NovAtel Inc., a precise positioning technology company, was recently awarded a shared contribution contract valued at CDN $667,861 by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to establish sites in Canada to monitor the Galileo GIOVE test satellites. Galileo is the European Union’s state-of-the-art Global Navigation Satellite System. The work includes a parallel cooperative effort to integrate the NovAtel Galileo Test Receiver (GTR), developed by NovAtel for the CSA, into the GIOVE-A Galileo Experimental Sensor Station (GESS), to upgrade the GTR capabilities and to field these GESS stations in Canada.
The GIOVE ground network consists of 13 GESS systems, located around the world. NovAtel’s GTRs will be installed at three network sites – two new ones in Canada at the Communication Research Centre in Ottawa and at NovAtel in Calgary, along with one existing site at the GIOVE control centre in Noordwijk, Holland.
"NovAtel has been involved with Galileo for a number of years, and we are very proud to be working with the CSA to bring the Galileo program to Canada, by not only integrating NovAtel’s made-in-Canada GTR into the European GIOVE monitoring system, but by also establishing Galileo ground sites in Canada," said Tony Murfin, Vice President, Business Development, NovAtel Inc. "NovAtel continues to be recognized as a technology leader in the precise Reference Receiver market through its early participation in almost every new GNSS constellation."
The first GIOVE-A test satellite has now been in orbit for over two years and a second GIOVE test satellite (GIOVE-B) is scheduled for launch in March 2008. Galileo is expected to be fully operable from 2012 with up to 30 satellites orbiting the earth. It is designed for both civilian and government purposes and will be controlled and operated by civil management.
