Least-squares multi-spacecraft gradient calculation with automatic error estimation

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Authors
De Keyser, J.
Discipline
Physical sciences
Subject
environmental gradient
error analysis
gradient analysis
heuristics
least squares method
spacecraft
spatial variation
temporal variation
terrestrial environment
Audience
Scientific
Date
2008Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
Multi-spacecraft missions allow the gradient of important physical quantities in the terrestrial environment to be determined. The gradient can be computed from four simultaneous measurements in a straightforward way, but this computation does not produce proper error estimates, making it hard to assess the meaningfulness of the result. Recently developed least-squares gradient computation techniques offer the possibility to obtain more precise results with all-inclusive error estimates, provided that information about the non-linearity of the space and time variations of the observed quantity is given. The present paper describes several heuristics for estimating these variations, thereby enabling a fully automatic computation of the gradient and the associated error estimates. The performance of these heuristics is illustrated with synthetic data corresponding to 4- and 10-spacecraft configurations.
Citation
De Keyser, J. (2008). Least-squares multi-spacecraft gradient calculation with automatic error estimation. , Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 26, Issue 11, 3295-3316, DOI: 10.5194/angeo-26-3295-2008.Identifiers
scopus: 2-s2.0-54849416433
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng