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A Demonstration of the Time-Delay Mechanical Noise Cancellation (TDMC) Technique with Cassini Doppler Data
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  • Virginia Notaro,
  • John Armstrong,
  • Sami Asmar,
  • Luciano Iess
Virginia Notaro
Sapienza University of Rome

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John Armstrong
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Sami Asmar
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Luciano Iess
Sapienza University of Rome
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Abstract

Radio science experiments for planetary geodesy or tests or relativistic gravity involve precise measurements of the spacecraft range rate enabled by two-way microwave links. Since the uncertainty on the estimated parameters depend almost linearly on the noise in the radio link, finding ways to reduce disturbances is essential for best scientific results. Tropospheric and antenna mechanical noises, among the leading noise sources in two-way Ka-band radio links, could be reduced using a suitable combination of Doppler data collected at the two-way antenna and at an additional, smaller and stiffer, three-way antenna [1]. The Time-Delay Noise Cancellation technique (TDMC) can provide significant reduction of the measurement noise if the listen-only antenna is located in a site with particularly favorable tropospheric conditions. This noise-reducing technique has only been tested by artificially producing a large mechanical noise event at the two-way antenna and using a similar three-way antenna to cancel the disturbance. We report on a practical demonstration of the capabilities of the TDMC technique applied to Doppler data from Cassini spanning 2004 through the last Titan gravity flyby in 2016. The tracking configuration in those passes was not tailored for the use of the TDMC, therefore the technique proves to be effective only with favorable noise conditions. Nonetheless, for those passes where tropospheric or antenna mechanical noises were relevant, we find substantial noise reduction. For example, Doppler data from the Titan-122 gravity flyby processed with the TDMC show about a factor-of-three noise reduction (at 60-s integration time) with respect to the two-way link. These results suggest that the choice of the three-way antenna and the scheduling of the tracking passes are crucial parameters that should be considered to fully exploit the improvement in accuracy provided by the TDMC technique. [1] Armstrong, J. W. et al., Radio Science 43 RS3010 (2008)