On the Feasibility of a Carrier Phase-Based Velocity Solution from LEO Satellites

Time-differenced carrier phase can be extracted from GNSS or LEO constellations, which can be used to estimate the receiver velocity. Some of the major error sources in a LEO carrier phase solution are discussed in this work. It was discovered that there could be two major factors that contribute to a LEO-based velocity solution: the geometry change of LEO satellites (reflected at the angular rate) and satellite orbital error. Their contributions to the velocity solution are analytically determined. They are validated via a simulation using a commercial LEO constellation, which had onboard GNSS measurements publicly available.