The European Union is set to sign an agreement with the
US that would allow Europe to push ahead with its Galileo satellite
programme.
The agreement will set out technical standards to be used by
Galileo and the US' Global Positioning System (GPS).
The deal is due to be signed at the EU-US Summit taking place in
Ireland this weekend.
The EU has been seeking an agreement with the US since 1999
which will allow it to develop an independent satellite system for
commercial purposes that can coexist with GPS, which is partly used
for military purposes. Both Galileo and GPS are designed to
determine a user's exact location using satellite signals.
The US Department of Defense-run GPS system gives priority to
military needs, however, and Europe wants to establish a commercial
system that will deliver reliable service for civilian applications
like vehicle navigation, fleet management and emergency
systems.
The EU has said that Galileo will allow Europe to run an
independent system that does not rely on the US, which could deny
access to civilian GPS users at any time. Galileo will be
interoperable with GPS and the Russian Glonass System, which is
also for military purposes.
Europe has set its sights on a network of 30 satellites, due to
begin operating in 2008. The EU and the European Space Agency
earmarked €1.1bn (£732m) for the initial phase of the project, from
2002 to 2005, and the European Commission will offer additional
investments in the deployment stage to supplement private
funding.
Three consortia have been shortlisted to operate the network -
one led by Eutelsat, another led by EADS Space and a third that
counts on Finmeccanica and Alcatel.
The winning bidder is set to fund two-thirds of the €2.2bn
development project.
The EU predicted a booming market for satellite navigation, saying
that it will be worth €300bn in worldwide hardware and services by
2020. It hoped that at least 98% of all receivers will have
combined Galileo-GPS functionality by that time.
Scarlet Pruitt writes for IDG News Service