Europe launches its long-delayed alternative to GPS

[Jos]

After 17 years, €10 billion in spending and numerous setbacks, Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system finally went live last week. The system — free to users worldwide — will be able to pinpoint an object to within 3.3 feet, compared to a much larger area for its US military-run GPS counterpart, while a premium service for commercial users could boost accuracy to a few centimeters.

That level of precision should come in 2020, however, when all 24 satellites are in orbit and Galileo is completely self-reliant. The European Commission flipped the switch with 18 satellites in place and for now the system must work with the GPS system to provide global coverage.

The European Commission believes having a more precise, and civilian-controlled network will offer European companies a competitive advantage for the next generation of location-based technologies; such as autonomous cars, connected devices, or smart city services.

Several chipsets from Intel, Broadcom, Mediatek, and Qualcomm are already Galileo approved and every new vehicle sold in Europe by 2018 will support the technology too. Aside from navigation, the network is also going to be critical for the development of an international emergency locating system called Cospas-Sarsat which is said to greatly reduce the time it takes for locating a distress beacon.

Named after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the project was first approved with an initial budget of around €3 billion and was supposed to be operational by 2008. But it was hit by several technical and budget setbacks, including the launch of two satellites into the wrong orbit in 2014.

Numerous countries from outside Europe contributed to its development including India, Israel, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Others including Rusia, China and Japan are building their own systems, while the U.S. expects to further improve GPS accuracy with the deployment of 32 new satellites.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/67452-europe-launches-long-delayed-alternative-gps.html

 

[Bigtruckseries]

GPS isn't the only thing used in modern day technology to pinpoint objects. A Combination of GPS and Wifi triangulation can be used to provide greater accuracy.

 

[risc32]

So almost 20yrs and 10 billion dollars so I can see where I am within 3.3 feet. As opposed to what we have now, maybe a 10ft radius? it's free to use? well that's nice. I mean, it' won't work with anything anyone currently has, so we will have to buy new things...did someone find those two decades and 10billion dollars under a sofa cushion?

 

[Uncle Al]

Accuracy of GPS is often reported as "within 10 meters" depending upon the terrain, location, etc, etc. My only question / concern about having two distinct systems will be the effect on air travel? I am reminded at the issues with the Hubble Space Telescope when designers did not realize the mix up between two sets of measurements that were in play and the elimination of the final qualify checks. Shouldn't be that big a deal, but I can easily see larger misreadings between miles and km, which in night or foul weather navigation could lead to a disaster ....

 

[gazmatic]

I'm pretty sure Russia already has GLONASS which is global. My phone connects to it. I just bought a phone with baidou connectivity. You also forget that India is developing their own.

 

[Silvernine]

So almost 20yrs and 10 billion dollars so I can see where I am within 3.3 feet. As opposed to what we have now, maybe a 10ft radius? it's free to use? well that's nice. I mean, it' won't work with anything anyone currently has, so we will have to buy new things...did someone find those two decades and 10billion dollars under a sofa cushion?

The reason why Galileo was developed is because GPS, developed by the U.S., has SA (Selective Availability). This allows the U.S. to deny an "enemy" the use of GPS receivers. Although this is currently disabled, if enabled, it can give errors of up to 328 ft (100 meters). So even though the military were pressured to turn it off permanently, most country probably does not trust the U.S. to never turn it back on again. GPS III, the newer generation of GPS satellites, however, will not come with SA. However, the Galileo have already been in development much earlier before the new GPS III so stopping it would not make sense since it already had spend a lot of times in development.

GPS III also comes with interoperability with the Galileo system and vice versa. Therefore receivers should be able to utilize both systems for even higher precision and accuracy.

 

[Athlonite]

Yay now maybe my phone wont say it is in the middle of my neighbors house when I use find my phone

 

[Master Yeti]

So almost 20yrs and 10 billion dollars so I can see where I am within 3.3 feet. As opposed to what we have now, maybe a 10ft radius? it's free to use? well that's nice. I mean, it' won't work with anything anyone currently has, so we will have to buy new things...did someone find those two decades and 10billion dollars under a sofa cushion?

The reason why Galileo was developed is because GPS, developed by the U.S., has SA (Selective Availability). This allows the U.S. to deny an "enemy" the use of GPS receivers. Although this is currently disabled, if enabled, it can give errors of up to 328 ft (100 meters). So even though the military were pressured to turn it off permanently, most country probably does not trust the U.S. to never turn it back on again. GPS III, the newer generation of GPS satellites, however, will not come with SA. However, the Galileo have already been in development much earlier before the new GPS III so stopping it would not make sense since it already had spend a lot of times in development.

GPS III also comes with interoperability with the Galileo system and vice versa. Therefore receivers should be able to utilize both systems for even higher precision and accuracy.

Decades ago you might have had a point. But this is only half of the story. Read the wikipedia page of 'Differential GPS'.

 

[skipmichael]

Great, makes those drone missiles really accurate now. Stupid is what stupid does.

 

[Athlonite]

Great, makes those drone missiles really accurate now. Stupid is what stupid does.

Would you rather the missile targeted at your neighbors house hit your's instead I think not , Better accuracy should lead to less collateral damage and less loss of innocent lives like using a sniper to take out a single target from a mile away only 500 miles away instead