A novel Doppler frequency measurement method based on the closed-loop signal correlation for deep space exploration

In deep space exploration, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of frequency measurement to meet the requirements of precise orbit determination and various scientific studies. A phase detector is one of the key modules that restricts the tracking performance of phase-locked loop (PLL). Based on the phase relationship between adjacent signals in the time domain, a novel phase detector is presented to replace the arctangent phase detector. The new PLL, which is a closed loop signal correlation algorithm, shows good performance in tracking signals with high precision and the tracking accuracy of frequency of 1 second integration is close to Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) when setting proper parameters. Actual data processing results further illustrate the excellent performance of the novel PLL.