Patent ID: 7221316

Claim:
In a system of navigational satellites, at least one of the navigational satellites being controlled by a terrestrially-based command station and having a wide beam antenna transmitting a first navigation signal and a spot beam antenna transmitting a second navigation signal, a method of estimating a lever arm correction between the wide beam antenna and the spot beam antenna, comprising the steps of: generating a predicted satellite attitude over the time period T from a predicted position of the at least one satellite over the time period T and a profile of a prescribed satellite attitude maneuver over the time period T; generating predicted gimbal angles of the spot beam antenna over the time period T from the predicted satellite attitude over the time period T and a territorial location of the spot beam when illuminating a navigational receiver over the time period T; predicting the lever arm correction between the wide beam antenna and the spot beam antenna over the time period T from the predicted gimbal angles of the spot beam antenna over the time period T and the predicted satellite attitude over the time period T; and transmitting the predicted lever arm correction from the command station to the navigational receiver via the at least one navigational satellite.