ESA completes end-to-end test of enhanced, secure Galileo service

Written by Copernical Team Friday, 09 September 2022 08:30

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Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system continues to evolve. For the very first time, end-to-end testing of the Galileo system demonstrated signal acquisition of an improved version of the Public Regulated Service (PRS), the most secure and robust class of Galileo services. The system test extended from the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre in Spain and the Galileo Control Centre in Germany to a Galileo satellite at ESA’s ESTEC technical heart in the Netherlands, which then broadcast in turn to a user receiver.

“The testing involved three centres across Europe: the GSMC in Madrid, the Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, and ESTEC hosting an actual Galileo satellite plus FOC PRS user receivers,” adds Edward Breeuwer, in charge of Galileo system qualification at ESA.

The FOC PRS signal was generated at the GSMC, sent to the German control centre, then uplinked to the Galileo satellite at ESTEC – where the satellites are tested for space in advance of launch. The Galileo satellite then broadcast the FOC PRS signal in turn, to be picked by a pair of receivers also on site, one developed by Antwerp Space under ESA contract and the other developed by Leonardo as part of a national development undertaken by Italy’s Competent PRS Authority, charged with overseeing the country’s PRS use.