20.12.2023
Spaceopal completes first Galileo HAS test campaign in marine operations
Spaceopal has successfully completed the first Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS) test campaign, led by European Union Agency for Space Programme (EUSPA), in marine operations. The company played a pivotal role setting-up the equipment and analyzing Galileo HAS performance in a key market segment for Galileo.
The campaign results have just been released in an article with a specific assessment of Galileo HAS performance for different phases of navigation, demonstrating better performance in slow-motion scenarios, particularly relevant to mooring and pilotage applications.
In these scenarios, values for horizontal accuracy reached 0.22 m 95% and 0.13 m 68% after removing interference periods.
The campaign started in summer 2023, when a buoy-laying vessel lILV Granuaile, owned by the Commissioners of Irish Lights and hosting an antenna installation from the General Lighthouse Authority of UK and Northern Ireland, was equipped with a Galileo HAS User Terminal. ILV Granuaile travelled four weeks visiting numerous ports, islands, bays and estuaries on the Irish east, south and west coasts enabling performance assessment in all phases of navigation while completing its operational mission.
The results collected and analyzed in these months are in line with the expectations outlined in the Galileo HAS Service Definition Document (SDD).
Spaceopal enables real-time centimetre accuracy for professional applications
Spaceopal plays a leading role in high accuracy in Europe. Spaceopal’s NAVCAST is a GNSS augmentation service for Galileo and GPS with worldwide coverage and easy access via internet. NAVCAST corrections paired with Spaceopal’s 3PRx receivers enable down to centimeter level without the need of any additional infrastructure. The know-how and expertise acquired in NAVCAST makes Spaceopal a valuable partner for demanding professional high-accuracy applications.
Spaceopal in Galileo HAS
Spaceopal contributed to the success of Galileo HAS through the preparation of the operations at the GNSS Service Center (GNSS), the participation in the system reviews and the development of the Galileo High Accuracy Reference Algorithm and User Terminal, which was key in the validation phase of the service. The Galileo HAS User Terminal is a portable, configurable and autonomous device designed to calculate a single- (Galileo) or multi-constellation (Galileo + GPS) Galileo HAS and OS position, velocity and time (PVT) solution. The User Terminal can be configured to retrieve Galileo HAS corrections either from the Galileo SiS over E6-B or Internet Data Distribution (IDD) over NTRIP in RTCM3 format.
Galileo in Marine Navigation
In 2016, Galileo joined the International Maritime Organization’s World-Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS). The IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), during its 96th session (11–20 May 2016), officially recognized the Galileo OS and Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) Service as part of the WWRNS.