Satellite Navigation
Published:
Role: Research and thesis supervision · Chair of Spacecraft Systems, Technical University of Munich
If satellites can already trade communication and observation capacity, they can in principle contribute ranging signals too. Whether that yields a usable navigation solution is a question of geometry rather than of protocol: the geometric dilution of precision depends on where the visible transmitters sit relative to the receiver, and no amount of cooperation compensates for a bad spread.
The work here maps that constraint across the design space - altitude, plane count, inclination, receiver masking - to find which cooperative architectures can support navigation as a secondary service, and which cannot regardless of constellation size. The same tradespace logic carries over to dedicated navigation constellations in cislunar space.
Related publications: Enhancing Navigation Accuracy through Cooperative Satellite Networks, IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2025 · Tradespace Analysis and Conceptual Design for a Lunar Navigation and Communication Constellation, IAC 2024.
Supervised theses
Enhancing Navigation Accuracy through Cooperative Satellite Networks: Simulation Study on the Influence of Satellite Architecture on GDOP
Investigated how altitude, number of planes, inclination and receiver constraints drive GDOP, to lay the groundwork for navigation tasks in cooperative satellite networks. Higher altitudes converge to good GDOP with far fewer satellites, while three-plane LEO designs fail because of near-planar geometry. The results point to hybrid LEO/MEO cooperative architectures.
Enhancing Navigation Accuracy through Cooperative Satellite Networks, IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2025