Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Applications

GALILEO
Dr. Arun K. Saraf,
Professor
Department of Earth Sciences

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 Galileo
• Galileo is Europe’s own global navigation satellite system, providing a
highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian
control.
• It is inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS.
• The Galileo system started its initial services to public authorities on
December 15th, 2016
• Galileo receivers compute their position in the Galileo Reference
System using satellite technology and based on triangulation
principles.

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Galileo Reference System
• The Galileo Terrestrial Reference Frame

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Terrestrial_Reference_System
(GTRF) is used for the Galileo navigation
system; currently defined as
International Terrestrial Reference
Frame (ITRF) - 2005.

• An International Terrestrial Reference

Frame (ITRF) is a realization of the
International Terrestrial Reference
System (ITRS).

• The ITRS describes procedures for

creating reference frames suitable for
use with measurements on or near the
Earth's surface.

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 Galileo Reference System
• The ITRS and ITRF solutions are maintained by the International Earth Rotation and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Terrestrial_Reference_System
Reference Systems Service (IERS).

• GTRF is defined by the European Space Agency (ESA)

• Practical navigation systems are in general referenced to a specific ITRF solution, or

to their own coordinate systems which are then referenced to an ITRF solution.

• The difference between the latest WGS84 and the latest ITRF is only a few
centimetres.

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 How Galileo started?
• Experimental satellites GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B were launched in 2005 and 2008
respectively, serving to test critical Galileo technologies, while also the securing of
the Galileo frequencies within the International Telecommunications Union.

• Over the course of the test period, scientific instruments also measured various
aspects of the space environment around the orbital plane, in particular the level
of radiation, which is greater than in low Earth or geostationary orbits.

• Operational Galileo satellites launches began in 2011, extending across the rest of
the decade so far.

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 Galileo: Space Segment
The fully deployed Galileo system will consist of 24 operational satellites plus
six in-orbit spares, positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
planes at 23,222 km altitude above the Earth, and at an inclination of the
orbital planes of 56 degrees to the equator.

Satellites 24 operational satellites plus six in-orbit spares

Orbital planes 3
Orbital inclination 56°
Orbit radius 23 222 km
 Galileo: Summary of satellites
Satellite launches Currently in
Launch operational
Block Period Full orbit
Failure Planned
success and healthy
GIOVE (Galileo In-Orbit
2005 - 2008 2 0 0 0
Validation Element)
IOV (In-Orbit Validation) 2011 - 2012 4 0 0 3

FOC (Full Operational

2014 - 2019 18 2* 12 15
Capability)
Total 24 2 12 18
* One partial launch failure resulting in 2 satellites orbiting in a degraded orbit
(Last update: 13 December 2017)
 Galileo
• Initial services became available on 15 December 2016.
•

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
The constellation system completion scheduled for 2020.
• Galileo navigation signals provide coverage at all latitudes.
• The Galileo navigation signals will provide good coverage even at
latitudes up to 75 degrees north, which corresponds to Norway's North
Cape - the most northerly tip of Europe - and beyond.
 Galileo

The large number of satellites

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
together with the carefully-
optimised constellation design,
plus the availability of the three
active spare satellites per
orbital plane, will ensure that
the loss of one satellite should
have no discernible effect on
the user.
 Galileo: Search and Rescue (SAR) function
• Further, Galileo is providing a global Search and Rescue (SAR) function, based
on the operational Cospas-Sarsat system.

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
• Satellites are therefore equipped with a transponder, which is able to transfer
the distress signals from the user transmitters to regional rescue co-ordination
centres, which will then initiate the rescue operation.
• At the same time, the system will send a response signal to the user, informing
him that his situation has been detected and that help is on the way.
• This feature is new and is considered a major upgrade compared to the existing
system, which does not provide user feedback.
Galileo: Ground infrastructure
• Two Galileo Control Centres (GCCs)
have been implemented on European

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
ground to provide for the control of the
satellites and to perform the navigation
mission management.

• The data provided by a global network

of twenty Galileo Sensor Stations
(GSSs) are sent to the Galileo Control
Centres through a redundant
communications network.
 Galileo: Ground Segment
• The GCCs use the data from the Sensor Stations to compute the integrity
information and to synchronise the time signal of all satellites with the

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
ground station clocks.

• The exchange of the data between the Control Centres and the satellites is
performed through up-link stations.

• Galileo Control Segment’s functions are:

 To control and maintain the status and configuration of the satellite constellation.
 To predict ephemeris and satellite clock evolution.
 To keep the corresponding GNSS time scale (through atomic clocks).
 To update the navigation messages for all the satellites.
Galileo: Ground Segment
The system's orbit and signal accuracy is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(satellite_navigation)#Ground_segment
controlled by a ground segment consisting of:
 2 Ground Control Centres, located in
Oberpfaffenhofen and Fucino for Satellite
and Mission Control
 5 telemetry, tracking & control (TT&C)
stations, located in Kiruna, Kourou,
Nouméa, Sainte-Marie, Réunion & Redu
 Several worldwide distributed mission
data uplink stations (ULS)
 Several worldwide distributed reference
sensor stations (GSS)
 A data dissemination network between all
geographically distributed locations
 Galileo: User Segment
• The Galileo user segment is composed of Galileo receivers.

http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo/What_is_Galileo
• Their main function is to receive Galileo signals, determine
pseudoranges (and other observables), and solve the navigation
equations in order to obtain their coordinates and provide a very
accurate time.
 Galileo Services
Service Description
Open access navigation This will be available without charge for use by anyone with
appropriate mass-market equipment; simple timing, and
positioning down to 1 metre.
Commercial navigation (encrypted) Accuracy to 1 centimetre and guaranteed service for which
service providers will charge fees.
Safety of life navigation Open service; for applications where guaranteed precision is
essential. Integrity messages will warn of errors.
ontinuous availability even if other Continuous availability even if other services are disabled in
services are disabled in time of crisis. time of crisis. Government agencies will be main users.
Government agencies will be main
users.
Search and rescue System will pick up distress beacon locations; feasible to send
feedback, e.g. confirming help is on its way.
 Galileo Signal Characteristics

• The Galileo navigation

Signals are transmitted in
the four frequency bands
(E5a, E5b, E6 and E1).
• These provide a wide
bandwidth for the
transmission of the
Galileo Signals.

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 GALILEO Performances
• The Galileo performances are different for each service.
• For the Galileo Open Service (OS) no specific requirements of integrity are
applicable.
• The performances for horizontal positioning accuracy at 95% for a dual-
frequency receiver are 4 m (8 m for vertical accuracy), with an availability of the
service of 99%.

• In the case of the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS), the performance
requirements include horizontal and vertical accuracy, integrity, continuity and time
to alert for different service levels.
• The availability of the service should be 99.5% for both services.

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THANKS

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