Could ground control lose command?

Date: 13/04/06

Extravagant claims have been made for the possible business opportunities stemming from EU space policy and its showpiece project, the Galileo global navigation satellite system, a joint project of the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA).

According to the European Commission and the Galileo management team, the world-wide market for satellite navigation services and related products is growing by 25% a year and could reach EUR 100 billion by 2010. The Commission says that the market for applications for space technology projects could be worth EUR 350bn by 2010.

While these figures seem optimistic, it is clear that there are a wide range of applications which can be given a significant stimulus by the launch of the Galileo system.

Location-based services, where the device's location is communicated to other data networks, promise to be the main beneficiaries. Telecommunications services are expected to converge increasingly with satellite navigation technologies so that, for example, Galileo receivers would be built into mobile phones.

One type of service which could take advantage of the Galileo system is the European emergency call or eCall. Devices built into phones or even into vehicles will not only contact the emergency services in case of accidents but communicate the location of the caller to fire, ambulance or rescue authorities, reducing response times and cutting fatality rates.

Galileo's ability to improve the quality and reliability of a range of communications networks (including GSM and internet) is also expected to be of benefit for the development of services which require high-precision timing such as banking transfers and video conferencing. For example, precise time-synchronisation as offered by the satellite network is a key issue for third generation mobile systems (UMTS).

Industry is also anticipating the expansion of commercial services based on identification of a caller's location. These include pinpointing the nearest restaurant, taxi or cinema when a caller makes an inquiry over a mobile device. This could be extended to non-commercial services such as the location of doctors or hospitals.

Another major area for possible application for the Galileo network is in the transport sector. Improving satellite navigation technology will boost air traffic safety by increasing capacity to deal with higher congestion. The system also has the possibility to supplement or even replace ground-based radar monitoring and navigation systems at airports with poor infrastructure.

For ground transport, Galileo offers advantages and is expected to be used for monitoring traffic flows and congestion levels as part of efforts to move towards more 'intelligent' transport system. This should cut pollution and noise.

The monitoring and telemetric potential of Galileo is also expected to make a major contribution to collecting environmental data, ranging from weather patterns, marine resources and the Polar ice caps.

While it is clear that many of these technologies are developing rapidly regardless of the existence of the Galileo's network, the EU activities in this domain mean that European industry and businesses will have a better chance of keeping a share of the market. In a recent paper, the Commission admitted that in the absence of a dedicated policy the Union risks "decline" as a space power and critical knowledge and skills could be permanently lost to Europe.

Article takes a look at the European Union's satellite navigation system, Galileo, and potential fields of application.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'European Space Policy'.

• Primary Source

European Commission/ESA: Galileo Joint Undertaking http://www.galileoju.com/indexh.htm

European Commission: DG Energy and Transport: Transport: Galileo http://ec.europa.eu/comm/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_en.htm

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