Galileo

The EU Transport Council decision on 26 March marked a major milestone for Galileo. Though a great relief for all actors involved, in essence, this decision only set the beginning of a long journey. Europe still needs to discover how this unique project, bringing together the European Union and the European Space Agency, will revolutionise society and open a new era in the development of a new generation of global services.

Europe has decided to become involved in what will become one of the main sectors of industry in the twenty-first century. The real impact of satellite navigation on society and industrial development, as is the case for all major technical innovations, will become clear only gradually.
Benefits will be derived from the value-added services and products, not only for transport by road, rail, air and sea, but also for environmental protection, personal location, fisheries and agriculture, oil prospecting, civil protection activities, time synchronisation, building and public works. The telecommunications sector itself will undergo a drastic evolution with the introduction of Galileo services coupled with GSM and UTMS among others.
Galileo will provide the first satellite positioning and navigation system specifically for civil purposes. Its profitable applications will spread into many areas of all our lives, starting with safe and efficient transport. Using only small receivers, we will be able to determine our locations to within a few metres. Galileo is vital for the future of Europe’s high-technology industries. It will generate new, large markets and provide the critical advance in technology for Europe to be a global competitor.

State-of-the-Art Infrastructure
The core of the Galileo system will be the global constellation of 30 satellites in three medium Earth orbital planes inclined at 56° to the equator at about 23,000 km altitude. Ten satellites will be spread evenly around each plane, with each taking about 14 hours to orbit the Earth. Each plane will have one active spare, able to be cover for any failed satellite in that plane. A number of inter-connected ground infrastructures will allow the mission accomplishment, mainly: 2 Galileo Control Centres, 5 S-band Monitoring and Control Stations and 5 C-band Mission data up-link stations will allow a global coverage without interruptions. Regional components will independently provide the integrity of the Galileo services by means of additional facilities. Regional service providers using authorised integrity uplink channels provided by Galileo will disseminate regional integrity data. Local components will enhance the above with local data distribution by means of terrestrial radio links or existing communication networks, in order to provide extra accuracy, availability and integrity on critical environments.

Offering Value-added Services
Four navigation services and one service to support Search and Rescue operations have been identified to cover the widest range of users’ needs, including professional users, scientists, mass-market users, safety of life and public regulated domains. The Galileo satellite-only services can be enhanced on a local basis through combining with local elements for applications with more demanding requirements. The Open Service (OS) results from a combination of open signals. This service is free of user charge and provides position and timing performances competitive with other GNSS systems. The Safety of Life Service (SoL) improves the open service performances providing timely warnings to the user when it fails to meet certain margins of accuracy (integrity). It is envisaged that a service guarantee will be provided for this service. The Commercial Service (CS) provides access to two additional signals, to allow for a higher data rate throughput and to enable users to improve accuracy. It is envisaged that a service guarantee will be provided for this service. The Public Regulated Service (PRS) provides position and timing to specific users requiring a high continuity of service, with controlled access. Two PRS navigation signals with encrypted ranging codes and data will be available. The Search And Rescue service (SAR) broadcast globally the alert messages received from distress emitting beacons. It will contribute to enhance the performances of the international COSPAS-SARSAT Search and Rescue system. To complete these services and to meet more specific user requirements, Galileo integrates the concept of local elements in its design. These elements will offer additional services increasing, locally or regionally, the performance of Galileo in terms of accuracy, coverage, and integrity.

The Necessity for a European System
Galileo will enable Europe to acquire technological independence, as it did with the Ariane and Airbus initiatives. It is vital that Europe should be included in one of the main industrial sectors of the 21st century, an area that is already widely recognised in the US. Without Galileo, the development or even the survival of European new technology sectors would be under very serious threat. The technological advance from Galileo will give the participating European industries a considerable competitive advantage in this sector and in the many ensuing applications. According to various studies, the equipment and services market resulting from the programme is estimated at around €10 billion per annum, with the creation in Europe of over 100,000 highly skilled jobs. Conversely, if Europe misses out on these new developments, many electronics and aerospace jobs would ultimately disappear. In terms of international co-operation, leading-edge technologies are prime assets for Europe's standing in the world. Some applications require the system to have special features. These features do not exist in the current positioning systems and will constitute added value for Galileo as a civil system. They may include service guarantee, liability of the service operator, traceability of past performance, operation transparency, certification and competitive service performance in terms of accuracy and availability.

