Tag Archives: European GNSS Agency

European GNSS Agency (GSA)

Consortium records scintillation on Galileo signals in Antarctica

Septentrio PolaRx5

At the end of 2016, the DemoGRAPE consortium observed, for the first time ever, ionospheric scintillations on Galileo signals in Antarctica, using Septentrio’s PolaRx5S GNSS reference receiver.

DemoGRAPE investigates improvement of high-precision satellite positioning with a view to developing scientific and technological applications in Antarctica. At higher latitudes, GNSS signal degradation due to ionospheric activity is more pronounced.

The more precise phase-based positioning modes are particularly vulnerable to ionosphere disturbance such as scintillations. Elevated ionospheric activity can cause a loss of precise-positioning mode or, in more extreme cases, a total loss of signal lock. Read more…

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The GSA takes up its responsibilities for Galileo

GSA HQ in Prague

By Carlo des Dorides*:

July 1, 2017 is an important date for both the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and for the Galileo programme. Following a six-month handover phase that began on January 1st, as of July 1st the GSA officially takes responsibility for overseeing the operations and service provision for Galileo – a responsibility that includes ensuring a return on investment from Galileo in the form of across-the-board services and applications.

Our journey began three years ago when the European Commission issued Regulation 1285, stating that the Galileo exploitation phase was to start in 2016 and delegating the responsibility for overseeing this key phase to the GSA. Last year’s Declaration of Initial Services and the awarding of the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) contract marked the official transition of Galileo from a testing phase to a system in service – and were the first concrete steps taken by the GSA in our new role. Read more…

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Galileo provides healthy signals 97.33 percent of the time

SISE of the Galileo constellation from 2014 to the present.

Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has undergone its first performance report since it started work at the end of last year, and it passed with flying colors.

The European GNSS Agency, GSA has published the first of its regular quarterly performance reports on Galileo. This European GNSS (Galileo) Initial Services Open Service report, now available online, covers the first three months of 2017 and documents the good performance of Galileo Initial Services to date.

The report shows the 11 satellites then operating in the Galileo constellation were able to provide healthy signals 97.33 percent of the time on a per satellite basis, with a ranging accuracy better than 1.07 m and disseminating global UTC time within its signal to within 30 billionths of a second on a 95 percentile monthly basis. Read more…

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First GNSS IS OS quarterly performance report now available

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has published its first Galileo Initial Services Open Service (IS OS) quarterly performance report.

Following the Declaration of Initial Services in December 2016, the GSA will publish a new Galileo IS OS report after each quarter. These quarterly reports aim to provide the public with the latest information on the Galileo Open Service’s performance. Read more…

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Hackathon 2017 expands Galileo community

This year’s Galileo Hackathon in Gdynia, Poland, brought together students, graduates, entrepreneurs and a handful of helpful high-level GNSS experts to develop innovative LBS applications exploiting the new level of accuracy made possible by Galileo.

As part of its effort to achieve the highest return on European GNSS investment, in terms of benefits to users and economic growth and competitiveness, the GSA has worked very hard to get Galileo into smartphones. It’s an effort that has paid off. Read more…

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Webinar – Galileo and the future of SatNav

Today’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) market is huge. Growing demand for precise location information on smartphones and other hardware has seen GNSS technology embedded in 5 billion devices around the world – a figure that is expected to grow to 8 billion by 2020.

In this Webinar, “Galileo and the future of SatNav: drones, smart cities and self-driving cars” (June 13, 5pm CET), the GSA (European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency) will review the market – revealing findings from the latest edition of the GSA’s GNSS Market Report – and provide insight on global trends and future developments. In particular, the webinar will explore: Read more…

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Galileo helps cities mobility company expand

Traffic jams and, more specifically, the pollution, noise and congestion they cause, are one of the greatest mobility challenges that today’s cities face. To overcome this problem, cities across the world are looking at innovative and environmentally sustainable urban mobility solutions that lower CO2 emissions and ease traffic congestion.

In Barcelona, this challenge is being answered in part by MOTIT – a unique, electric scooter sharing service that lets users pick up and drop off vehicles wherever and whenever they want. After reserving a scooter via their smartphone, the user receives a notification showing the location of the assigned vehicle. Read more…

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