GALILEO UPDATE

Galileo increases the accuracy of LBS

Tests conducted by Rx Networks and the European GNSS Agency (GSA) confirm that Galileo provides real added value to citizens using Location Based Services (LBS). When used in addition to GPS and/or GLONASS, Galileo proved to significantly improve accuracy in challenging environments.

Conducted in such real-world environments as urban canyons and indoors, each test consisted of a three hour data capture of the GNSS signals which was later replayed to produce hundreds of fixes using a multiconstellation GNSS receiver from STMicroelectronics. These difficult environments pose significant challenges in regards to location accuracy due to multipath and obstructed views of satellites. However, because people often use location based services within these environments, it is important that accuracy be improved.

The results showed that adding Galileo on top of GPS and GLONASS (widely available in smartphones today) improves the accuracy of location fixes when indoors or in urban canyons. As expected, the GPS+Galileo combination did not exceed the performance of GPS+GLONASS, due primarily to there only being four Galileo satellites available at the time of the testing. The performance of Galileo with GPS or other GNSS will further improve in the future, as more Galileo satellites are launched. www.gsa.europa.eu

CSR SiRFstarV Architecture Secures Live Position Fix from Galileo Satellites

CSR plc’s leading SiRFstarV™ architecture has established a position fix using Galileo satellites. Its SiRFstarV 5ea Quad-GNSS receiver acquired, tracked, and used signals from the four Galileo satellites currently in orbit to produce position fixes in Germany.

Galileo support is required to implement the European Commission’s (EC) recently mandated eCall emergency response system for light vehicles, which will automatically send emergency notification messages from these vehicles when involved in an accident. The EC’s objective is to have a fully functioning eCall service safeguarding the European Union by late 2015, and CSR’s SiRFstarV is one of the few GNSS receivers that can support the eCall Galileo requirement.

A minimum of four satellites is required to make a position fix in three dimensions – longitude, latitude and altitude. The Galileo constellation’s four satellites are currently visible from Earth at the same time for only two to three hours each day, so currently a position fix can only be obtained during this period. The frequency of position fix availability, however, will increase as the European Space Agency deploys more satellites and as additional ground stations become operational. The full range of Galileo positioning, navigation and timing services is expected to be available in 2018. www.csr.com