The determination of relative orbit for formation flying subject to J2

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to consider relative navigation - a vital technology to satellites formation flying, and to propose a new concept for relative navigation determination along with a technical approach for its practical implementation. Design/methodology/approach - The determination of relative orbit is considered with the relative distance elevation and azimuth measurements about formation flying while the primary satellite is in a circle or ellipse orbit. This measurement is obtained by laser range finder and the estimations of the intersatellite relative position and velocity are obtained by utilizing the unscented Kalman filter instead of extended Kalman filter. Findings - The simulation results show that the error ofthe relative position and velocity can be estimated with the order of cm and mm/s, respectively, under the effect of J2, converge faster than EKF, and then demonstrate that the approach is feasible. Originality/value - The paper proposes a new concept for relative navigation determination and describes a technical approach for its practical implementation.