Study on Compass occultation satellite constellation design

With significant advantages, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation technique is a newcomer in the Earth´s atmosphere sounding. Advancements bring new opportunities to Chinese atmospheric research since China is building its own GNSS-Compass navigation system. Focusing on the features of Compass, this work proposed a simplified algorithm to simulate occultation events between satellites. Based on this algorithm and the models of LEO satellite constellations, there Compass occultation satellite constellations were established by introducing the space-time distribution of occultation events. The performances of these constellations were summarized and compared. The results can be useful references to determine the parameters of Compass occultation satellite constellation in practice.