The ODOP (Offset DOPpler) radar tracking system is essentially the same as the

UDOP The UDOP (UHF Doppler) multistatic radar and multiradar system (MSRS) utilizes Doppler radar for missile tracking and trajectory measurement. A target is illuminated at 450MHz. Five receiving stations, located along the baselines with the lengths ...

system used for many years at the

Atlantic Missile Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The range ha ...

, but ODOP operates at different frequencies. It is a phase-coherent, multistation Doppler tracking system which measures position of a vehicle equipped with the ODOP transponder. ODOP stations are located at and around

Cape Kennedy , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

. The ODOP transponder is carried in the first stage ( S-IB or

S-IC The S-IC (pronounced S-one-C) was the first stage of the American Saturn V rocket. The S-IC stage was manufactured by the Boeing Company. Like the first stages of most rockets, most of its mass of more than at launch was propellant, in this case ...

) of the Saturn vehicles and, therefore, ODOP tracking data is limited to the flight of the first stage only. The ODOP tracking system provides data immediately following lift-off while other tracking systems cannot "see" the vehicle or their accuracy is reduced by

multipath propagation In radio communication, multipath is the propagation phenomenon that results in radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths. Causes of multipath include atmospheric ducting, ionospheric reflection and refraction, and reflec ...

during the early phase of the flight. The ODOP system is a radar

interferometer Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber op ...

tracking system which determines the position of a vehicle-borne transponder. The ground transmitter radiates a CW signal of 890 MHz to the transponder in the vehicle. The transponder shifts the received signal in frequency by 70 MHz and retransmits it to the receiving stations (R1, R2, R3). The signal from the transponder received at the ground stations contains a 2-way

Doppler shift The Doppler effect or Doppler shift (or simply Doppler, when in context) is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It is named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who d ...

f_D which is extracted by mixing the received signal (f_i = 960 MHz + f_D) with the reference frequency (f_R = 960 MHz) derived from the transmitter frequency. Actually, a reference frequency of 53.33 MHz is transmitted over a VHF link to each transmitter station and then multiplied by a factor of 18, yielding 959.94 MHz. When this frequency is combined with the signal received from the transponder, the Doppler shift is obtained with a 60 kHz bias frequency (60 kHz + f_D). The UDOP system used a transmitter frequency of 450 MHz which was doubled in the transponder (900 MHz). The higher frequency in the ODOP system (890 MHz versus 450 MHz) is less affected by the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...

and the result is increased tracking accuracy. The Doppler frequencies, f_D, (including the bias frequency) from all receiving stations are transmitted to the central station and recorded on

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...

. Integration of the Doppler frequency received at a particular station provides the range sum, i.e., the distance transmitter-transponder receiver. At least three range sums (for three different stations) are necessary to compute the position of the vehicle (transponder). The ODOP system uses 20 receiver stations around Cape Kennedy for redundancy and optimum tracking geometry. ODOP tracking data is not available in real time but is obtained from post-flight evaluation.

ODOP transponder

The ODOP transponder is a modified version of the transponder used by the

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in the Ranger vehicles. Separate antennas are used for the receiver and the transmitter. The transponder consists of a double

superheterodyne receiver A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the original carr ...

(890 MHz) and a transmitter (960 MHz). The signal transmitted from the transponder is phase-coherent with the signal received by the transponder. Phase coherence is accomplished by an automatic phase tracking loop. The transponder is completely transistorized.

ODOP system characteristics

Ground Transmitter:
------------------------
      Frequency ......................... 890 MHz

Transponder:
---------------
   Receiver frequency …………….............. 890 MHz
   Receiver noise figure . . ……………........ 14 db
   Receiver threshold sensitivity ...... -132 dbm
   Predetection bandwidth …………........... 100 kHz
   Threshold noise bandwidth……….......... 600 Hz
   Strong signal noise bandwidth ....... 1400 Hz
   Transmitted frequency................. 960 MHz
   Transmitter power ...................... 1 watt
   Required dc power ..................... 36 watts (28 volts)
   Weight ............................. 10.25 kg (23.0 lbs)
   Size ................................ 7370 cm 3 (448 in 3)

Ground Receiving Station:
-------------------------------
         Receiver frequency ............. 960 MHz

References

*Astrionics System Handbook, revised ed., NASA MSFC No. IV-4-401-1, NTIS Doc. N70-70002, 1 November 1968, 418 pp. (International Business Machines Corporation working under NASA Contract NAS8-14000). Radar