The Galileo Open Service (OS), the Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS) and the Enhanced Search and Rescue (SAR) Service Performance Reports for Q2 2024 are available at the GSC Electronic Library.

The Reports for Q2 2024 present the status of the Galileo constellation and the achieved performance.

These quarterly reports provide users with the latest performance statistics on the Galileo OS, HAS and SAR/Galileo, measured against their Minimum Performance Levels (MPLs) as outlined in their respective Galileo Service Definition Documents. All SDDs can be found here.

The  reports provide information to users on parameters such as:

  • Galileo OS: Ranging Performance, Galileo UTC and Galileo-GPS Time Offset (GGTO) Dissemination and Determination Performance, Galileo Positioning Performance, the Timely Publication of NAGUs (Notice Advisory to Galileo Users).
  • Galileo HAS: Accuracy and Availability of the HAS corrections, and Service Coverage.
  • SAR/Galileo Enhanced Services: Forward Link Service, Detection and Location Performance, Return Link Service, Return Link Message (RLM) Delivery Latency and Reception Probability Performance, European MEOLUT and Space Segment Availability Performance.

Highlights from Q2-2024 Public Performance Reports:

During the reporting period, the measured Galileo OS, HAS and SAR performance figures exceeded their MPL thresholds, specified in the OS-SDD, HAS-SDD and SAR-SDD.

Key highlights:

Open Service:

  • Galileo Open Service Ranging Performance:
    • Per-slot Availability of Healthy Signal in Space for each Galileo operational satellite: average monthly values at least equal to 97.85% for every Single-Frequency and Dual-Frequency combination, above the MPL threshold (92%).
    • Galileo Signal in Space Ranging Accuracy for individual space vehicles: monthly accuracy between 0.31 [m] and 1.20 [m] on Single-Frequency observables. For Dual-Frequency combinations, the accuracy was in the range of 0.15 [m] and 0.36 [m]. Compliance with the MPL target (threshold is 7 [m]) was achieved with considerable margins by all satellites of the Galileo constellation.
    • Worst-satellite ranging accuracy, Global Average at 99.9% confidence level: values between 0.49 [m] and 2.06 [m] on Single Frequency observables. For Dual-Frequency combinations, values are between 0.26 [m] and 1.18 [m]. Since December 2023, such ranging accuracy at high confidence level is subject to MPL targets: as Global Average: ≤ 10 m (SF, DF) and for Worst User Location: ≤ 20 m (SF, DF). Compliance with the MPL target was achieved with significant margins.
    • Average Ranging Accuracy at constellation level (over “All Satellites”): figures “per signal” better than or equal to 0.59 [m] for Single-Frequency signals and 0.18 [m] for Dual-Frequency signal combinations. Achieved results at least one order of magnitude better than the MPL threshold (2 [m]).
  • Galileo UTC and GGTO Dissemination and Determination Performance: achieved good values for the UTC Time Dissemination Service Accuracy, the UTC Frequency Dissemination Service Accuracy, and the GGTO Determination Accuracy.
  • Galileo Positioning Performance: met both Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) and Positioning Service availability target values by a significant margin.
  • Timely Publication of NAGUs for the OS: issued 8 NAGUs during the quarter, meeting timeliness requirements (target to issue a NAGU at least 48 hours before the start of a scheduled event, as well as not more than 30 hours after the occurrence of an unscheduled one). The most recent OS-SDD in force, applicable since December 2023, foresees 15 hours of maximum delay in the notification of unplanned NAGUs related to service recovery).

