Two-Color Satellite Laser Ranging Measurements at 10 Hz and 100 Hz at TIGO

• Published in: IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing Vol. 52; no. 8; pp. 4707 - 4716
• Main Authors: Guaitiao, Cesar O., Hafner, Michael, Sobarzo, Sergio K., Riepl, Stefan, Torres, Sergio N., Pedreros, Felipe, Arias, Luis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-08-2014; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied geophysics; Crystals; Design engineering; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Gain; Internal geophysics; Laser excitation; Laser stability; Lasers; Measurement by laser beam; Oscillators; Productivity; Pump lasers; Quantitative analysis; Satellite laser ranging; Satellite laser ranging (SLR); Satellites; short-laser-pulse remote sensing; space geodesy; Temporal logic; two-color atmospheric refraction correction; space geodesy; short-laser-pulse remote sensing; two-color atmospheric refraction correction; Satellite laser ranging (SLR); laser methods; color; satellite measurements; accuracy; remote sensing; laser ranging; observatories; corrections; productivity; quantitative analysis; performances; stability
• ISSN: 0196-2892; 1558-0644
• DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2013.2283771

In this paper, a detailed comparative performance analysis of the two-color satellite laser ranging (SLR) systems of the Transportable Integrated Geodetic Observatory (TIGO) is presented. The study is based on four years of continuous measurement data and a comparison of two different layouts of the laser system. The focus lies on a quantitative analysis of measurement precision, range accuracy, and data production for the two laser system layouts. Main findings include a significant gain in temporal stability due to removal of active elements in the oscillator, an improvement of range measurement accuracy by a factor of 2, and an important increase in data productivity. The analysis presented here provides a valuable input for the design of future SLR systems, as well as related topics such as time transfer applications and optical communications to satellites.