BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Europe set to launch Galileo era

[Nick]

"Europe's global satellite-navigation system, Galileo, comes a step nearer on
Wednesday with the launch of its first demonstrator spacecraft.

Giove-A will be lofted into orbit by a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

The demonstrator, built in the UK by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, will test key
components in the Galileo network, notably its atomic clocks.

It also has the job of securing the radio frequencies allocated to the project under
international agreements.

This requires Giove-A to transmit a sat-nav signal of the correct structure from
orbit within the next six months. The SSTL team hopes to do it within a matter of
days."

More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4555298.stm

[Steve W]

Post by Nick
"Europe's global satellite-navigation system, Galileo, comes a step nearer on
Wednesday with the launch of its first demonstrator spacecraft.
Giove-A will be lofted into orbit by a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The demonstrator, built in the UK by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, will test key
components in the Galileo network, notably its atomic clocks.
It also has the job of securing the radio frequencies allocated to the project under
international agreements.
This requires Giove-A to transmit a sat-nav signal of the correct structure from
orbit within the next six months. The SSTL team hopes to do it within a matter of
days."
More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4555298.stm
--
Nick in Northallerton
And nickw7coc on
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Nick
Thanks for this. I'm a bit confused. Is the European system intended to
entirely independent of the US system, or will it work alongside GPS to
produce positioning data that is more robust or accurate? Is this the start
of EGNOS, or is that something else? More importantly :-) will my newly
acquired, WAAS enabled Holux GPS unit be able to take advantage of the
improvements, when they come?

Steve born in Northallerton

[Tapio Sokura]

Post by Steve W
Thanks for this. I'm a bit confused. Is the European system intended to
entirely independent of the US system, or will it work alongside GPS to
produce positioning data that is more robust or accurate? Is this the start

Galileo will be independent of GPS, but they can also be used together
to improve the position solution. This naturally only if the receiver is
capable of receiving both of them. GPS and Galileo will share the same
L1 frequency, so it is possible to develop a combined GPS/Galileo
receiver that only needs a single band antenna and RF receiver, so the
extra cost can be minimized in basic receivers. More advanced receivers
will receive both GPS and Galileo on more than one frequency band.

Post by Steve W
of EGNOS, or is that something else? More importantly :-) will my newly
acquired, WAAS enabled Holux GPS unit be able to take advantage of the
improvements, when they come?

EGNOS = WAAS = MSAS = SBAS, it's all the same thing, it is just named
differently in different parts of the world. SBASes provide differential
corrections and integrity monitoring information for positioning
satellites, but can't do positioning by themselves. Galileo is not EGNOS.

Your current GPS unit will in all probability not understand Galileo,
but will understand EGNOS. Anyway it will still take years before
Galileo is operational so you'll probably upgrade your GPS receiver
during that time a few times anyway.. And it might take years before
EGNOS is declared operational as well..:-)

You might want to check http://www.esa.int/esaNA/egnos.html and
http://www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html .

Tapio

[Steve W]

Post by Tapio Sokura

Post by Steve W
Thanks for this. I'm a bit confused. Is the European system intended to
entirely independent of the US system, or will it work alongside GPS to
produce positioning data that is more robust or accurate? Is this the start

Galileo will be independent of GPS, but they can also be used together
to improve the position solution. This naturally only if the receiver is
capable of receiving both of them. GPS and Galileo will share the same
L1 frequency, so it is possible to develop a combined GPS/Galileo
receiver that only needs a single band antenna and RF receiver, so the
extra cost can be minimized in basic receivers. More advanced receivers
will receive both GPS and Galileo on more than one frequency band.

Post by Steve W
of EGNOS, or is that something else? More importantly :-) will my newly
acquired, WAAS enabled Holux GPS unit be able to take advantage of the
improvements, when they come?

EGNOS = WAAS = MSAS = SBAS, it's all the same thing, it is just named
differently in different parts of the world. SBASes provide differential
corrections and integrity monitoring information for positioning
satellites, but can't do positioning by themselves. Galileo is not EGNOS.
Your current GPS unit will in all probability not understand Galileo,
but will understand EGNOS. Anyway it will still take years before
Galileo is operational so you'll probably upgrade your GPS receiver
during that time a few times anyway.. And it might take years before
EGNOS is declared operational as well..:-)
You might want to check http://www.esa.int/esaNA/egnos.html and
http://www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html .
Tapio

Many thanks, Tapio. That has made it much clearer to me, and probably to
many others.
Thanks
Steve