Author's code crack casts doubt on Galileo

GPS World, Oct, 2006

After GPS World's June 2006 Innovation article "Searching for Galileo" by Mark Psiaki and colleagues showed how the Cornell University researchers cracked the code broadcast by Galileo's GIOVE-A satellite, European media quickly weighed in.

The code-breaking cast doubt that the $4.2 billion project could pay for itself through commercial fees, reported The London Telegraph July 11. It cited potentially devastating consequences for the European Union, which wants to levy license fees on companies to access that same data before they can make and sell compatible navigation devices to the public.

Another U.K. newspaper, the Guardian, explored the issues in-depth in an August 31 article by Wendy Grossman. "[The Cornell scientists'] success," she stated, "which allows them and others to test prototype receivers for Europe's new global satellite navigation system, raises two questions: Can the body in charge of it, the Galileo Joint Undertaking, succeed as a public-private partnership? And how open will its service be?"

It is unclear how a commercial service can make money competing with a free service, she added. Galileo spokespersons have said that subscribers will be attracted by the system's guaranteed reliability. Psiaki, however, told the Guardian, "It always seemed to me a little odd that you could get enough subscribers to a paid service when the free one is pretty good to begin with."

Psiaki wondered whether Galileo intends to charge for the part of the service that's supposed to be open, and whether Europeans and Americans will be charged different rates. "We're talking about a market that's worth $15 billion a year, maybe $200 billion by 2020," he told the Guardian. "Americans are worried that there may be some effort to corner that market on the part of Europe. Maybe it's an unfounded fear, but people have that concern."

"If you tell American researchers something is free or open source, their expectations are raised," the Guardian added.

According to United Press International, the European Commission stated that Cornell's success in cracking codes for the prototype is irrelevant, since the final Galileo codes will be different.