A novel approach for the SARSAT system

Author

Vrckovnik, G. ; Carter, C.R.

Author_Institution

Defense Res. Establ., Ottawa, Ont., Canada

Volume

27

Issue

2

fYear

1991

fDate

3/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

290

Lastpage

301

Abstract

A novel method for determining the location of a 406-MHz emergency locator transmitter (ELT) for the search and rescue satellite aided tracking (SARSAT) system is proposed. The technique uses information from a geostationary satellite (Geosat) link, as well as the conventional polar orbiting satellite links. The method is based on solving a system of equations to determine the range from the ELT to the polar orbiting satellite (Polarsat) for each signal transmitted. Only two pulses need to be received from the ELT in order to obtain a location estimate. The main difference between the procedure outlined and the global positioning system (GPS) is that accurate time information is not available in the transmissions since aircraft and marine vessels seldom have accurate time standards onboard

Keywords

artificial satellites; satellite relay systems; signal detection; signal processing; tracking systems; 406 MHz; Geosat; Polarsat; SARSAT; emergency locator transmitter; geostationary satellite; location estimate; polar orbiting satellite links; search and rescue satellite aided tracking; Aircraft; Equations; Extraterrestrial measurements; Frequency estimation; Frequency measurement; Global Positioning System; Orbits; Radio transmitters; Satellite broadcasting; Satellite ground stations;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9251

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/7.78304

Filename

78304