GPS/Galileo deal advances

GPS World, June, 2004

Talks between the United States and the European Commission (EC) are nearing a formal agreement on cooperation between two global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs)--the GPS and Galileo. Progress in the negotiations, however, have come as a result of referring several substantial security-related issues to technical working groups for resolution.

European officials hope to have an agreement ready to be signed at an EU/U.S. summit in Dublin, Ireland, in late June. The Galileo signal design and frequency plan also needs to be finalized so that it can be incorporated into the satellites scheduled for launch beginning next year.

A key point of contention was whether the Galileo open signal would interfere with the new GPS military signal and the ability of U.S. military forces to jam civil GNSS signals--including Galileo--in a theater of operations. The two sides finally agreed on a narrower-bandwidth signal for future civil signals, a binary offset carrier (BOC 1,1) rather than BOC (2,2).

"BOC 1,1 performs very similarly to BOC 2,2, using real occurrence [in the field] and appropriate multipath mitigation techniques," said Gunter Hein, head of the Institute of Geodesy and Navigation at University FAF Munich, in a May 18 presentation to the European Navigation Conference GNSS 2004. Hein is also a member of the Galileo Signal Task Force.

Three consortia are competing for the Galileo contract to develop, operate, and maintain the Galileo system. The consortia are due to deliver their bids to the GJU at the end of August, and a bid evaluation board is expected to identify a preferred bidder by the end of September. At GNSS 2004, however, Rainer Grohe, executive director of the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU), indicated that the GJU may recommend two rather than just one consortium to take part in the next phase of contract negotiations.

The JU will present the successful bidder or bidders to the Transport Council of the European Union (EU) in December, with final negotiations to begin in January and a concession contract awarded by the end of 2005.