EC, ESA Efforts Converge on Transport Council
Key Galileo program contracts have been signed, a signal design and frequency structure proposed, and a business plan under way as the European Commission (EC) and European Space Agency (ESA) move toward a decisive December meeting of the European Council of Transport
Ministers.
At issue is whether to release up to 450 million Euros for development and in-orbit validation
of the Galileo system, which will be composed
of 30 middle earth orbiting satellites and a ground monitoring and control infrastructure. ESA's governing council will meet in November to address use of 550 million Euros allocated for Galileo.
The EC has negotiated a cluster of contracts totalling 30 million Euros with a group of companies (referred to as the Galilei Consortium) from 10 nations to advance work in five categories: detailed service analyses and market research; interoperability of Galileo with other systems (including other navigation satellite systems
such as GPS, and wireless communications);
frequency, standardisation, and certification aspects; pilot demonstration projects; local
system elements; and the legal, institutional,
and regulatory framework.
The prime contract, under the EC's Fifth Framework Programme on Promoting Competitive and Sustainable Growth, was signed October 2, with Galileo Industries and the Thales Group coordinating the work on the numerous subcontracts expected to run through September 2003. This work will complement ESA?s Galileo B2 architecture contract awarded to Galileo Industries that will lead to the Galileo Preliminary System Design Review in March 2003.
As an initial step toward creating a single management structure and, eventually, a joint undertaking to build and operate Galileo for the European member states, the EC and ESA have established a Galileo Interim management Support Structure (GISS). This group will supersede the EC/ESA Galileo Program Office in Brussels. GISS will be headed by ESA's Alexandre Steciw and consist of about 30 engineers and experts who will provide technical support to the Galileo Program Management Board that oversees the program. ESA will administer 7 million Euros in EC funds to set up and operate GISS.
New Team. At the EC itself, a reorganisation
in the Directorate General for Transport and Energy has moved the Galileo activity from Directorate B (Trans-European Networks)
to a new satellite navigation systems and intelligent
transport unit in Directorate
E (Inland Transport). Heinz Hilbrecht, who heads Directorate E, will serve as temporary head of the new unit.
Jean Trestour, former head
of the Galileo unit, has been reassigned to a maritime policy and technology unit. Luc
Tytgat, a long-standing leader of the EC?s GNSS initiatives, has been promoted to head a newly created space research, policy and coordination unit in the EC?s Research Directorate General.
Signal Group Poses Overlay
The European Commission?s Galileo Signal Task Force set up earlier this year has recommended overlaying Galileo
signals on and around GPS
frequencies to optimise interoperability of the two systems.
In presentations at the recent Institute of Navigation GPS-2001 conference and the International Civil Aviation Organisation?s GNSS Panel, task force member Gunter Hein described a plan that would produce a degradation of GPS signal reception of less than 0.25 dB, below the level allowed by International Telecommunication Union rules.
Several U.S. navigation
signal experts in the audience indicated that the proposed signal design and frequency plan would maximise interoperability of GPS and Galileo in combined user equipment.
The baseline scenario assumes the use of both binary offset carrier (BOC) and biphase shift key (BPSK) modulation on the Galileo signals. The various BOC and BPSK techniques produce distinct waveforms and would be implemented on the various signals and frequencies in such a fashion as to minimise the interference effects between Galileo and other GNSS
services, particularly GPS L1.
Signals will have both in-phase (I channel) and phase-quadrature (Q channel) components.
The proposed Galileo frequency plan is as follows: E5a (L5), centre frequency at 1176.45 MHz; E5b, 1196.91- 1207.14 MHz; E6, centred at 1278.75 MHz; E2-L1-E1,
centred at 1575.42. (The final value for E5b is to be determined during the Galileo B2 Phase.)
The data carriers will be assigned to provide the following service categories: Open Service (OS) signals would use unencrypted ranging codes and navigation data messages on the E5a, E5b, and E2-L1-E1 carriers; Safety-of-Life Service (SAS) signals would use the OS ranging codes and navigation data messages on E5a, E5b, and E2-L1-E1 carriers.
Commercial Service (CS) signals would use the OS ranging codes and navigation data messages, possibly with additional CS encrypted data messages on the E5b carrier. The CS signal may also use an encrypted CS ranging code and navigation data messages on the E6 carrier.
The Public Regulated
Service (PRS) signals would use the encrypted PRS ranging code and navigation data
messages on the E6 and E2-L1-E1 carriers.
