Galileo is a European initiative, backed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC), to build a Global Satellite Navigation System that will allow individuals to know their position accurately, anywhere in the world. Galileo will have a constellation of 30 satellites orbiting the earth, each transmitting radio signals, which when received by a user allow the distance to the satellites to be measured, and hence the user position to be determined. Although similar in principle to the existing US GPS, Galileo will use many novel techniques and technologies to provide robust performance for many applications.
Thales companies are involved in many aspects of the Galileo system design and development, and we are at the heart of these activities.
Our work on Galileo includes:
Signal definition and validation (designing and assessing the high performance radio signals required by Galileo)
Developing the standard Galileo constellation simulator that will be the benchmark for validating Galileo receiver terminals and specifying the required receiver validation tools
Supporting the specification and definition of Galileo local elements (additions to the basic system that provide higher performance in certain areas)
Analysing and helping to specify the security of the system that will allow Galileo to be operated safely and reliably
supporting user requirements capture
Developing simulators to allow the performance of Galileo signals when combined with other navigation sensors to be evaluated, and thus providing complete navigation solutions.