The processing of the Galileo signal in a multi-constellation environment is providing important benefits and opportunities for precision farming, enhancing the performance of livestock and increasing the achieved accuracy in difficult mountain environments. A Spanish company, Ixoriguè, has integrated Galileo in its positioning solution as part of a combined product for livestock management.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) together with the European Commission have published an Information Note on the Galileo High Accuracy Service, providing an overview of the main characteristics of the service, along with information on features such as service levels, target performance, an implementation roadmap, and an overview of the target markets for the service. You can download the Information Note here.

Galileo has started testing Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) in the signal-in-space, allowing the first-ever OSNMA-protected position fix to be successfully computed. Testing will continue over the next months, ahead of a so-called “public observation” phase. This is the first-ever transmission of authentication features in open GNSS signals of a global navigation system.

SWEPOS is the CORS network for satellite positioning in Sweden. From the introduction of Galileo in its service in 2018, the network users have observed higher availability and better performances, especially when using a high cut off angle or in harsh environments. Connections to SWEPOS network have increased rapidly, and the number of Galileo users in the region continues to grow.

The Galileo Performance Workshop 2021 led by the European GNSS Agency will offer an in-depth analysis of the performance of Galileo and how it is evaluated for users.

A year after declared operational, the Galileo Return Link Service has been exceeding the performance levels committed in the SAR/Galileo Service Definition Document. With the recent upgrade in its European ground facilities, Galileo SAR is leading the way as an important component of the International Cospas-Sarsat Programme.

In the smart energy grids of the future, all energy market participants will communicate with each other, making energy supplies more reactive. This will bring many benefits, including reduced costs, improved efficiency and the seamless integration of the distribution of energy sources, including renewable energy. However, for smart grids to operate successfully they will have to be based on a solid and robust synchronisation infrastructure. This is where GNSS comes in.

The Galileo system was returned to its nominal state a few hours after the incident which occurred between 00:00 and 06:00 on Monday morning 14 December. This service incident is still under investigation. It is confirmed to be related to an abnormal behaviour of a ground atomic clock in the time determination function of the system. The time synchronisation and orbit determination algorithms immediately flagged the data as MARGINAL (SISA*=NAPA**) before it affected the quality of the measurements. However, the incorrect data was still uploaded to the satellites. User receivers that do not process the health and status flags, or that keep MARGINAL satellites as part of the position solution computation, may have experienced large positioning errors. The following plots present the status of the various satellites during the event and provide an estimation of the typical pseudorange errors (***) experienced by users if processing the satellites, despite being flagged as MARGINAL.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is launching the 2020 editions of its Galileo User Satisfaction Survey and EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. These surveys play an important role in the evolution of the EGNSS programmes by feeding users’ needs and requirements into programme development.

The 3rd edition of the User Consultation Platform (UCP) for the European Space Programme will take place on 1-2 December, ahead of European Space Week 2020. This is a unique opportunity for the rapidly expanding community of space tech users to inform the organisations and institutions that oversee the programme of their experience and requirements, helping to shape the future evolution of the system. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your say – register now.