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gnssconstellation

Satellite locations at specified time

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Syntax

[satPos,satVel] = gnssconstellation(t)
[satPos,satVel,satID] = gnssconstellation(t,RINEXData=navData)

Description

example

[satPos,satVel] = gnssconstellation(t) returns the satellite positions and velocities at the datetime t. The function returns positions and velocities in the Earth-centered Earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system in meters and meters per second, respectively.

example

[satPos,satVel,satID] = gnssconstellation(t,RINEXData=navData) returns the satellite positions, velocities, and IDs at time t in the specified RINEX navigation message data navData.

Examples

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Open Live Script

Get the current satellite positions and velocities from the GNSS satellites. Access the orbital parameters from IS-GPS-200K Interface Specification and calculate the position and velocities in ECEF coordinates for the given time. Display the satellite positions.

t = datetime('now','TimeZone','Local');
[satPos,satVel] = gnssconstellation(t);
disp(satPos)
   1.0e+07 *

   -1.9231   -1.5686    0.9462
    0.1076    2.1067    1.6138
    0.8897   -1.3197   -2.1263
    1.6548   -0.1718   -2.0703
   -0.5985    2.4889   -0.7079
    0.2726    2.0983   -1.6053
   -1.7559    0.6795    1.8733
    1.4491   -2.1428   -0.6023
   -1.3750   -0.6560    2.1756
   -2.6379    0.2995   -0.0770
    0.6927    1.4315   -2.1272
    1.9461    0.9151   -1.5587
    1.5037   -1.3512    1.7226
   -0.9782   -2.3391    0.7910
    1.7480    1.9543    0.4237
    1.9726    1.2382    1.2766
   -1.5187    0.4409   -2.1338
    0.0843   -1.9981    1.7478
    1.5068    0.3435    2.1601
   -1.3057    2.2894   -0.3287
   -0.2815   -2.0914   -1.6127
   -1.7381    1.4475   -1.3921
   -1.4005    1.3838    1.7826
   -1.1818   -1.2937   -1.9960
   -2.1135   -0.7891   -1.4017
    2.5928   -0.4726   -0.3291
    2.5131    0.3255    0.7953
Open Live Script

Use the lookangles function to get the azimuth and elevation angles of satellites for given satellite and receiver positions. Specify a mask angle of 5 degrees. Get the satellite positions using the gnssconstellation function.

Specify a receiver position in geodetic coordinates (latitude, longitude, altitude). 

recPos = [42 -71 50];

Get the satellite positions for the current time.

t = datetime('now');
gpsSatPos = gnssconstellation(t);

Specify a mask angle of 5 degrees. 

maskAngle = 5;

Get the azimuth and elevation look angles for the satellite positions. The vis output indicates which satellites are visible. Get the total using nnz.

[az,el,vis] = lookangles(recPos,gpsSatPos,maskAngle);
fprintf('%d satellites visible at %s.\n',nnz(vis),t);
10 satellites visible at 26-Feb-2022 15:12:51.
Open Live Script

Read one set of GPS satellites from the GPS navigation message in a RINEX file.

filename = "GODS00USA_R_20211750000_01D_GN.rnx"; 
data = rinexread(filename);
gpsData = data.GPS;
[~,satIdx] = unique(gpsData.SatelliteID);
gpsData = gpsData(satIdx,:);

Get the satellite positions, velocities, and IDs at the first time step.

t = gpsData.Time(1);
[satPos,satVel,satID] = gnssconstellation(t,RINEXData=gpsData)
satPos = 31×3
107 ×

   -1.5630   -0.1882    2.1186
    1.3808    2.1970   -0.4861
   -2.0061    0.7606    1.5492
   -2.5625   -0.0140   -0.7096
    1.4896    0.5448   -2.1487
    0.6129    2.5407    0.4615
   -1.0081    1.3751   -1.9877
   -2.5811   -0.6135   -0.3246
   -1.9289    0.8690   -1.6134
    0.9542   -2.2526    1.0113
      ⋮


satVel = 31×3
103 ×

   -0.8888   -2.5914   -0.8416
    0.0362    0.7543    3.1043
    1.1203   -1.6505    2.2591
   -0.8301   -0.4385    2.9967
   -1.6023    2.1607   -0.5493
   -0.3948   -0.4708    3.1591
   -1.0322   -2.4133   -1.1748
    0.4370   -0.1710   -3.1339
   -1.9860   -0.5032    2.1087
    0.9968   -0.8308   -2.8502
      ⋮


satID = 31×1

     1
     2
     3
     4
     5
     6
     7
     8
     9
    10
      ⋮

Input Arguments

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Current time for the satellite simulation, specified as a scalar datetime array.

The default time zone for a datetime array is UTC. For information on specifying a different time zone, see datetime.

GPS start time is Jan 6, 1980 midnight, UTC. Specifying any datetime prior to this time will use the GPS start time.

Example: datetime('now','TimeZone','Local');

Data Types: datetime

RINEX navigation data, specified as a structure returned by the rinexread function. The contents of the struct vary depending on the type of satellite system. The gnssconstellation function supports only GPS or Galileo data read from a RINEX file. For more information on the contents of the structure, see the rinexread function More About section.

Example: RINEXData=rinexread("GODS00USA_R_20211750000_01D_GN.rnx")

Output Arguments

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Satellite positions in the Earth-centered Earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system in meters, returned as an N-by-3 matrix of scalars. N is the number of satellites in the constellation.

Data Types: single | double

Satellite velocities in the Earth-centered Earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system in meters per second, returned as an N-by-3 matrix of scalars. N is the number of satellites in the constellation.

Data Types: single | double

Satellite identification numbers, returned as an N-element column vector. N is the number of satellites in the constellation.

Data Types: single | double

More About

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Orbital Parameters

The initial satellite positions and velocities are defined by orbital parameters in Table A.2-2 in GPS SPS Performance Standard, and are given in Earth-centered Earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinates.

Position calculations use equations from Table 30-II in the same IS-GPS-200K Interface Specification.

Velocity calculations use equations 8.21–8.27 in [1].

References

[1] Groves, Paul D. Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation Systems. Boston: Artech House, 2013.

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced in R2021a

See Also

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