Galileo Open Service and Enhanced SAR/Galileo Service Performance Reports of the second quarter of 2021 (covering April, May and June) have just been published in Electronic Library of the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) web portal.

The quarterly Galileo Open Service (OS) and SAR/Galileo Service Public Performance Reports provide the status of the Galileo constellation and the achieved performance.

The reports include 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 (SDD): OS-SDD and SAR-SDD). Both SDDs can be found in the Programme Reference Documents section on the GSC website.

Quarterly reports provide information to users on parameters such as:

  • Galileo (OS): Ranging Performance, Galileo to GPS Time Offset (GGTO) determination performance, Galileo Positioning Performance, the Timely Publication of Notice Advisory to Galileo Users (NAGUs), and more;
  • SAR/Galileo Enhanced Services: Availability of Forward Link Service (FLS) and Return Link Service (RLS), performance of location probability and accuracy, RLS service latency, and more;

Highlights from Q2-2021 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 Q2-2021 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 at least equal to 99.38% 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 0.20 [m] and 0.64 [m] on Single-Frequency observables. For Dual-Frequency combinations, the figure is in the range from 0.14 [m] to 0.43 [m]. Compliance with the MPL (threshold is 7 [m]) is achieved with considerable margin by all satellites of the Galileo constellation.
    • Average Ranging Accuracy at Constellation Level (over “All Satellites”): figures “per signal” better than or equal to 0.33 [m] for Single-Frequency signals and 0.15 [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: during the second quarter no NAGUs were issued. 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: the annually normalised value achieved 99.79% in June (above defined MPL of 99%).
    • MEOLUT facilities in “Nominal” and “Nominal + Degraded” modes: remains at excellent levels, with annually normalised values in June better than 97.8% and 98.8% respectively, always above the MPL targets of 95% in “Nominal” and 97.5% in “Nominal + Degraded” modes.
    • Return Link Service: 100% each month of 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 of 100% (MPL target is 99%).
    • Location Probability: excellent values were achieved, with monthly values higher than 92.7% for a single burst (MPL target is 90%), and 99.2% for multi-burst (MPL target is 98%).
    • Location Accuracy: surpassed the targets; monthly values higher than 98.4% for a single burst and 99.5% 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 99.92% and at 99.95% in average over the reported period (MPL set to 99%).
    • Reception Probability: 100% each month 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 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 newsletter.

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