Jean-Charles Bazin
CC500-GroupA - If you ask anyone the name of a positioning system by satellite, they will probably answer nothing but GPS. But how many people know that the USA have a complete control on the GPS signal? Concretely U.S. authorities have the right to limit the localization accuracy, decrease the signal strength and even shut down the access. To overcome this important limitation, European Union has decided to develop its own positioning system by satellite which is referred as Galileo. In this paper, the concept of localization by satellite is introduced first. Then the reasons leading to the development of a European GPS are explained and finally, the economic and political issues are presented, which will permit to explain how much important the coming 7th of June is.
Constellation of GPS satellites used for positioningPositioning by satellite
Being able to know his position at anytime has been a dream since the humanity exists. Thanks to personal GPS receiver, this dream has become true for only 100 dollars. The term GPS refers to an amazing system composed of about 30 satellites orbiting at 20 000km and complex monitoring stations. The basic idea of positioning by satellite is actually very simple: a GPS receiver can calculate its position by measuring its distance with respect to three or more satellites. Indeed by measuring the time delay between the transmission and reception, and as the signal speed is known, the device can compute its distance to the satellite. Doing so for at least three satellites, the GPS receiver can estimate its position by simple trilateration. Combining this basic method with advanced technology, an accuracy of 5 meters can be obtained.
A personal GPS receiver from Magellan society
Galileo - the European GPS
Currently, two localization systems by satellite exist: the American GPS and the Russian GLONASS. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, GLONASS has not been correctly maintained so that only eight satellites were in operation in 2002 and therefore GPS is the most widely used system. However, less than two weeks ago, Vladimir Putin has decided to open full signal access to civilians and restore the entire satellite constellation within 5 years. Simultaneously, European Union is developing its own positioning system by satellite. Indeed, as explained in the introduction, the US ministry of defense can limit the GPS localization accuracy, decrease the signal strength and even shut down the access, at any time without informing users in advance. Thus in 2002, EU has officially signed Galileo project funding and planned a civilian use as soon as in 2010.
Political and economical issues of the Galileo project
The main reason why EU decided to develop its own positioning system was to be independent from the American ministry of Defense. Indeed how any military equipment from any European countries could be under the indirect control of the US government? However, the huge amount of money involved in Galileo project has made some interest conflict emerged between countries. For examples, large countries wanted its national organization be in charge of manufacturing the satellites: Thales or Alcatel for France, Aliena for Italia, SSTL for UK, Deutsche Telekom for Germany, etc... Concerning smaller countries like Poland, Austria or Greece, they are arguing to obtain the tracking stations inside their national territory. Moreover, an important part of the project budget came from private funds. However, regarding the difficulty of the actual situation, some institutions have cancelled or decreased their financial propositions so that the project is now under-funded. Therefore this complex situation has led to important tensions and as a consequence, Galileo project is two years late with respect to the initial development plane. In order to solve these political and economical problems, a crucial meeting will be held on the 7th of June. For example, an important point is that Galileo became a project fully supported by public, i.e. private funds are not allowed. However such a decision can be taken only if the 27 members of the European Union vote it at unanimity. If concrete solutions are not found during this conference, it will have strong consequences for the future development of the European GPS, not only for European countries but also the nations that participate to the project, such as China, India and South Korea.
References:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_positioning_system
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_constellation
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