The European version of the American GPS
Milan , March 27, 2015 – 9:47
It has been recently developed a software to check the functioning of the satellites navigation system Galileo, the European version of the best-known US GPS. March 27 part from Kourou in French Guiana Soyuz rocket with the seventh and the eighth satellite to be placed in orbit. “The software will be able to determine in real time the accuracy, precision and stability of the signals, and to promptly notify their possible failure,” says Marco Luise of the Department of Information Engineering, University of Pisa, which has coordinated the implementation of the software, a work commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA) and lasted about a year.
Thirty satellites
This set of programs and procedures will be installed for the moment at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (Estec), the most important center of research and development of ESA, which will take over the Galileo Supervisory Authority (GSA), when the Galileo system will complete its 30 satellites and start working. The satellites will have a key reference center in their testimony to the importance that they will assume.
Alternative to GPS and Glonass
The Galileo system wants to be in fact an alternative to the American GPS and Russian GLONASS, born from the Star Wars project under President Ronald Reagan for a purely military use. “Originally this system was driven by a jamming that kept him from work for civil applications and which was later turned off, however,” says Luise. To date, therefore running two versions of GPS, a usable by the public and one accessible to military forces with a secret code. Despite this versatility, the GPS system still refers to the Department of Defense of the United States, which at any time may obscure it. The Galileo satellites are born from the need therefore Europe to have its own system of positioning and navigation for civilian use only. But not only.
Towards greater independence
The Galileo system also meets the need for Europe not to have to depend on satellite navigation systems of others. A malfunction of the GPS would put into serious difficulties not only all forms of transportation today, but also the financial and business activities, public services, humanitarian operations and safety as well as those related to the emergency. To gain greater autonomy Europe at the beginning of the nineties has therefore decided to build his own system, which would remain under civilian control and was 100% interoperable with both the positioning system is American with the Russian one, to order to propose a new element fully integrated with the existing ones.
An essential tool
The project Galileo will be completed in 2019 and will consist of 27 satellites plus three in reserve. Four are already in orbit and constitute the minimum number to operate a system, however, still experimental. “The work is progressing well, apart from the fault reported by a Russian carrier rocket belonging to one of the two satellites launched last August finished out of orbit (are the fifth and sixth of the Galileo constellation): to continue to be used it will be necessary to change the parameters of operation of the navigator, “says Luise. Currently scientists are conducting intensive research on second-generation satellites Galileo. Those already launched were in fact built on a project dating back to ten years ago. New satellites, and then new signals, will be launched from 2020 onwards: will have an accuracy of 10 cm and allow the browser to work even indoors, ensuring excellent coverage worldwide.
From research to work
The hardest work has yet to be done. Encourages however know that Italy is third in Europe for tradition and commitment in space research and collaborations with NASA, after France and Germany. No coincidence that the University of Pisa has long ago an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering. The space sector offers many opportunities as well as study for young researchers also of use. The Galileo project is for example creating a new business for manufacturers, for programmers and managers of services. “Galileo receivers will be placed on transportation, ships, high-speed trains and applied on construction equipment and tractors to have a path of working,” says Luise.
Possible applications in agriculture
From barcode of a bottle of wine or oil may therefore find the date and the geographical area of production: the signals sent from the Galileo satellites to the tractor, which will be placed a Galileo receiver, will be sent back to the management system to know the path that the agricultural machine should do that day, and at the same time to a consortium certify that in this way the authenticity of its products. “Already research groups in the Region of Tuscany work with these objectives, while in this light is entering AvMap, the company that produces Carrara GPS navigation systems for airplanes, helicopters, cars, RVs, SUVs and farm equipment,” continues Luise, who is also president of Tuscany Area, the network of companies and research organizations that supports competitiveness within the aerospace industry in Tuscany and which aims to emphasize the great professionalism in the area. Among them there is also Flyby, the company livornese that, in addition to reprocess data to find oil spills in the sea with optical systems, has invented an interesting application in order to know the optimal time for exposure to the sun and to avoid annoying burns: from Cosmo-SkyMed satellites obtains the data from the GPS and solar radiation (in the future Galileo) on your location on Earth.
In defense of our seas
The satellite constellations will be a valuable resource for the early identification of oil spills at sea, check the extensions of forests and monitor the working of a certain culture. At present the data produced with the intent to protect the environment come from four satellites Italian Cosmo-SkyMed: using images obtained with synthetic aperture radar, that is, with a series of multiple shots of the same scene almost, will protect our coasts by the dispersion of pollutants in the sea and in particular will monitor the areas occupied by the platforms of hydrocarbon extraction. This is the objective of the agreement signed recently by the Ministry of Environment with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and e-Geos to check in daily and timely manner the surface of our seas. The monitoring satellite will be financed with funds from the royalties paid by dealers platforms by way of implementing the protection of pollution.
March 27, 2015 | 09:47
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