Galileo Open Service and Enhanced SAR/Galileo Service Performance Reports of the first quarter of 2021 (covering January, February and March 2021) are available under the Electronic Library of the European GNSS Service Centre web portal.

The Galileo Open Service (OS) and SAR/Galileo Service Public Performance Reports for the first quarter of 2021 are available in the Performance Reports section, providing the status of the Galileo constellation and the achieved performance over the reported period (January, February and March 2021).

These quarterly reports provide the public with the latest information on the Galileo OS and SAR/Galileo measured performance statistics with respect to their Minimum Performance Levels (MPLs) (as declared in its respective Galileo Service Definition Documents: OS-SDD and SAR-SDD). Both SDDs can be found in the Programme Reference Documents section of the GSC web portal.

Quarterly reports provide information to users on parameters such as:

  • For Galileo Open Service (OS): Ranging Performance, Galileo to GPS Time Offset (GGTO) determination performance, Galileo Positioning Performance, the Timely Publication of NAGUs, …
  • For SAR/Galileo Enhanced Services: Availability of FLS and RLS, performance of location probability and accuracy, RLS service latency, …

Highlights from Q1-2021 Public Performance Reports

As in previous periods, Galileo measured OS and SAR Service performance figures exceed their MPL thresholds, specified in the OS-SDD and SAR-SDD.

Some highlights from the Q1-2021 performance reports:

Open Service:

  • Galileo Open Service Ranging Performance:
    • Per-slot Availability of Healthy Signal in Space for each Galileo operational satellite: average monthly values greater than 99.29% for every Single-Frequency and Dual-Frequency combination, considerably above the MPL threshold (87%).
    • Galileo Signal in Space Ranging Accuracy for individual space vehicles: monthly accuracy between 0.18 [m] and 1.27 [m] on Single-Frequency observables. For Dual-Frequency combinations, the figure is in the range from 0.14 [m] to 0.39 [m]. Compliance with the MPL (threshold is 7 [m]) is achieved with considerable margins by all satellites of the Galileo constellation.
    • Average Ranging Accuracy at constellation level (over “All Satellites”): figures “per signal” better than or equal to 0.34 [m] for Single-Frequency signals and 0.16 [m] for Dual-Frequency signal combinations. Achieved results are almost one order of magnitude better than MPL threshold (2 [m]).
  • Galileo UTC and GGTO Dissemination and Determination Performance: Good values have been achieved for the UTC Time Dissemination Service Accuracy, the UTC Frequency Dissemination Service Accuracy and the GGTO Determination Accuracy.
  • Galileo Positioning Performance: Availability of both Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) and Positioning Service target values were met with large margin.
  • Timely Publication of NAGUs (Notice Advisory to Galileo Users): During the quarter 3 Planned NAGUs and 8 Unplanned NAGUs were issued. MPLs were met during the whole quarter for both planned and unplanned events (NAGUs related to planned events need to be published at least 24 hours before the event starts, and those related to unplanned events, with a delay of up to 72 hours from the detection of the unplanned event).

Enhanced SAR/Galileo Service:

  • Availability of SAR/Galileo:
    • Forward Link Service: exceeded 98.5% each month of the reported period and the annually normalised value achieved 99.47% in March (above defined MPL of 99%).
    • MEOLUT facilities in “Nominal” and “Nominal + Degraded” modes: remains at excellent levels, with annually normalised values in March better than 99.0% and 99.7% respectively, always above the MPL targets of 95% in “Nominal” and 97.5% in “Nominal + Degraded” modes.
    • Return Link Service: 99.82% every month over the period (MPL set to 95%).
    • SAR Transponders: achieved excellent levels of performance reaching monthly satellite transponder availability of 100% for all space vehicles.
  • Performance of:
    • Detection Service: above expectations, with monthly values of a valid message detection probability after a single transmitted burst over 100% (MPL target is 99%).
    • Location Probability: excellent values were achieved, with monthly values higher than 97.1% for a single burst (MPL target is 90%), and 98.4% for multi-burst (MPL target is 98%).
    • Location Accuracy: surpassed the targets; monthly values higher than 97.5% for a single burst and 99.0% for multi-burst transmissions with accuracy better than 5 km, while the MPLs are 90% and 95% respectively.
  • Return Link Service:
    • Delivery Latency within 15 min: above 99.8% and at 99.89% in average over the reported period (MPL set to 99%).
    • Reception Probability: above 99.91% over the reported period (MPL set to 99%).

For the most up-to-date information on the Galileo system and constellation, visit the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) website, in particular, the Galileo constellation status section. For an exhaustive description of the Minimum Performance Levels (MPLs), refer to the SDDs (Programme Reference documents).

For more details on Galileo performance and its Services, do not hesitate to contact the Galileo Help Desk. Moreover, if you wish to receive NAGUs and notifications of new Galileo publications, please register to the GSC web portal and subscribe to our Newsletters.

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