GALILEO

The GALILEO programme is Europe’s initiative to develop a civil global navigation satellite system that provides highly accurate and reliable positioning, navigation and timing services.

GALILEO will be compatible and interoperable with GPS and GLONASS, offering multiple civil frequencies. GALILEO will also provide instantaneous positioning services at the metre level as a result of improved orbits, better clocks, dual frequency and enhanced navigation algorithms.

GALILEO will also offer guarantees on service availability and will inform users within 6 seconds of a failure of any satellite. This will allow the system to be used in safety-critical, mission-critical and business-dependent applications. The combined use of GALILEO, GPS and GLONASS systems will offer a very high level of performances for user communities and businesses.

The fully deployed GALILEO system will consist of 30 satellites and the associated ground infrastructure. The System will offer the following services:

• Open Service (OS)
• Safety of Life (SoL)
• Public Regulated Service (PRS)
• Commercial Service (CS)
• Search & Rescue (SAR)

This is the baseline set for the global services for GALILEO. However, GALILEO has also developed additional concepts for integrating services at both regional and local scales.

The design of the GALILEO system facilitates the introduction of data from 3rd party service providers using regional integrity services within GALILEO. This provides the
opportunity for establishing agreements with partnering countries/regions. A GALILEO Regional Component is made up of an additional network of stations, to oversee the integrity of the signals, and a processing centre to provide this service.

For the most demanding applications, which require the highest level of performances, it will be necessary to integrate GALILEO services with additional services at a local level. To achieve this aim, GALILEO has developed the concept of GALILEO Local Elements. Local Elements will provide additional positioning, communication and/or information services and will be tailored to suit the need of specific users, operations and environments. For example, GALILEO Local Elements will be developed and adapted to meet specific requirements for positioning at airports, ports, railways, roads, urban areas and inside buildings, and provide seamless and reliable services.

SISTER will address the integration and convergence between Satcom and GALILEO from two perspectives:

1. How satcom can combine with GALILEO to provide more effective applications
2. How satcom can provide services that enhance the GALILEO positioning service itself.

Find out more about Galileo