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Impacts of Orbital and Constellation Parameters on the Number and Spatiotemporal Coverage of LEO-LEO Occultation Events
Open accessAbstract
The development of small-satellite technologies allows the low Earth orbit intersatellite link (LEO-LEO) occultation method to observe the Earth’s atmosphere with global coverage and acceptable costs using electromagnetic signals, in which the L/X/K/M band and short-wave infrared band signals have been well demonstrated to be suitable. We hence need to investigate the impacts of orbital and constellation parameters on the number and spatiotemporal distribution of LEO-LEO occultation events for best-possible LEO-LEO occultation mission design and optimization at the targeted mission size. In this study, firstly, an occultation events location simulation model accounting for the right ascension of the ascending node (RAAN) precession was set up and the concept of a time-dependent global coverage fraction of occultation events was defined. Secondly, numerical experiments were designed to investigate the orbital parameters’ impacts and to assess the performance of LEO-LEO occultation constellations, in which the Earth is divided into 5° × 5° latitude and longitude cells. Finally, the number, timeliness, and global coverage fraction of occultation events for two-orbit and multi-orbit LEO-LEO constellations were calculated and analyzed. The results show that: ① the orbit inclination and RAAN are the main impacting parameters followed by orbital height, while the RAAN precession is a relevant modulation factor; ② co-planar counter-rotating receiving and transmitting satellite orbits are confirmed to be ideal for a two-satellite LEO-LEO constellation; ③ polar and near-polar orbit constellations most readily achieve global coverage of occultation events; near-equator orbit constellations with supplementary receiving and transmitting satellite orbit planes also readily form the occultation event geometry, though the occultation events are mainly distributed over low and low-to-middle latitude zones; and ④ a well-designed larger LEO-LEO occultation constellation, composed of 36–72 satellites, can meet the basic requirements of global numerical weather prediction for occultation numbers and timeliness, yielding 23,000–38,000 occultation events per day and achieving 100% global coverage in 12–18 h.
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Liu et al.32 analyzed the influence of orbital parameters on LEO occultation events27, confirming the relationship between the number of orbital planes and the coverage belt width as expressed in Eq. (6).
“Similarly, Liu et al.32 analyzed the influence of orbital parameters on LEO occultation events27, confirming the relationship between the number of orbital planes and the coverage belt width as expressed in Eq. (6).”
From The optimization of low Earth orbit satellite constellation visibility with genetic algorithm for improved navigation potential (2025) · cites this paper as Liu et al.32
Section 4.3.3 reports that increasing the number of orbits improves occultation-event coverage, supporting the claim that Liu et al. analyzed orbital configuration and coverage. However, the passages do not establish a relationship between the number of orbital planes and *coverage belt width* or confirm the citing paper’s Eq. (6). (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Liu, C., Kirchengast, G., Sun, Y., Proschek, V., Wang, X., Tian, L., Du, Q., Bai, W., Wu, C., Hu, P., & Tan, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Graz (AT)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Liu, Congliang
- Venue
- Remote Sensing
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-11-29
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 4849
- ISSN
- 2072-4292 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3217784630
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Remote Sensing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Satellite Communication Systems
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
- Keywords
- constellation design, orbital elements, spatiotemporal variation, orbital inclination, numerical weather prediction, atmospheric remote sensing, small satellites
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