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The European GNSS Agency (GSA), along with the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), announce the commissioning of two additional satellites, bringing the total number of satellites available for the Galileo service provision to 18.

The GSA is pleased to announce the completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) of two new Galileo satellites, GSAT0212-SV ID 03- and GSAT0213-SV ID 04 -. Having passed all initial tests, the two satellites are now officially commissioned for operational use and are usable for the Galileo service provision (see NAGU 2017029 and NAGU 2017033).

The satellites join GSAT0207-SV ID 07- and GSAT02014-SV ID -5 -, which were previously commissioned on 30 May 2017, increasing the total number of satellites available for use with the Galileo service provision to 18. All four satellites were launched on 17 November 2016 from Kourou, French Guiana – the first launch using an Ariane-5 rocket.

Four additional satellites are expected to be launched in the coming months, further enlarging the Galileo constellation and improving its global performance. Launches will continue until the system reaches Full Operational Capability in 2020. The complete constellation will consist of 30 satellites in orbit (24 operational and six spares). 

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability.

Once fully operational, Galileo will offer four high-performance services worldwide:

• Open Service (OS): open and free of charge service set up for positioning and timing services.
• Commercial Service (CS): a service complementing the OS by providing an additional navigation signal and added-value services in a different frequency band. The CS signal can be encrypted in order to control access to the Galileo CS services.
• Public Regulated Service (PRS): service restricted to government-authorised users, for sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity.
• Search and Rescue Service (SAR): Europe’s contribution to COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alert detection system.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA), along with the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), announce the commissioning of two additional satellites, bringing the total number of satellites available for the Galileo service provision to 18.

The GSA is pleased to announce the completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) of two new Galileo satellites, GSAT0212-SV ID 03- and GSAT0213-SV ID 04 -. Having passed all initial tests, the two satellites are now officially commissioned for operational use and are usable for the Galileo service provision (see NAGU 2017029 and NAGU 2017032).

The satellites join GSAT0207-SV ID 07- and GSAT02014-SV ID -5 -, which were previously commissioned on 30 May 2017, increasing the total number of satellites available for use with the Galileo service provision to 18. All four satellites were launched on 17 November 2016 from Kourou, French Guiana – the first launch using an Ariane-5 rocket.

Four additional satellites are expected to be launched in the coming months, further enlarging the Galileo constellation and improving its global performance. Launches will continue until the system reaches Full Operational Capability in 2020. The complete constellation will consist of 30 satellites in orbit (24 operational and six spares). 

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability.

Once fully operational, Galileo will offer four high-performance services worldwide:

• Open Service (OS): open and free of charge service set up for positioning and timing services.
• Commercial Service (CS): a service complementing the OS by providing an additional navigation signal and added-value services in a different frequency band. The CS signal can be encrypted in order to control access to the Galileo CS services.
• Public Regulated Service (PRS): service restricted to government-authorised users, for sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity.
• Search and Rescue Service (SAR): Europe’s contribution to COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alert detection system.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

In this instalment of our GNSS in Asia series, we look at how the close cooperation between the GNSS.asia China team and China’s LBS association is resulting in big opportunities for EU companies.

With an explosive annual growth rate forecast at 46% up to 2020, the Chinese Location-Based Services (LBS) market is a huge and relatively accessible market for European players. Although the gaming and marketing segments are the most promising for cooperating with Chinese partners, chipset manufacturers like ST and Bosch are also seeing success.

More so, since 2016 bike-sharing has boomed in China, which thrives on the use of GNSS-provided positioning and thus is positioned as a key opportunity for EU players. As reported by Forbes in a July 2017 article, Beijing-based bike-sharing start-up ofo, recently received $700 million in financing to expand its network of inexpensive and environmentally friendly bike shares that rely on mobile apps for renting and GPS for tracking. Likewise, Mobike, a close competitor, drew $600 million in financing in June, bringing its total for the year up to $1 billion.

Spearheading the development of China’s LBS market is the GNSS and LBS Association of China (GLAC). Founded in 1995, GLAC is a professional non-profit organisation focused on GNSS applications and LBS services at the national level. The association boasts more than 2,000 members, including universities, research institutes, enterprises, manufacturers and geospatial data providers – to name only a few.

GLAC works in close partnership with the GNSS.asia China team, looking for opportunities to bring LBS players from Europe and China together. Specifically, the partnership is responsible for organising a range of events targeting the GNSS community in China and Europe and working to raise awareness about Europe’s GNSS programmes (EGNOS and Galileo) throughout GLAC’s extensive industry network. The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market.

