Is the Euro sat nav losing its way?

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 17 Dec 2007 at 07:55

Just another GPS?

The idea that Galileo is completely independent of GPS, though, has become a pipedream, because the markets and the military simply wouldn't tolerate competing technologies. "Independence has proved to be a myth," says David Last, president of the Royal Institute of Navigation. "The mass market demanded technical compatibility between Galileo and GPS, not a separate and different Galileo. And US national security blocked Europe's freedom to operate Galileo without US co-operation. So free-to-air Galileo has become essentially another version of GPS."

Indeed, experts claim that Galileo relies on GPS for optimum performance. "The Galileo system was supposed to be more accurate than GPS, but it's not that much better," says Tucker. "But used in conjunction with GPS and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, Galileo can get position down to within a centimetre."

Yet, despite the technical problems and financial concerns, Galileo still has many supporters. While the Transport Committee is right to call for proper analysis, MPs are inevitably focused on the short term and find it hard to look beyond the next election. Had the US balked at the cost of Grand Projects such as Arpanet or, indeed, GPS we wouldn't have sat nav, nor even the internet. The real question is: can Europe really afford to be left behind in the latest global space race?