The Galileo positioning system is a proposed satellite
navigation system, to be built by the European Union (EU) as an
alternative to the US military-controlled Global Positioning
System and the Russian GLONASS. The system should be operational
by 2010, two years later than originally anticipated. The
Galileo positioning system is not abbreviated to GPS; use of the
acronym “GPS”, here and elsewhere, refers to the existing United
States system.
The Galileo System will comprise global, regional and local
components. The global component is the core of the system,
comprising the satellites and the required ground segment
The regional component of Galileo may comprise a number of
External Region Integrity Systems (ERIS), implemented and
operated by organisations, countries or groups of countries
outside Europe to obtain integrity services independent of the
Galileo System, in order, for example, to satisfy legal
constraints relating to system guarantees. Local components may
be deployed for enhancing the performance of Galileo locally.
These will enable higher performance such as the delivery of
navigation signal in areas where the satellite signals cannot be
received. Value-added service providers will deploy local
components.
