News JVTech GPS technology is beaten by the European Galileo, but…
Published on 02/01/2023 at 09:20
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The American-made GPS isn’t the only way to find your way around. The Galileo system has since its inception the objective of being better, in particular in terms of precision. The objective was already achieved, it is now surpassed.
GPS is beaten by Europe
ESA, the European Space Agency, is proud to
announce
the evolution of Galileo location technology. The agency nonetheless points out that they are already ahead of the competition: “The European Galileo system, currently made up of a constellation of 28 satellites and a global ground segment, is already the most accurate satellite navigation service in the world, with its open service offering meter accuracy.”
The precision will thus increase to 20 centimeters horizontally and 40 centimeters vertically. We go well under the meter, which is simply impressive.
The operation is quite simple. Satellites in orbit transmit signals containing a very precise measurement of time, with an accuracy of a few billionths of a second. A receiver picks up signals from at least four Galileo satellites and measures the time they took to reach it. It then calculates the distance by multiplying these time values by the speed of light. By checking the distances of all the satellites, the receiver can determine its position with extreme precision.
Yes, Galileo is more accurate than GPS, but not for everyone
The Galileo constellation today has 28 satellites, which is not huge to cover the world. It is for this reason that the first applications of this precision will not be for the general public.
Galileo will thus be used to guide tractors in fields, follow trains live, develop robotics, etc. We can therefore for the moment forget to see it in our smartphones. The receivers are very high-end and are currently focused on the professional sector.
It also required improving existing systems. The updating of the orbit and of all the associated data is thus much more regular.
Compared to the Galileo Open Service, corrections are made available very quickly and very often – with satellite orbits updated every 30 seconds and satellite clocks every 10 seconds
We will thus find two levels of Galileo. Service 1 which will have more regular update and orbit corrections. Service 2 will be dedicated to Europe plus ground stations to increase responsiveness and therefore accuracy.