“Over the past several years, we have taken great strides to capitalise on GLAC’s extensive industry network as a means of facilitating cooperation agreements between Asian and European companies,” says Davof Xu, EU SME Advocacy and Working Group Coordinator at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

Spreading the word on E-GNSS

To promote E-GNSS and industrial cooperation to a broader extent across China, GNSS.asia, along with GLAC, have been ‘testing the waters’ for interest in China’s top GNSS cities. For example, last year they organised the International Forum on GNSS & LBS and the 11th China Satellite Navigation Operations Conference in Shenzhen, which welcomed over 50 participants. The two also partnered to host the International Forum on GNSS Applications – GNSS Connects the World at the 5th Annual GLAC Conference in Chengdu.

“These events were successful in that they allowed us to identify possible local partners and stakeholders that we need to facilitate concrete cooperation in the regions,” says Xu. “What’s very encouraging is that many of the attendees were open to the possibility of industrial cooperation between Europe and China, especially as it pertains to applications.”

GNSS.asia also attended the Beidou + Space-based Information Application Summit, which was organised by GLAC and held in Harbin.

Looking ahead

To continue to build on this momentum between China and the EU, the GNSS.asia China team plans to expand its cooperation with both GLAC and GCE. They are also helping to organise GLAC’s EU tour and facilitate the creation of concrete industrial partnerships. In April 2017, for example, a mutual meeting between GLAC and the GNSS Centre of Excellence (GCE) was held in Prague with around 20 participants. “Here, both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation and exchanges on creating new transportation-focused applications, especially for the ITS, Road and Aviation sectors,” says Xu.

The GNSS.asia China team is also busy coordinating opportunities for industrial exchanges and matchmaking through GLAC’s Action Plan of Hundreds of Cities, Hundreds of Applications. The Plan aims to promote GNSS technology and applications, as well as the development of satellite navigation and location services industries, through the integration of regional and industry location networks.

“The Plan promotes GNSS applications across multiple industries, field and cities,” explains Xu. “Of particular interest to European companies is the Plan’s focus on vehicle navigation and positioning related services, along with applications pertaining to the urban construction and management, mapping, and maritime sectors.”

Multi-constellation goes mainstream

With the launch Galileo Initial Services, GNSS.asia is closely following its adoption among GLAC’s networks. According to Xu, Chinese chipset companies like CEC Huada Electronical Design Co. Ltd, Unicore Communications Inc., and Mengxin Technology have all developed Galileo-enabled chipsets. Furthermore, some Chinese mobile phone manufactures, including Huawei, have started using Galileo-enabled chipsets within their devices.

“As multi-constellation is now the mainstream, Chinese companies are becoming increasingly interested in including Galileo into their applications and devices in order to provide better accuracy for their customers,” says Xu. He adds that this is especially true as Chinese companies become more internationalised and expand into overseas markets. “It is not difficult to find examples of Chinese GNSS companies acquiring international companies,” adds Xu. “For instance, Unistrong acquired Hemisphere in 2015, and the technology has been well promoted in the Chinese market since then.”

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

In this instalment of our GNSS in Asia series, we look at how the close cooperation between the GNSS.asia China team and China’s LBS association is resulting in big opportunities for EU companies.

With an explosive annual growth rate forecast at 46% up to 2020, the Chinese Location-Based Services (LBS) market is a huge and relatively accessible market for European players. Although the gaming and marketing segments are the most promising for cooperating with Chinese partners, chipset manufacturers like ST and Bosch are also seeing success.

More so, since 2016 bike-sharing has boomed in China, which thrives on the use of GNSS-provided positioning and thus is positioned as a key opportunity for EU players. As reported by Forbes in a July 2017 article, Beijing-based bike-sharing start-up ofo, recently received $700 million in financing to expand its network of inexpensive and environmentally friendly bike shares that rely on mobile apps for renting and GPS for tracking. Likewise, Mobike, a close competitor, drew $600 million in financing in June, bringing its total for the year up to $1 billion.

Spearheading the development of China’s LBS market is the GNSS and LBS Association of China (GLAC). Founded in 1995, GLAC is a professional non-profit organisation focused on GNSS applications and LBS services at the national level. The association boasts more than 2,000 members, including universities, research institutes, enterprises, manufacturers and geospatial data providers – to name only a few.

GLAC works in close partnership with the GNSS.asia China team, looking for opportunities to bring LBS players from Europe and China together. Specifically, the partnership is responsible for organising a range of events targeting the GNSS community in China and Europe and working to raise awareness about Europe’s GNSS programmes (EGNOS and Galileo) throughout GLAC’s extensive industry network. The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market.

