[DLR Activities in the Field of Navigation Systems and Laboratory Facilities]

Kurzfassung

[Satellite-based navigation, positioning and accurate timing information is increasingly significant in many sectors of commercial activity – airlines, transport operators on land, sea and air, emergency services, agriculture and fiskeries, tourism, telecommunications networks. The market potential is huge. Galileo is the new European navigation satellite system for a global satellite-based network for precise positioning and timing information. It will offer many levels of service to satisfy all user requirements, and will consist of 30 spacecraft in medium Earth orbit, providing excellent worldwide cover, and associated ground infrastructure. The system is expected to be fully operational by 2010. The first satellite navigation system managed and operated by civilian authorities, Galileo will be complementary to the existing US GPS system, in that it will be fully interoperable with GPS while remaining independent. Crucially, it will deliver guaranteed and certified quality and reliability for safety–critical applications (civil aviation, emergency service, security measures). In January 2006 the so called In Orbit Validation (IOV) Phase was started, consisting of four satellites and the corresponding ground segment. After successful completion of IOV in 2008, the whole satellite segment will be deployed. Presently, the first test satellite (GIOVE A) is in operation. Galileo is a truly “enabling technology” and innovative driver for user – and customer-oriented solutions, which should create many jobs across the would. The DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation (IKN) has a long experience in the field of satellite navigation, with an impressive range of contributions and innovations. Already in 1985 IKN performed successfully the so called NAVEX experiment on a Space Shuttle / Spacelab mission including all fundamental experiments concerning positioning and time synchronisation/distribution. Also at this time an augmentation system for GPS was proposed and patented; it is one of the main roots of EGNOS. For the experiments the first GPS time receiver was developed at IKN. After a brief description of the “Missions and Visions” of the Navigation Department (IKN-NA) the main features of Galileo will be explained. Next, information with respect to the actual research and development topics of IKN-NA will be given. The third part deals with advanced Galileo applications. Finally, the R&D infrastructure and tools of the Navigation Department are presented.]