System for monitoring a satellite constellation of a positioning system
AssigneeAstrium GmbH
InventorRobert Andre Laine
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a monitoring system which comprises at least one monitoring satellite placed in orbit at a lower altitude than that of the satellites of the satellite constellation so as to be capable of receiving the positioning signals emitted towards the Earth by said satellites, and which comprises a processing unit intended for verifying the integrity of said received positioning signals, using position information that is separate from said signals for this purpose.
Claims10
A monitoring system for monitoring positioning signals emitted by a satellite constellation belonging to a positioning system, said monitoring system comprising:
- at least one monitoring satellite comprising at least the following on-board means:
- at least one receiver being able to directly receive positioning signals emitted by satellites of said satellite constellation;
- and
- at least one emitter being able to emit to the Earth, integrity data indicating, the case being, the satellite(s) of said satellite constellation, the positioning signals of which are erroneous;
- at least one control centre being arranged on the Earth, controlling said monitoring satellites, and comprising means able to receive integrity data emitted by such a monitoring satellite;
- and
- at least one integrity message distributing centre being arranged on the Earth and comprising:
- means for receiving integrity data from the monitoring satellite, being transmitted by said control centre;
- means for determining, from such integrity data, integrity messages relating to satellites of said satellite constellation of the positioning system:
- and
- means for emitting such integrity messages to users,
- wherein said monitoring satellite is placed on orbit at an altitude lower than that of the satellites of said satellite constellation so as to be able to receive the positioning signals emitted by such satellites to the Earth, and in that said monitoring satellite further comprises at least one processing unit being formed so as to check the integrity of the received positioning signals, using a positioning information being independent from such positioning signals, to determine, the case being, the satellites having emitted erroneous positioning signals, and to form corresponding integrity data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.