An Independent Yet Interoperable System
Galileo is being designed as an independent system but at the same time, this design is optimised for use with other systems, notably GPS. Key drivers for facilitating the use of Galileo with other systems are user requirements and the object of gaining access to the future GNSS market. Three main interoperability objectives have been identified. The first objective aims at interoperability of Galileo with other GNSS systems (mainly GPS) at receiver level. This is reflected in the study and choice of frequencies, signal structure, time reference frame, and geodetic datum. In addition, interoperability issues lie on the combined use of Galileo with other non-GNSS systems, such as ground navigation systems or mobile communication networks, to enable a reduction of GNSS deficiencies through the provision of combined positioning services. Another objective is to facilitate the use of Galileo with telecommunication systems to provide jointly navigation/communication services. This is an additional functionality that enables enhanced communications capabilities (e.g. higher data transfer); and facilitates the generation of GNSS value-added services, such as location-based services, with a strong influence in the future GNSS market. The combined use of Galileo with all these systems will introduce interoperability requirements not only in the Galileo global components but also in the design of local components and user equipment.

Benefits for Hydrographers and Surveyors
The Galileo technology will soon be the enabler of a number of activities in the maritime domain that will be made easier, safer, and cost effective. In navigation, Galileo will be used for vessel onboard navigation, monitoring, including ocean and coastal navigation, port approach and port manoeuvres. In this case, the integrity information provided within the navigation signal, and the related certification features of the Galileo services, will differentiate Galileo from the other navigation systems. Precise positioning provided by the Galileo services will satisfy the needs in applications like rig and barge positioning, dredging, offshore construction, mining, etc. In hydrography, Galileo and its local elements will offer an accurate tool for positioning determination - highly available even under difficult environmental conditions. This tool will have the capability to offer real-time centimetre-level accuracy, in both ellipsoidal height and horizontal plan, to a moving boat in the determined area. The benefits will be numerous in fields such as hydrographic surveys, marine cartography and mapping, marine geodesy, oceanography, among others. The features of the Galileo system go beyond high accuracy and service availability, but differentiate from the existing systems because of the capability to provide trust in the performance level, by means of integrity information, service certification process, and service guarantees.
Early benefits of European GNSS services are already available through the use of a prototype signal provided by the EGNOS System Test Bed. In particular, its potential in hydrography was demonstrated through trials in the port of Genoa. The simulated entry into departure from the port of Genoa as well as other tests concerning positions and maritime hydrographic operations provided highly positive responses in terms of cost effectiveness and interconnected capabilities. The Italian Istituto Idrografico della Marina (IIM) demonstrated its interest in the use of EGNOS as a cost-effective alternative to commercial and local area differential services.

Challenging Future
The Galileo infrastructure will be implemented in three phases. During the Development and Validation phase (2002-2005), the mission requirements will be consolidated, the satellites and ground-based components developed and the system validated in orbit. During the Deployment phase (2006-2007), the construction and launch of the remaining satellites will occur and the complete ground segment will be installed. The final, Operations, phase is expected to start in 2008. The Development and Validation phase will be co-funded by the European Space Agency and by the European Commission. Additional funding will come from Research and Development Programmes. The implementation of the development and validation phase and the preparation of the deployment and operational phase will be the main tasks of a novel company structure, the Joint Under-taking (JU) founded by the European Community and the European Space Agency. The JU will last four years and be based in Brussels. Its governing bodies will be the Administrative board, the Director and the Executive committee. The technical implementation of the development and validation phase will be subject to an agreement between the JU and ESA, following which a first series of satellites will be launched. This will help finalise technological developments and ensure the large-scale demonstration of the capabilities and performance of the system. The JU will also oversee the optimal integration of EGNOS in Galileo and will launch research and development activities in co-ordination with national activities in this area.