Galileo is Europe’s own global navigation satellite system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service that is inter-operable with GPS and Glonass. The system is being built by the European Union and the European Space agency and is under civilian control.
Once fully deployed, the Galileo system will consists of 30 satellites (27 operational + 3 active spares), positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) planes that are at a 56 degree inclination to the equatorial plane. This will provide good coverage at latitudes up to 75 degrees north. The large number of satellites along with the optimization of the constellation, and the three active spare satellites, will ensure no disruption in service in the event of the loss of one satellite.
Galileo will also provide an enhanced global Search and Rescue (SAR) function. Each satellite will have a transponder that can transfer the distress signals from the user transmitters to the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC), which will initiate the rescue operation. The system then provides a signal to the user informing him that help is under way. This is a major enhancement compared to the current systems, which do not provide feedback to the user.
Galileo's E1 Open Service (free to public) signal uses the Composite Binary Offset Carrier (CBOC). It is the result of multiplexing a wideband BOC(6,1) signal with a narrowband BOC(1,1) so that 1/11 of power is allocated on average to the high frequency component. The E1 signal is transmitted at the GPS L1 frequency of 1575.42 MHz with a constant envelope.
Galileo also includes additional signals that will not be supported in Signal Studio:
E1-A restricted service
E5a/E5b for higher precision
E6 for Public Regulated Service (PRS)