Galileo update

First Galileo commercial service demonstration with encrypted signals

The Early Proof of Concept (EPOC) team has successfully tracked the encrypted Galileo E6-B and E6-C signals broadcast by Galileo satellites. As a result, the Commercial Service loop has been closed using both encrypted and non-encrypted signals.

During a 10-day testing period, receivers located in Tres Cantos, Spain and Poing, Germany, showed the successful tracking and data demodulation of the encrypted signals from the available Galileo satellites, with periods where all satellites transmitting E6 encrypted signals were tracked simultaneously. The tests verified the Galileo Commercial Service (CS) signal’s encryption functionalities, with the data received containing authentication and high accuracy information previously generated outside the Galileo system. www.gsa.europa.eu

Veripos participates in Galileo demonstration project

Veripos confirms its participation in the successful consortium delivering the AALECS (Authentic and Accurate Location Experimentation with the Commercial Service) project launched by the European Commission in January. The AALECS Project concerns building of a demonstration platform to connect to the European GNSS Service Centre and transmit real-time commercial service data via the Galileo satellites. The platform will be operational by 2015 and will demonstrate the true performance of future high-accuracy and authentication services of Galileo. www.veripos.com

EC selects CGI to support the Galileo program’s Commercial Service initiative

CGI has been awarded a contract to build the core infrastructure for the first demonstrator for the Galileo Commercial Service, part of the emerging European GNSS. The contract was awarded by the European Commission Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR).

Sudden Power Loss Left a Galileo Satellite in Safe Mode

One of the four Galileo satellite stopped transmitting on two of its three channels on May 27 because of a sudden loss of power, forcing ground teams to shut down the satellite after putting it in safe mode while examining possible causes, European government officials said. The anomaly occurred in a matter of seconds and shut down the E1 signal first. That signal, which transmits Galileo’s Open Service, reestablished itself almost immediately. But as soon as it was back in service, the two other channels’ power dropped and did not recover. The full satellite then was shut down by ground teams. They said whatever the cause of the problem, it was not related to the satellite’s onboard atomic clock.

Officials said that because the four In- Orbit Validation satellites — launched two at a time in October 2011 and October 2012 — differ in both onboard power technology and manufacturer, the preparations for the next Galileo launch, set for late August, have not been suspended and are not expected to be delayed as a result of the problem