“Over the past several years, we have taken great strides to capitalise on GLAC’s extensive industry network as a means of facilitating cooperation agreements between Asian and European companies,” says Davof Xu, EU SME Advocacy and Working Group Coordinator at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

Spreading the word on E-GNSS

To promote E-GNSS and industrial cooperation to a broader extent across China, GNSS.asia, along with GLAC, have been ‘testing the waters’ for interest in China’s top GNSS cities. For example, last year they organised the International Forum on GNSS & LBS and the 11th China Satellite Navigation Operations Conference in Shenzhen, which welcomed over 50 participants. The two also partnered to host the International Forum on GNSS Applications – GNSS Connects the World at the 5th Annual GLAC Conference in Chengdu.

“These events were successful in that they allowed us to identify possible local partners and stakeholders that we need to facilitate concrete cooperation in the regions,” says Xu. “What’s very encouraging is that many of the attendees were open to the possibility of industrial cooperation between Europe and China, especially as it pertains to applications.”

GNSS.asia also attended the Beidou + Space-based Information Application Summit, which was organised by GLAC and held in Harbin.

Looking ahead

To continue to build on this momentum between China and the EU, the GNSS.asia China team plans to expand its cooperation with both GLAC and GCE. They are also helping to organise GLAC’s EU tour and facilitate the creation of concrete industrial partnerships. In April 2017, for example, a mutual meeting between GLAC and the GNSS Centre of Excellence (GCE) was held in Prague with around 20 participants. “Here, both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation and exchanges on creating new transportation-focused applications, especially for the ITS, Road and Aviation sectors,” says Xu.

The GNSS.asia China team is also busy coordinating opportunities for industrial exchanges and matchmaking through GLAC’s Action Plan of Hundreds of Cities, Hundreds of Applications. The Plan aims to promote GNSS technology and applications, as well as the development of satellite navigation and location services industries, through the integration of regional and industry location networks.

“The Plan promotes GNSS applications across multiple industries, field and cities,” explains Xu. “Of particular interest to European companies is the Plan’s focus on vehicle navigation and positioning related services, along with applications pertaining to the urban construction and management, mapping, and maritime sectors.”

Multi-constellation goes mainstream

With the launch Galileo Initial Services, GNSS.asia is closely following its adoption among GLAC’s networks. According to Xu, Chinese chipset companies like CEC Huada Electronical Design Co. Ltd, Unicore Communications Inc., and Mengxin Technology have all developed Galileo-enabled chipsets. Furthermore, some Chinese mobile phone manufactures, including Huawei, have started using Galileo-enabled chipsets within their devices.

“As multi-constellation is now the mainstream, Chinese companies are becoming increasingly interested in including Galileo into their applications and devices in order to provide better accuracy for their customers,” says Xu. He adds that this is especially true as Chinese companies become more internationalised and expand into overseas markets. “It is not difficult to find examples of Chinese GNSS companies acquiring international companies,” adds Xu. “For instance, Unistrong acquired Hemisphere in 2015, and the technology has been well promoted in the Chinese market since then.”

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

Speaking at a dedicated session entitled ‘Applications: Earth Sciences and Geo-Information’, part of EUREF’s annual symposium, representatives of the mapping and surveying sector discussed the various synergies between GNSS and Earth Observation and their use for providing real-time information about the state of the Earth’s troposphere.

EUREF, the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe, is dedicated to the definition, realisation and maintenance of the European Geodetic Reference Systems. Included in this mission is the development and maintenance of the EUREF GNSS Permanent Network (EPN), which is a ground-based GNSS infrastructure for scientific and practical applications in positioning and navigation. EUREF provides standards and guidelines to European National Mapping Authorities in order to harmonise the definition and adoption of national coordinate reference systems.

“Geodetic techniques measure the situation on the earth’s surface, and modern space technologies extend these observations to orbiting satellites,” says Professor Alessandro Caporali of Italy’s University of Padova. “As a result, today the position of particular sites on the earth’s surface and its variation is known to the sub-millimetre level for the period of decades.” He also explains how these techniques are sensitive to many occurrences within the earth’s system, including changes in atmosphere, movement of tectonic plates and the state of solar radiation. 

Professor Caporali is working with EUREF in establishing a European system of latitude and longitude via GNSS-based techniques. Temporal changes of these coordinates, of the order of few mm per year, are used to understand the motions taking place on the earth’s surface. To do this, the organisation has established a range of GNSS ground stations to compute coordinates. Previously, these stations relied on GPS and GLONASS, but are now also incorporating Galileo signals – an effort that they are collaborating with the GSA on.

