous orbit), and MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) satellites. The resulting BDS orbits vary due to the inconsistent alignment strategies used by different analysis centers. Therefore, it is necessary to study the method of determining the BDS-3 orbit products combined from different analysis centers. In this research, the accuracy of the combined orbits for BDS-3 and other GNSS systems is evaluated and analyzed. To verify the reliability of the orbit combination method proposed in this paper, the GPS orbit is first selected for verification. Compared to the analysis centers, the mean Signal in Space User Ranging Error (SISURE) for GPS combined orbits is significantly reduced, and the mean SISURE of combined orbits for Block IIF, Block IIR, and Block III is 4.15 mm, 5.43 mm, and 5.63 mm, respectively. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the orbit combination method in this research. Besides, the accuracy of the combined orbits is improved by the ERP correction, and the mean RMS of the without Earth rotation Parameters (ERP) correction orbits and with ERP correction orbits is 4.78 mm and 4.53 mm, respectively. This demonstrates that orbit consistency corrections should be considered when performing orbit combinations. Compared to the GFZ orbits, the accuracy of the combined orbits has improved for GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, and BDS is 8.2%, 9.9%, 9.9%, and 5.5%, respectively. It shows that the orbit combination method improves the orbital accuracy compared to the individual analysis center orbits. The mean RMS of the combined orbits for GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS MEO, and BDS IGSO is 1.7 cm, 2.61 cm, 2.52 cm, 2.59 cm, and 4.90 cm, respectively. The results demonstrate that the accuracy of the combined orbit for the BDS-3 MEO satellite is already similar to other systems; an orbit combination also available for the BDS-3 satellite.