Approval of Galileo Signals in US Seen as 'Playing Catch-Up' With Industry Realities

Signing off on U.S. nonfederal devices accepting signals from Europe's Galileo system will bring the FCC in line with where global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers have been for years, experts told us. The FCC "is really playing catch-up" with the draft order on Thursday's agenda (see 1810240030), said Bradford Parkinson, vice chairman of the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing National Advisory Board. "Industry is way ahead."

Virtually all U.S. devices, including mobile phones, already incorporate Galileo signals, as well as signals from Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and sometimes China's BeiDou, and give results based on knowledge of the accuracy of those signals, Parkinson said. He said the FAA hasn't authorized aviation use of Galileo. FCC approval could open the door and give aircraft more options, he added.

Parkinson said numerous industries are taking advantage of GNSS signals, such as surveyors using GLONASS for years. He said even if those non-GPS signals became distorted, either deliberately or due to the natural error, reference stations would observe that "wiggle," quantify it and transmit it to users so receivers would correct for it. The U.S.' wide-area augmentation system does some correction work for GPS, and Galileo has its European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service satellite augmentation system, he said.

While many receivers incorporate Galileo chips and receive the signals, they aren't technically legal, and FCC OK will be approval of the status quo, said Dana Goward, Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation president. He said it's highly unlikely Russia or China will seek U.S. approval, though GLONASS and BeiDou signal reception ultimately is more up to the chipset makers and device manufacturers than to the FCC.

The more GNSS satellites a device can choose, the more lines of position and better location confirmation, Goward said. Having access to Galileo means if there's a problem with the GPS constellation -- like the several-hour glitch in January 2016 -- the right software in the receiver will reject those faulty GPS results and go to an alternate constellation, he said. Approval of Galileo might encourage more inclusion of the chips in or activation of U.S. receivers, he said. The U.K is considering its own post-Brexit GNSS constellation, Goward said, noting Japan and India each have regional navigational satellite system networks for supplemental coverage and increased accuracy.

The FCC would give European Commission-sought waivers for receivers for Galileo's E1 and E5 signals, which transmit in the same radionavigation satellite service (RNSS) bands as GPS' L1, L2 and L5 signals, denying waiver for Galileo's E6 signal. It says the 2004 EU-U.S. Galileo-GPS Agreement and the history of EC-U.S. cooperation on satellite signal coordination point to a reliable route for tackling spectrum management issues. The waivers won't lead to public harm, it says, and will promote provision and use of civil GPS and Galileo services and of navigation and timing goods. The agency would deny the E6 waiver since there's no allocation for RNSS in the 1240-1300 MHz band and since the adjacent 1300-1350 MHz band is being studied for reallocation for wireless broadband, creating questions about the RF environment for E6 receivers.

A European Space Agency spokesperson emailed that many mobile phones from larger manufacturers are Galileo enabled and most new models from those major makers include the possibility of using Galileo along with GPS. He said chipset makers with 95 percent of the market include Galileo along with GPS. He said simultaneous use of GPS and Galileo would mean higher accuracy and availability versus GPS-only users, with the difference especially noticeable in urban areas.