GNSS data integrates well

Areas where GNSS stations move towards each other are recognised by a decreasing relative distance and indicate a compression of the upper Earth crust. Likewise, areas of extensional or shear stress can be identified by analysing the relative displacements in time of GNSS stations at scales of some tens to one hundred km. This deformation measured at the surface is directly linked to deformation at depth, inferred from seismograms whenever an earthquake occurs, or by field surveys and geological mapping. For earthquakes of a magnitude greater than six, GNSS sites exhibit coordinate changes of several centimetres, depending on their distance from the hypocentre.

“The seismic displacement of GNSS sites is very helpful in constraining the coordinates of the hypocentre and other parameters of the causative fault,” says Professor Caporali. “GNSS data integrates very well with data provided by InSAR satellites, such as the recent Sentinel satellites, which are very sensitive to the vertical deformation.”

Important Galileo contribution

The propagation of microwaves from the GNSS satellites to an Earth-based receiver is affected by the electronic content in the ionosphere and by the pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere. Hence, an added value of the GNSS data is the direct measurement of the free electrons in the ionosphere, which is directly related to the solar activity and has profound impacts on everyday life (e.g. radio communications). “In the past, ionosphere sounding radars from a limited number of dedicated and expensive installations were used,” adds Caporali. “Now, low cost GNSS receivers with dual frequency capability make this research much cheaper and more detailed.”

“Galileo’s contribution is extremely important and fits well into our objectives, particularly as to the need for precise positioning” concludes Caporali. “I look forward to further close cooperation with the GSA.”

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

Speaking at a dedicated session entitled ‘Applications: Earth Sciences and Geo-Information’, part of EUREF’s annual symposium, representatives of the mapping and surveying sector discussed the various synergies between GNSS and Earth Observation and their use for providing real-time information about the state of the Earth’s troposphere.

EUREF, the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe, is dedicated to the definition, realisation and maintenance of the European Geodetic Reference Systems. Included in this mission is the development and maintenance of the EUREF GNSS Permanent Network (EPN), which is a ground-based GNSS infrastructure for scientific and practical applications in positioning and navigation. EUREF provides standards and guidelines to European National Mapping Authorities in order to harmonise the definition and adoption of national coordinate reference systems.

“Geodetic techniques measure the situation on the earth’s surface, and modern space technologies extend these observations to orbiting satellites,” says Professor Alessandro Caporali of Italy’s University of Padova. “As a result, today the position of particular sites on the earth’s surface and its variation is known to the sub-millimetre level for the period of decades.” He also explains how these techniques are sensitive to many occurrences within the earth’s system, including changes in atmosphere, movement of tectonic plates and the state of solar radiation. 

Professor Caporali is working with EUREF in establishing a European system of latitude and longitude via GNSS-based techniques. Temporal changes of these coordinates, of the order of few mm per year, are used to understand the motions taking place on the earth’s surface. To do this, the organisation has established a range of GNSS ground stations to compute coordinates. Previously, these stations relied on GPS and GLONASS, but are now also incorporating Galileo signals – an effort that they are collaborating with the GSA on.

GNSS data integrates well

Areas where GNSS stations move towards each other are recognised by a decreasing relative distance and indicate a compression of the upper Earth crust. Likewise, areas of extensional or shear stress can be identified by analysing the relative displacements in time of GNSS stations at scales of some tens to one hundred km. This deformation measured at the surface is directly linked to deformation at depth, inferred from seismograms whenever an earthquake occurs, or by field surveys and geological mapping. For earthquakes of a magnitude greater than six, GNSS sites exhibit coordinate changes of several centimetres, depending on their distance from the hypocentre.

“The seismic displacement of GNSS sites is very helpful in constraining the coordinates of the hypocentre and other parameters of the causative fault,” says Professor Caporali. “GNSS data integrates very well with data provided by InSAR satellites, such as the recent Sentinel satellites, which are very sensitive to the vertical deformation.”

Important Galileo contribution

The propagation of microwaves from the GNSS satellites to an Earth-based receiver is affected by the electronic content in the ionosphere and by the pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere. Hence, an added value of the GNSS data is the direct measurement of the free electrons in the ionosphere, which is directly related to the solar activity and has profound impacts on everyday life (e.g. radio communications). “In the past, ionosphere sounding radars from a limited number of dedicated and expensive installations were used,” adds Caproali. “Now, low cost GNSS receivers with dual frequency capability make this research much cheaper and more detailed.”

“Galileo’s contribution is extremely important and fits well into our objectives, particularly as to the need for precise positioning” concludes Caporali. “I look forward to further close cooperation with the GSA.”

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).