The battle over satellite-based navigation signals was settled at a medieval castle in Ireland this week. The European Union agreed to make its proposed Galileo system compatible with the U.S. GPS system. The U.S. objected to the Europeans’ proposal to put the Galileo signals on a different frequency band, making it tough to jam them in war zones. But the Europeans finally agreed to make their system work alongside GPS and the deal was signed at the EU-U.S. Summit at Dromoland Castle, Ireland, Friday. Although pilots will undoubtedly benefit from Galileo, there are much broader plans for the system. Galileo will use 30 satellites compared to GPS’s 15. The result will be greater reliability and better accuracy, which will translate into greater utility. Galileo backers envision trains, planes and automobiles running with varying degrees of autonomy off the space-based signals. They also predict cellphones being used as receivers and say that there will be more than 400 million satellite navigation users by 2015.
U.S., Europe Cooperate On Satellite Navigation
Key Takeaways:
- The European Union and the U.S. settled a dispute, agreeing that the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system will be compatible with the U.S. GPS system, moving past U.S. objections over signal frequencies.
- Galileo is projected to offer greater reliability and accuracy due to its 30 satellites (compared to GPS's 15), benefiting pilots and enabling broad applications.
- Future plans for Galileo include supporting autonomous trains, planes, and automobiles, as well as cell phone receivers, with over 400 million users predicted by 2015.
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