Space Observation by the Australia Telescope Compact Array: Performance Characterization using GPS Satellite Observation

Abstract

In order to operationalize the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) for space situational awareness (SSA) applications, we develop a system model for range and direction of arrival (DOA) estimation based on the interferometric data. We employ the observational data collected from global positioning system (GPS) satellites to evaluate the developed model and demonstrate that, compared to a priori location propagated from the most recent two-line element (TLE), both range and direction information are improved significantly.