Course Details

Space Geodesy 1

Academic Year 2024/25

NEA032 course is part of 1 study plan

​ NPC-GK Winter Semester 1st year

Dynamics of satellite motion in a gravitational field - a two-body problem.
Disturbed and undisturbed motion of satellites.
Electromagnetic signal propagation in the atmosphere.
Global navigation satellite systems with emphasis on GPS and their applications.
Importance of ground support segment and error modelling for geodetic GNSS measurements.

Credits

5 credits

Language of instruction

Czech

Semester

winter

Course Guarantor

doc. Ing. Radovan Machotka, Ph.D.

Institute

Institute of Geodesy

Forms and criteria of assessment

course-unit credit and examination

Entry Knowledge

Kinematics and dynamics of motion, Newton‘s laws of motion, Newton‘s gravitational law, law of refraction and reflection of the light, wave dispersion, methods of modulation of waves, field of dissipative forces, physical conditions in Earth‘s atmosphere.

Aims

Introducing students to space geodesy, especially global navigation satellite systems. Students will learn about the dynamics of the motion of a satellite in orbit around the Earth, the propagation of electromagnetic signals in the atmosphere and their processing for the purpose of determination of the receiver's position on the Earth.


The aim of the course is to deepen students' knowledge in the field of space geodesy, especially in the field of global navigation satellite systems.
The student will:
- understand the dynamics of satellite motion in orbit around the Earth,
- know the principles of different types of satellite measurements,
- have a detailed knowledge of the most important GNSS (GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BeiDou),
- understand the principles of the various GNSS positioning methods
- understand the importance of ground support systems for GNSS,
- understand methods of modelling errors and minimising their impact on results,
- be able to process GNSS measurements for geodetic purposes.

Basic Literature

Machotka, R., Fixel, J., HE01 Geodetická astronomie a kosmická geodézie I, Teoretický úvod, el. text, FAST (cs)
Machotka, R., Fixel, J., HE01 Geodetická astronomie a kosmická geodézie I, Vybrané techniky, el. text, FAST (cs)
Kaplan, E., Hegarty Ch. J.: Understanding GPS/GNSS: Principles and Applications, Third Edition, Boston/London, 2017 (en)

Recommended Reading

Teunissen, P. J.G., Montenbruck, O.: Springer Handbook of Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Springer, 2017, (en)

Offered to foreign students

Not to offer

Course on BUT site

https://www.vut.cz/en/students/courses/detail/281829

Lecture

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, elective

Syllabus

lecture schedule

  • 1. Orthogonal coordinate systems and their mutual transformations, the most important coordinate systems used in space geodesy
  • 2. Chronometry - atomic times, Julian date
  • 3. Two-body problem, unperturbed motion of satellites
  • 4. Disturbed motion of satellites
  • 5. Orbits of satellites, optical and electronic observation methods
  • 6. Propagation of el-mag. signal in the atmosphere, GPS - space segment, navigation signals, navigation message
  • 7. GPS - ground and user segment, receivers, antenna phase centre, breakdown of measurement methods
  • 8. Ephemeris, GPS Time, absolute positioning
  • 9. DGPS, relative methods, creation of differences, linear combination of measurements
  • 10. Resolution of phase measurement ambiguities, relevant measurement methods
  • 11. permanent station networks, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou
  • 12. GNSS - combination of satellite systems, PPP method

Exercise

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, compulsory

Syllabus

  • Transformation of orthogonal coordinates
  • Interpolation of satellite ephemerides
  • GPS satellite position
  • Preprocessing of GNSS observations
  • Calculation of position from code measurements
  • Processing of GNSS network data