Europe’s own satellite navigation system building is well under way with now one third of the constellation in space, after the successful launch on 11 September of Galileo satellites 9 and 10, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
But Galileo is not only about satellites, the system is also composed of a huge ground segment: a network of stations deployed around the earth and designed to manage the satellites and to check the positioning signals.
However one should never forget the meaning of all this: the end users who will use the Galileo signals thanks to new receivers.
Since several years now, the work on these devices has started. There are already mass market and professional 'Galileo enabled' receivers.
As support to Galileo receiver development, GSA, the European Global Navigation Satellites System Agency, has been coordinating a comprehensive testing programme in cooperation with test centres at the European Joint Research Centre in ISPRA, Italy, and at the ESA Navigation lab at ESTEC, the Netherlands.
This video, produced by the GSA, explains the current status of Galileo receivers.
Joint Research Center : Galileo Receiver Testing