High Accuracy Service:

  • Accuracy of the HAS Corrections provided via terrestrial dissemination (IDD) and via SIS for:
    • Orbit was better than or equal to 0.18 [m] for Galileo (in April and May) and 0.30 [m] for GPS (during the whole period) satisfying the MPL thresholds (0.20 [m] for Galileo and 0.33 [m] for GPS). In June, the MPL on the accuracy of HAS orbit corrections for Galileo trespassed the MPL threshold of 20 cm, by achieving an offset of 34 cm. This was due to an anomaly which was affecting the orbit data for a single space vehicle (GSAT0214, E05) on 08.06.2024. Measures to prevent that inaccurate orbit estimates impact on users have been already implemented in the Galileo High Accuracy Service and hence no similar impact is expected in the future.
    • Clock offset was better than or equal to 0.08 [m] for Galileo and 0.11 [m] for GPS in compliance with the MPL targets (0.12 [m] for Galileo and 0.15 [m] for GPS).
    • Code bias was better than or equal to 0.29 [m] for Galileo and 0.26 [m] for GPS. Compliance with the MPL target (threshold is 50 [m] for both Galileo and GPS) was achieved with considerable margins.
  • Availability of the HAS Corrections provided via terrestrial dissemination and SIS exceeded 92.64% for Galileo-only corrections and was better than 98.21% for Galileo + GPS corrections (above defined MPL target of 87 %).
  • Service coverage: Service coverage was 100% over the whole reporting period considering HAS corrections dissemination both via SIS and using IDD.
  • Timely publication of NAGUs for the HAS: during the quarter, 5 NAGUs were issued.  In June, the requirement for timeliness of publication for the case of unplanned HAS NAGUs was violated, as it took 2.625 days to issue NAGU 2024025, while the MPL threshold is 30 hours (1.25 days).

Enhanced SAR/Galileo Service:

  • Availability of SAR/Galileo:
    • Forward Link Service: achieved 99% MPL target throughout the reporting period, with a yearly normalised value of 99.95%.
    • MEOLUT facilities in “Nominal” and “Nominal or Degraded” modes: the availability MPL figures for Larnaca MLT and Maspalomas MLT achieved the required targets both in “Nominal” and “Nominal or Degraded” operating status. Spitsbergen EU MEOLUT did not meet the required MPL threshold of 95% in “Nominal” operating mode, availability being inferior or equal to 94.7% during the quarter, neither did it meet the required MPL threshold in “Nominal or Degraded” mode with an availability of 96.8% during the whole reporting period, against a target of 97.5%. This is due to the planned technical upgrades that occurred in 2023 and are still affecting the required “annual normalisation” of MEOLUT facilities availability.
    • Return Link Service: maintained above 99.81% every month of the reported period (MPL set to 95%).
    • SAR Transponders: Except for April, when GSAT0201 and GSAT0202 exhibited availability figures equal to 89.67% and 93.28%, the Availability of the SART achieved excellent levels of performance, with satellite short-term availability of 100% for all the transponders, over the whole quarter.
  • Performance of:
    • Detection Service: is in line with requirements, with monthly values of a valid message detection probability after a single transmitted burst at least equal to 7% for all sites over the reported period, while the MPL target is 99%.
    • Location Probability: achieved excellent values with monthly values above 0% for single-burst (MPL target is 90%), and 99.4% after 12 transmitted bursts (multi-burst) with all reference beacons (MPL target is 98%).
    • Location Accuracy within 5 km: surpassed the targets; monthly values higher than or equal to 3% for single-burst and 99.6% for multi-burst transmissions with an accuracy better than 5 km, while the MPLs are 90% and 95% respectively.
  • Return Link Service:
    • Delivery Latency within 15 minutes: above or equal to 99.42% in April and May, while it dropped to 92.87% in June, for an MPL target set to 99%. The degradation in June was due to an outage that occurred during the implementation of a GMS maintenance operation. However, upon verification with the COSPAS-SARSAT counterpart interface, it is confirmed that no user requests from SAR Beacons have been submitted in the meantime, while only one “Test RLM Request” (originating from a Beacon certification laboratory) was affected.
    • Reception Probability: above 99.43% in every month of the reported period (MPL set to 99%).

For the most up-to-date information on the Galileo system and constellation, visit the European Union GSC website, in particular, the Galileo constellation status section.
If you wish to receive NAGUs and notifications about new Galileo publications, please register on the GSC web portal and subscribe to our newsletters.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).