UKC

If Galileo is going to be useable by 2016 when can we expect compatible devices to be available?

In reply to Cobbler:

They already are as it's been built to be inter-operable with GPS and Glonass.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:


That's not quite the same as being Galileo compatible.

Also, even if the hardware part of some location system is compatible with Galileo, the rest of the device attached to it may need a firmware update, and device manufacturers would often rather you buy a new device than continue using something you already have.

In reply to Shearwater:

Very cynical but probably true.

As far as I am aware, the GPS and Galileo GNSS will not be massively different it terms of Positional/coordinate reference frame and time reference but will be just about different enough to allow both systems to be completely independent of each other. That is, if one system fails, the other will be operational (hopefully) but not so different that the GNSS recievers need to be updated or modified.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Search and rescue service looks interesting. Wasn't there there when I looked at the specs years back.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Not quite... They might just about not interfere with each other, but the systems are sufficiently different that a GPS receiver won't decode Galileo. GLONASS doesn't even use CDMA (unlike GPS and Galileo), but FDMA*. Granted, next-gen GLONASS will use CDMA.

However... many of the techniques required to decode GNSS systems are common, so modern chipsets should be designed to be able to use GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, etc. iPhones, for instance, can use GPS and GLONASS (from 4S onwards).

Beidou is probably the one to watch, since most electronic stuff is made in China, and Beidou is a Chinese system, and being rolled out apace, unlike Galileo...

The Russians are trying to ensure GLONASS remains relevant by passing laws to make it illegal to sell GNSS-capable devices (e.g. smartphones) in Russia without GLONASS. They're also trying to mandate the use of GLONASS for all GNSS-equipped aircraft in Russian airspace, but are likely to fall foul of international law on that one...

* I confess that I'm not sure of the status of GLONASS CDMA within the current constellation, or whether current chipsets (such as used in iPhone) are using CDMA or FDMA GLONASS.

In reply to captain paranoia:
I was under the impression that Galileo was going to have both CDMA and FDMA capabilities?

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Not that I'm aware of. We certainly didn't put any in the GVSF-2 Galileo constellation we delivered to ESA...

http://www.navipedia.net/index.php/FDMA_vs._CDMA

Sorry, I was sloppy with my names; The Chinese have decided to call Compass/Beidou2 'BDS'. I think...

In reply to captain paranoia:

" Russian Navigation System is moving in the direction of achieving higher interoperability with the American, European and Chinese systems as GLONASS has already taken the first steps to CDMA."

this is probably where I got confused - GLONASS is possibly going down the CDMA route rather than Galileo have both access systems?

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

I wondered last night whether you were considering the different services; like GPS, Galileo provides different services, on different frequencies: E1, E5a/b and E6. The 'civilian service' is on E1 (essentially, co-located with L1 GPS). But all services use CDMA to distinguish the different satellites.

If really you want to know what Galileo signals look like, ESA have published the Signal-In-Space definition of the Open Service:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/satnav/galileo/open-service/