Galileo Valley

Europe’s two satellite navigation systems could combine in future for heightened performance, an airborne test has confirmed. A helicopter flight took place above an Alpine valley, the one place on Earth where Galileo services are already routinely available.

Results of last autumn’s flight test show that adding Galileo signals to the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service – EGNOS – that currently augments the accuracy and reliability of US GPS signals over Europe should boost its accuracy significantly. EGNOS renders satnav usable for safety-critical applications such as aircraft guidance as well as more general precision uses.