Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
A convergence of developments over the past few months has brought Europe’s Galileo program to the most critical passage of its history — at least, since final approval of the GNSS initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
By Inside GNSS
The 14-year (and counting) history of Europe’s Galileo program has always made for a complex story line.
And it’s not getting any simpler.
Among the latest complications: the transition of responsibilities from the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) to a new GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA, also referred to as the Galileo Supervisory Authority), further extension of negotiations over a long-term concession contract to operate Galileo, and growing pressure from commercial companies to allow them to sell Galileo technology that they have developed or want to develop.
By Inside GNSS
China has confirmed what many have been expecting for some time: it will construct the world’s fourth GNSS system — joining the systems operated by the United States, Russia, and Europe.
By Inside GNSS
As the clock runs out on the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) that has guided the institutional development of the European GNSS program for the past four years, negotiators from the GJU and a consortium seeking to build and operate the system are nearing completion of a “head of terms” agreement.
By Inside GNSS
The consortium negotiating to build and operate Europe’s Galileo system now expects to sign an agreement with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) by the end of 2006.
By Inside GNSS
Within weeks of a bilateral working group’s recommendation for a common civil GNSS signal design, the European Galileo and U.S. GPS programs have filed draft interface specifications (IS) or interface control documents (ICDs) for the new signals planned for the L1 frequency (around 1575 MHZ).
By Inside GNSS
An ad hoc working group has begun sorting through issues surrounding the recent formation of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG).
By Inside GNSS
Russian officials are working to develop a plan that will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin’s directive to have the full GLONASS constellation in place by 2009 instead of 2011.
By Inside GNSS
Risk allocation, avoidance, and management are the watchwords of the day as the contract negotiation for the Galileo concession moves into its endgame.
By Inside GNSS
Matthias Ruete has been named as director-general of the European Commission’s Directorate- General for Energy and Transport (EC DG-TREN), which has overall responsibility for implementation of the Galileo program on behalf of the European Union (EU). He replaces François Lamoreaux.
By Inside GNSS
Civil GPS users now have a second full signal available to them — albeit on only one satellite and “at the user’s own risk” — courtesy of the first modernized Block IIR (IIR- 14M) spacecraft launched last September. And the world’s geodetic community is already moving to take advantage of it with announcement of an addendum to the receiver autonomous exchange (RINEX) format used to combine high-precision position data from different types of GPS receivers.
By Inside GNSS
European Space Agency (ESA) and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.(SSTL) operators have completed the on-orbit preparations and activated the navigation payload for GIOVE-A, the first Galileo satellite launched December 28.
By Inside GNSS
