NovAtel Inc. will establish grounds sites in Canada to monitor the GIOVE (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) test satellites under a CDN$667,861 (US$671,568) contract recently awarded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The work includes a parallel cooperative effort to integrate the NovAtel Galileo Test Receiver (GTR), developed for the CSA, into the GIOVE-A Galileo Experimental Sensor Station (GESS), to upgrade the GTR capabilities and to field these GESS stations in Canada.
NovAtel Inc. will establish grounds sites in Canada to monitor the GIOVE (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) test satellites under a CDN$667,861 (US$671,568) contract recently awarded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The work includes a parallel cooperative effort to integrate the NovAtel Galileo Test Receiver (GTR), developed for the CSA, into the GIOVE-A Galileo Experimental Sensor Station (GESS), to upgrade the GTR capabilities and to field these GESS stations in Canada.
The GIOVE ground network consists of 13 GESS systems located around the world. NovAtel’s GTRs will be installed at three network sites — two new ones in Canada at the Communication Research Center in Ottawa and at NovAtel facilities in Calgary, along with an existing site at the GIOVE control centre in Noordwijk, Holland.
The first GIOVE-A test satellite has now been in orbit since December 2005, and a second GIOVE test satellite (GIOVE-B) is scheduled for launch in April. Galileo, the European GNSS, is now expected to be fully operational by 2013.
