Analysis of influencing factors for phase referencing technique in deep space navigation

To improve the accuracy of spacecraft position determination, phase referencing technique had been introduced from radio astronomy. But the influencing factors of this new method in deep space navigation are still not very clear. This paper first gives a brief overview of the basic principle of the phase referencing technique, and then analyzes and simulates the effects of several main influencing factors of it. Finally, based on the results from the experimental data of Cassini and Chang´E-3, we confirm that baselines shorter than 1000 km are necessary to reduce the observation time and the switching cycle time should not exceed 5 minutes.