Operational, free, accessible worldwide: Galileo’s new precision threshold, geolocation made in Europe, is here. But, there is a catch.
Since the commissioning of Galileo, the satellite positioning service made in Europethere’s a phrase to describe the accuracy of the service — especially when compared to its big rival, GPS. “With GPS, you know which street you are on, with Galileo you will know which side of the sidewalk”. The formula comes from Jean-Yves Le Gallthe former head of the French space agency.
This way of presenting things is no longer quite true today. The European Space Agency (Esa) announced on January 24, 2023 the start-up of a high-precision service that allows certain compatible terminals to benefit from geolocation at a level practically… centimetric. It is now operational, free of charge.
As precise as the width of your hand
” Offering 20cm horizontal accuracy and 40cm vertical accuracy, the high-precision service is made possible by an additional level of real-time positioning corrections, provided by a new data stream into the existing Galileo signal. “, develops Esa in its press release formalizing the arrival of this functionality.
Therefore, one could say that Galileo, when in this high precision mode, is not only able to tell which sidewalk you are on… but also to indicate which cobblestone you are on in a street that would comprise. To get an idea, 20 cm corresponds to the distance between your thumb and your little finger, when you fully open your hand.
This is obviously remarkable when one remembers that the satellites which are involved in this measurement evolve in orbit around the Earth at nearly 23,000 kilometers in altitude. And above all, this development is global: anywhere around the globe, you can benefit from this very high precision… but only if you have the right device.
This is where the disappointment may seize the owners of a smartphone managing Galileo: even if you buy the latest phone, you will probably not benefit from this high precision service, which requires the use of advanced equipment. . This is underlined by the European Space Agency in its message.
“ The new HAS (High Accuracy Service) correction message is embedded in the ‘E6’ band of the Galileo signal, which is generally not accessible by smartphones and other consumer products, but only by high-end receivers “. It is this message that refines the geolocation provided by Galileo.
These top-of-the-range receivers are aimed in particular at professionals to support them in their activities, rather than at individuals, who do not have such a specific need. We are thinking of agriculture (for plots), construction sites (for architects and engineers), topography (surveyors), but also for future autonomous and connected cars.
These devices, expensive, are not intended primarily for individuals. They are also bulky, which explains why smartphones are not concerned (cell phones are all launched in a quest for extreme thinness). In addition, the interest, for the general public, of geolocating at a centimetric rather than metric level is hardly justified.
Is all lost? Not necessarily: the Space Agency points out that this correction message is also broadcast via the Internet. In other words, favorable prospects can be envisaged for connected devices – such as smartphones – which could then benefit from it, and thus in the era of centimetric geolocation.
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