Joint EU-Russia aviation satellite drive Working together to adopt the latest satellite navigation technology, the EU and Russia will benefit from new standards and impressive applications in the aviation sector. Digital Economy © Thinkstock Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have brought a host of thrilling new high-tech applications to the aviation sector that make Europeans' lives more comfortable, particularly through the EU's navigation system Galileo that will be made available in the very short term. The Russian Federation is building its own navigation system, called after Glonass,. Glonass is expected to use the same modulation scheme as GPS and Galileo, to ease interoperability of future receivers. In this context, the EU-funded project 'Galileo-Glonass advanced receiver integration' (Gagarin) designed a receiver for aeronautic applications that would streamline aviation significantly. Through intensive industrial collaboration among key players in Europe and Russia, the project worked diligently with antenna and receiver suppliers to design a new, more powerful receiver. The synergy would enable aviation stakeholders in Russia to adopt the same technology as Europe, contributing to the standardisation of GNSS solutions. It would also open doors to EU-Russian industrial cooperation on many levels. The project studied regulatory, political, technical and market issues on the use of civil aviation GNSS receivers in Russia. It proposed innovative solutions to upgrade from what is known as a dual-constellation receiver to a triple-constellation receiver. This required advanced software algorithms, novel antenna design and new technology that were tested in a prototype receiver to demonstrate technical feasibility, yielding the world's first triple-constellation radio frequency signal simulator. While more efforts are needed to encourage development of common Galileo-Glonass standards, progress so far has opened the door to developing a viable multi-constellation receiver product for civil aviation applications. If the technology is fully exploited it will be able to handle air traffic much better, increase air traffic safety and contribute to reduction of emissions. Other advantages include improved low visibility procedures for landing, better airport throughput, enhanced parallel runway operations and easier surface navigation, heralding the arrival of a new era in aeronautic navigation.
