GPS World, July 2009

BUSINESS OUTLOOK frequency L1 open service with rapid take up across virtually all markets Galileo has married itself to the GPS open civil signal from its very beginnings and the EU U S agreement means that Galileo still holds onto second position in the race Despite the complexity in decoding the Galileo signal added software and silicon should not mean that a future GPS Galileo L1 receiver is significantly more expensive than GPS alone For the time being it looks as though a world of free to air multiple open services will not only meet the needs of most users but enable a significant step up in user experience and application performance The window for Galileo remains open but its closing fast as Russian and Chinese counterparts jostle for position alongside GPS The case for Galileos other services such as SoL remains unanswered for the time being Clearly however even with strong user demand it is likely that the second generation of Galileo users will be the early adopters of these added value services Moral Given the chance users will quickly turn to GPS Galileo L1 Three Tactics to Improve Odds Examination of these sporting statistics suggests three easy ways for Galileo to improve its chances in the marketplace Of first and paramount importance is the early release of the Open Service signal in space OS SIS ICD with immediate rights for commercialization and no royalty fees The GPS SIS ICD was published at least 10 years prior to GPS full operational capability FOC Each competitor in this race leaves the starting blocks when its ICD is released not when FOC is reached Promote development of multiplechannel software receivers flexible to all of this program uncertainty These can be exploited by long lifetime platforms such as aviation maritime rail and ground networks and will minimize through life costs of infrastructure over 15 20 years Galileo has a real opportunity to put hooks into the market at this early stage to ensure its future Do nothing to risk delays in OS introduction From discussions with users and manufacturers 12 more satellites will make sufficient difference to the user experience to encourage receiver development There is a real race to become the partner of choice for GPS but it is in the chipset not in the programs ANDREW SAGE is a director of Helios a UKbased management and technology consultancy specializing in the field of navigation BUILDING ANTENNAS TO YOUR SPECIFICATIONS At Antcom custom antenna design is our specialty Recognized as the designer of choice across multiple industries and applications we excel at customer specific design and ultra fast prototype turnaround GPS GNSS UHF Iridium Beidou L S C X band Globalstar Inmarsat Thuraya ICO If we dont have the antenna you require well build it for you Try our antenna Product Finder Available 24 7 at www antcom com For Excellence in Antenna Microwave Products Phone 301 782 1076 Email sales@ antcom com Web www antcom com www gpsworld com July 2009 GPS World 31