Tag: Galileo Security Monitoring Centre

ESA completes end-to-end test of enhanced, secure Galileo service

Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. (Photo: ESA)

News from the European Space Agency (ESA)

Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system continues to evolve. For the first time, end-to-end testing of the Galileo system demonstrated signal acquisition of an improved version of the Public Regulated Service (PRS), the most secure and robust class of Galileo services.

The system test extended from the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre in Spain and the Galileo Control Centre in Germany to a Galileo satellite at ESA’s ESTEC technical heart in the Netherlands, which then broadcast in turn to a user receiver.

Galileo’s PRS is an encrypted navigation and timing service for governmental authorized users and sensitive applications intended to remain available even in scenarios where other Galileo services might be degraded or jammed.

An initial version of the PRS signal has been broadcast by the satellites up to now, but as of next year the signals will evolve into an enhanced version known as Full Operational Capability Public Regulated Service (FOC PRS), which has been defined in close collaboration with the European Commission, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) and the EU Member States.

The system’s FOC PRS capability is being enabled by an expansion of the Galileo ground mission segment — important upgrades of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centres (GSMCs) in St. Germain-en-Laye, France, and Madrid, Spain. These two sites oversee PRS provision and monitor its performance.

This coming version of the security monitoring centers, set for the following year, is being developed by an industrial consortium led by Thales Alenia Space in France.

Meanwhile the progressive deployment of remote system infrastructure is taking place over the course of this year, readying Galileo sensor stations to receive the upgraded PRS signals.

Upgrade of Galileo Sensor Station on Norway’s remote Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic Ocean. (Photo: ESA)

“To qualify, the FOC PRS Signal in Space required a major Galileo end-to-end test, demonstrating the compatibility of the space segment with the ground and user segments, called the System Compatibility Test Campaign (SCTC),” explained Federico Di Marco, ESA SCTC test director. “This test involved all Galileo key players spread across Europe, requiring close cooperation between the teams and months of preparation.”

The SCTC was led by an ESA engineering team from the agency’s ESTEC technical center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands supported by the System Engineering Technical Assistance industrial team led by Thales Alenia Space in Italy and in close collaboration with the operations team supervised by EUSPA.

“The testing involved three centers across Europe: the GSMC in Madrid, the Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, and ESTEC hosting an actual Galileo satellite plus FOC PRS user receivers,” added Edward Breeuwer, who is in charge of Galileo system qualification at ESA.

FOC PRS test receiver developed by Antwerp Space under ESA contract. (Photo: ESA)

The FOC PRS signal was generated at the GSMC, sent to the German control center, then uplinked to the Galileo satellite at ESTEC, where the satellites are tested for space in advance of launch. The Galileo satellite then broadcast the FOC PRS signal in turn, to be picked up by a pair of receivers also on site: one developed by Antwerp Space under ESA contract and the other developed by Leonardo as part of a national development undertaken by Italy’s Competent PRS Authority, charged with overseeing the country’s PRS use.

“This marks the first time we have integrated such a nationally developed receiver within a system test activity,” said Fabio Covello, who oversees system security for ESA. “Having achieved this for PRS makes us very proud. We are confident that this experience can pave the way for future fruitful collaborations between the Galileo Programme and EU Member States, in the frame of specific tests to guarantee compatibility between the ESA-developed system and nationally developed PRS receivers.”

This successful outcome sets the scene for the PRS qualification at ground segment and system level, followed by operational validation planned in coming months, culminating in the first FOC PRS Signal In Space operational broadcast, in the course of next year.

FOC PRS test receiver developed by Leonardo as part of a national development undertaken by Italy’s Competent PRS Authority, charged with overseeing the country’s PRS use. (Photo: ESA)

September 14, 2022
Thales receives contract to upgrade Galileo ground segment

News from the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency has awarded a new framework contract and two new work orders to Thales Alenia Space in France to upgrade the Galileo Mission Segment, the element of the worldwide Galileo ground segment dedicated to delivering navigation services. Included are upgrades to the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) near Paris, and implementation of a second GSMC in Spain, near Madrid.

