US and EU nearing agreement on GPS / Galileo partnership

While it's not clear if Russia and China's forthcoming challenges have anything to do with it, the United States and the European Union are apparently close to a deal that would see them work together to improve their respective navigation systems. According to Reuters, the deal would allow both EU and U.S. satellites to send information on the same radio frequency, which would in turn allow receivers to pick up signals from both systems, theoretically resulting in greater accuracy. Of course, we'll still have to wait a while to see any of those benefits, with the EU's Galileo system still far from ready, although it's expected to be fully operational by 2012.

[alf @ Jul 16th 2007 9:32PM]

2012, 2016, 2052...eh, whenever they get around to it. It's hard to sit through a satellite launch when you have a state-mandated coffee break every 15 minutes.

[humpty @ Jul 16th 2007 9:42PM]

The Chinese are setting up their own gps system, they're going to take over the world.

http://www.sinodefence.com/strategic/spacecraft/beidou2.asp

[paul34 @ Jul 16th 2007 9:48PM]

I'm sure India will want to get it on the action as well, but probably in a few years, after GPS makes more of a presence in the market.

[MegaZone @ Jul 16th 2007 10:19PM]

India is partnering with Russia on the update to Russia's GLONASS system. There have also been discussions about changing GLONASS from the current FDMA signal to a CDMA signal that would be compatible with GPS and Gallileo, but nothing seems to have come of that yet.

[paul34 @ Jul 16th 2007 10:51PM]

Oh, I see. Thanks for the info! Seems I'm a bit out of touch =/

[Stan Winstone @ Jul 16th 2007 9:59PM]

Nooooo- this is precisely so the U.S. will learn the access codes to Galilleo and be able to shut it down in times of war at their discretion. Don't take the bait Europe!

[threefingeredlord @ Jul 16th 2007 10:02PM]

And vice-versa, no problem ; ).

[humpty @ Jul 16th 2007 10:18PM]

Don't matter now that the Chinese can shoot down satellites and are now working on ground lasers to knock them out.

[MegaZone @ Jul 16th 2007 10:20PM]

Uh, no, using the same signal waveforms means absolutely nothing about control of the satellites. No more than T-Mobile can shut down AT&T just because they both use GSM waveforms. I hope this was a joke.

[daniel @ Jul 17th 2007 4:32AM]

it obviously was a joke, so why reply?

[MegaZone @ Jul 17th 2007 6:23PM]

OK... I don't know why this originally showed up in reply to another post, since that post wasn't even in the sub-thread I was viewing when I wrote it... Let's try this again.
---
Considering some of the comments Engadget gets, I wouldn't say anything was obviously a joke. I've seen plenty of outrageous comments where the person seems to be very serious. I don't take intelligence for granted, I've been online too long (1989) for that.

[MegaZone @ Jul 17th 2007 6:20PM]

Considering some of the comments Engadget gets, I wouldn't say anything was obviously a joke. I've seen plenty of outrageous comments where the person seems to be very serious. I don't take intelligence for granted, I've been online too long (1989) for that.

[Ian Jardine @ Jul 17th 2007 12:55PM]

Everytime the Galileo topic hit slashdot it's open season on USA bashing. Let's not drop into politics here.
Basically this alliance is terrific. For many years the US Tax payer has paid for the exisiting GPS system, launched by the US military and it has now become an integral part of so many systems worlwide. The issue here is that the original partners in Galileo completewly overstated the economics of their plan to offer PAY services for greater accurancy. When they realised their error (high cost versusus low revenue) they refused to fund Galileo's roll out. Now the original US operation partnering with Galileo is a great sign of US and European co-operation for a better service, more options and greater accurancy, all at a lower cost to both parties than each trying to compete. It's basically a win win situation for the alliance and the users. Long may such co-operation betwen Europe and the US become the norm.
It's amazing how much red tapoe can be cut when economics demand a quick answer. I'd like to know who the key players are here (individuals) who made this happen. They deserve recognition.

[garryb @ Jul 18th 2007 4:06PM]

well you all guys can waste money and wait but nostradamus and ecward cacy have predicted that by 21st decmeber 2012 the world will end and a new world which the 5th world will beign. dont belive be get a documentary called the other nostradamus.

[anonymous @ Jul 20th 2007 5:28PM]

nostradamus, cacy, and the aztec calendar.