European GNSS/GALILEO Status

摘要

Global satellite navigation is becoming a utility not only for practically any transport application but also for the day-to-day whereabouts of people. The originally military oriented US GPS system has paved the way and has found in the meantime more than 20 million civil customers worldwide. The European Union has since long recognised the importance of reliable position determination and timing services. In 1994 the European Commission, Eurocontrol and the European Space Agency joined forces and engaged into the development of the EGNOS system. EGNOS is a complement to GPS and will go into operations in April 2004. In 1999 the European Union engaged in the GALILEO project. GALILEO is to be a civil global navigation satellite system under European control. The European Space Agency started the development of the GALILEO technologies well in advance and has in the meantime defined, in cooperation with European industry, a GALILEO architecture that satisfies not only the European needs but which is also expected to make satellite navigation, in combination with GPS and GLONASS a truly reliable proposition for use worldwide.