GIOVE-A SIS Experimentation and Receiver Validation: Laboratory Activities at ESTEC

Abstract

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Surrey Satellite Technology LTD (SSTL) have completed the on-orbit preparation and activated the payload of GIOVE-A, the first Galileo satellite launched last December, the 28(th). After successful launch and platform commissioning achievement, GIOVE-A started signals transmission on 12 January 2006. For the time being the quality of the signal broadcast by GIOVE-A is under examination by mean of sophisticated equipments and facilities, including the ESA ground station in Redu (Belgium) and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Chilbolton Observatory in the United Kingdom. It is clear that the European Galileo satellite navigation system is moving into a crucial phase concerning the development process; therefore the possibility of testing and validating hardware/software tools (e.g. user receivers) will play a key role from the manufacturers point of view. In this context the navigation laboratory at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), in the Netherlands, could be considered relevant in the receivers validation procedures, as well as in the Signal-In-Space (SIS) experimentation activity, where the GSTB-v2 Experimental Test Receiver (GETR) plays a key role. The paper will provide the over-view of the set-up available in the navigation laboratory at ESTEC, describing the equipments composing the test bench. The Galileo Signal Validation Facility (GSVF-v2) will be presented pointing out the capabilities in the Galileo-like signal generation. In particular, the Galileo L1 Open Service (OS) signal will be analyzed, and the corresponding GETR tracking performance will be presented in terms of code tracking noise curves, autocorrelation function and multipath envelope. Tracking performance for the Galileo L1 OS signal in multipath environments will be evaluated in terms of static and dynamic contributions. Finally, some screenshots of the GETR graphical user interface (while tracking GIOVE-A signals) will also be included in the paper, as the prove that the entire set-up has been fully integrated with the Space Engineering's Galileo antenna for the reception and process of live GIOVE-A signals.