Galileo Future and Evolutions

GALILEO
Title	Galileo Future and Evolutions
Edited by	GMV A.D.
Level	Basic
Year of Publication	2011

The Galileo program is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art global satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. While providing autonomous navigation and positioning services, the system established under the Galileo program will at the same time be interoperable with other GNSS systems such as GPS and GLONASS. The system will consist of 30 satellites, to be deployed in a staggered approach, and the associated ground infrastructure.

Galileo phases

The Galileo program has been structured according to three main phases:

1. In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase:

   The IOV phase consists of qualifying the system through tests and the operation of two experimental satellites and a reduced constellation of four operational satellites and their related ground infrastructure.

   The two experimental satellites were launched in respectively December 2005 and April 2008. Their purpose was to characterize the Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) environment (radiations, magnetic field etc) and to test in such environment the performance of critical payload technology (atomic clocks and radiation hardened digital technology). They also provide an early experimental signal-in-space allowing securing the frequency spectrum required for Galileo in accordance with WRC RNSS allocations. The first 2 Galileo operational satellites were launched by ESA with the Soyuz VS01 flight on 21st October 2011. The next two Galileo satellites, completing the IOV quartet, are scheduled for launch in summer 2012.

2. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) phase:

   The IOC stage will be the partial commissioning of the ground and space infrastructure as from 2014-2015 and the provision of the Open Service, the Search And Rescue service and the PRS. While this first stage will be sufficient to test the services it should nonetheless be as short as possible, because it will not allow the system's full potential to be exploited and will not meet the requirements of all users. The procurement of the IOC phase includes the first batch of satellites, the launch services, the needed mission and control ground infrastructure, the system support services and the corresponding operations.

3. Full Operational Capability (FOC) phase:

   The FOC phase consists of the deployment of the full system which will consist of 30 satellites, control centres located in Europe and a network of sensor stations and uplink stations installed around the globe. Galileo's Full Operational Capability (FOC) should be achieved in 2019-2020, in a staggered approach from the IOC phase. It might change, depending on availability of financing, technical problems and industrial performance.

The definition phase and the development and In-Orbit Validation phase of the Galileo program is being carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) and co-funded by ESA and the European Union. The Full Operational Capability phase of the Galileo program is fully funded by the European Union and managed by the European Commission. The Commission and ESA have signed a delegation agreement by which ESA acts as design and procurement agent on behalf of the Commission.

Galileo Evolutions

Galileo Clock (artistic interpretation)

The European Parliament and the Council have allocated the management of the Galileo programme to the European Commission. The European Commission is in the process of setting up a consultative group of GNSS experts called the Mission Evolution Advisory Group (MEAG). MEAG aims at providing EC with independent advice and recommendations on potential evolutions of the mission objectives and the service definitions for the European satellite navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS. The group is expected to critically assess changes of both user needs and scope of space-based PNT, both on European and international scale. Changes on the mission and service requirements for the Galileo and EGNOS programme will be analysed too, proposing suitable updates of the mission and service baseline. MEAG members include experts from GNSS user communities, GNSS industry sectors, academia, national space agencies and other recognized experts from Member States. The MEAG meets on a regular basis with an indicative number of three meetings per year. The expert group may establish on an ad-hoc basis Working Groups to provide specialist support as required to carry out its activities. The MEAG shall further record and report its work results and recommendations on a yearly basis to the Commission.

The Galileo Evolutions are currently under technical study within the European GNSS Evolution Programme (EGEP), an ESA optional programme supported by 17 Member States and Canada. Its primary aim is to undertake research and development in and verification of technologies relating to regional space-based augmentation systems (SBAS) and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Regarding Galileo, EGEP objectives are:

• define future system architectures for Galileo and prepare the technology for future versions of the system;
• provide testbeds and system tools;
• improve Agency knowledge of GNSS performance monitoring and the principal environmental factors influencing performance;
• promote and support scientific exploitation of Galileo.