ESA Director of Navigation Paul Verhoef signed the contract with Thales Alenia Space Senior Vice President of Sales Martin van Schaik on Oct. 17 at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

“Galileo has already proven to be the highest performing satellite navigation system in the world, even before the constellation is complete,” Verhoef said. “This achievement is the result of the close collaboration between the public sector — the European Commission, the European GNSS Agency and ESA — and our industrial partners throughout Europe.

Contract signing: van Schaik (left) and Verhoef. (Photo: ESA)

“Today I am very happy to announce a continued relationship with Thales Alenia Space in one of the most complex parts of the system, namely the Ground Mission Segment, and thank them for their commitment to the programme.”

The constellation in orbit is only one element of the overall satellite navigation system – the tip of the Galileo iceberg. At the same time as the satellites were being built, tested and launched, a global ground segment was put in place.

Complex System

Establishing Galileo’s ground segment was among the most complex developments ever undertaken by ESA, having to fulfil strict levels of performance, security and safety.

In 2017, responsibility for operating the Galileo ground segment was passed to ESA’s partner organization, the European GNSS Agency (GSA). Nevertheless, ESA continues to be in charge of the maintenance, development and evolution of the ground segment, as well as the development of the space segment.

GSMC upgrade and construction. The first work order contracts Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor to undertake all necessary activities to upgrade the Galileo Mission Segment and the GSMC as part of Galileo’s exploitation phase.

This work includes upgrading Galileo’s system architecture to provide more accurate navigation products for broadcast by Galileo satellites, updating obsolescent elements in the current system, and improving operability linked to the provision of services and enhanced robustness.

This work order also includes the construction of additional uplink stations – tasked with uplinking the latest navigation messages to the Galileo constellation — at the existing Galileo ground station sites of Papeete in French Polynesia and Svalbard in Norway.

A new sensor station — providing a ground-based measurement of Galileo signal quality and precise satellite position — will also be installed at Wallis Island in the Pacific.

Galileo’s Nouméa ground station’s Sensor Station and Uplink Station. (Photo: ESA)

The work order will also augment the capabilities for implementation of the Public Regulated Service (PRS), the single most accurate and secure class of Galileo signals. Encrypted PRS signals will be made available only to authorised governmental users through approved national authorities.

Together, the two GSMCs will ensure the security of the overall Galileo system and manage PRS access and operations.

Security monitoring. The second work order contracts Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor to implement security monitoring functions for Galileo operational assets — including the control centres, service facilities and ground stations.

The integration, qualification, deployment and migration into operational services of the various upgraded segments will be undertaken over the next three years.

ESA has issued these work orders in its role of undertaking the design and development of future upgrades and the technical development of infrastructure as well as overseeing Galileo’s deployment, on behalf of the European Union, Galileo’s owner.

October 19, 2018
Brexit fallout: Galileo center moves from UK to Spain

A security center for the European Union’s Galileo satellite system will be moved from the United Kingdom to Spain as a result of Brexit, according to numerous press reports.

A committee of representatives of member states voted by a large majority on Jan. 18 to approve the European Commission’s recommendation of Madrid as the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre’s (GSMC’s) new home.

The center, which is not yet fully operational, has only one full-time member of staff in Swanwick, England, but when it is up and running in Madrid, staffing is expected to grow to as many as 30.

The center controls access to the satellite system and provides around-the-clock monitoring when the main security center near Paris is offline.

The European Commission’s decision to move the center to Spain will bring Spain “strategic advantages, industrial development of high technological value, and the consolidation of national knowledge and technology in the area of security,” the Spanish ministry of public works said.

Spain was selected from six countries, according to Spanish media. It offers the facilities of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), which belong to the defense ministry and are located in Madrid.

The GSMC is operated by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) in charge of supervising and acting on cases such as security threats and alerts.

Spain has another of the fundamental centers of the program, the Loyola de Palacio GNSS Service Center, also located in Madrid.

The center is one of a number of EU institutions leaving the UK as a result of the 2016 referendum vote, also including the European Banking Agency, which is relocating to Paris, and the European Medicines Agency, which is going to Amsterdam.

January 18, 2018