Mission

The importance and acceptance of existing and emerging Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GALILEO, has been steadily increasing over the last years. After more than 10 years of GPS in fully deployed mode - there are, today, a large number of related applications which are based upon its services. GLONASS which has been developed in parallel to GPS, is, today, still an incomplete constellation, but will be expanded to full capability around 2010. GALILEO is on track to be installed and operational by 2013, while GPS and GLONASS will be modernized to provide new signals and services. Finally, Augmentation Systems such as WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN, and the Chinese GNSS 'Compass' make up the compliment of world wide Global Navigation Satellite Systems.

With the increase and complexity of existing GNSS services it is most likely that a whole new range of software tools and applications will be developed, that will affect the lives of most people.

The current operating Satellite Navigation Systems (e.g. GPS, GLONASS) provide performance information to expert users in a dedicated form. The objective of GalTeC, the GALILEO Technology Centre, is to provide a comprehensive and system independent tool for system performance monitoring, analysis, prediction and service dimensioning, for all systems and not only for GALILEO. GalTeC products may be of interest to users, in that it concentrates on the need for easy to read information of all available GNSS parameters that include status and performance in user friendly formats.

It is important to understand that the evaluation of the individual GNSS at GalTeC is not done versus the Systems Performance Standards, but with respect to an application: currently and as example it is the ICAO (drafted) performance requirement for systems enabling Airport Approach operations of the level APV-II (Approach with Vertical Guidance). In SIS domain however the evaluation is performed against the systems self provided accuracy information like URA at GPS and SISA at GALILEO.

The analysis on position and integrity level is also specifically for the GalTeC site location which is the THALES building in Korntal-Münchingen near Stuttgart in Germany: