Xi'an Satellite Measurement and Control Center has completed the inter-satellite link test of 29 Beidou-3 satellites that have been connected to the network, to ensure that the global network is completed as scheduled.
"Through the test, the stability of the Beidou-3 inter-satellite link system has been further verified, and various indicators meet the global networking requirements." Yuan Yong, senior engineer of the long-term management department of the center.
Yuan Yong introduced that the test work lasted for more than two years. During this period, they used the Beidou No. 3 Ka-band inter-satellite link operation and management equipment equipped at the Weinan measurement and control station to implement a total of more than 600,000 block program control instructions on 29 satellites. And successively carried out the work of building a star-to-ground chain, inter-satellite catching and building a chain, on-orbit calibration, measurement and communication.
At present, domestic existing ground measurement and control stations have not been able to achieve uninterrupted tracking and measurement of global networking satellites. With the help of inter-satellite links, a space communication network with satellites as switching nodes can be formed. A Beidou satellite can send commands to all satellites. At the same time, all satellites can be transmitted to the ground through one satellite at any time, so as to achieve 24 hours of uninterrupted management of all networking satellites.
In order to comprehensively monitor the operation status of the inter-satellite link system of the Beidou Global Network constellation, the Xi'an Satellite Measurement and Control Center equipped a set of special equipment for inter-satellite link operation and management at the Weinan Measurement and Control Station in 2015 and officially put it into use that year. "With this set of equipment, we can not only fully test the entire inter-satellite link network, but also carry out fault diagnosis and repair work on the inter-satellite link system." said Liu Lei, an assistant engineer at Weinan Measurement and Control Station.
This year is the final year for the construction of Beidou Global System. At present, the last global networking satellite has arrived at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and is scheduled to be launched in June.