Pictures of the Future Spring 2006
Simulation – Galileo
Locating the Customer
Siemens researchers are simulating the operation of the Galileo system—before the satellites are launched.
Have you ever hurried to an important meeting with a new customer and suddenly realized you were lost? Don’t worry, it’s the year 2010 and your mobile is picking up signals from 54 satellites and the phone operator’s base stations. Having located your position, your trusty device can also "see" that the customer has already arrived at the restaurant, as he has turned off a "privacy" function and activated a "rendezvous" function on his mobile. So, after plotting a map to the restaurant, your phone hails the nearest taxi and you’re on your way.
Location technology will show people how to get to their nearest restaurant, hotel, bank or parking lot. Galileo—a new 3.4 billion € European satellite system—should provide much more accurate positioning information than is currently possible, so a receiver will be able to locate itself to within a meter of its actual location. The first test satellite was launched in December 2005, and all 30 satellites will be fully deployed by 2010. But it’s not too early to be developing positioning systems for Galileo; and that’s exactly what Siemens is doing. For example, researchers at the Siemens-owned Roke Manor Research facility in the UK have designed an innovative simulation tool to test the accuracy of the Galileo system—even before the satellites are launched. Simulations are based on anticipated Galileo signals, but also incorporate signals from the 24 existing global positioning system (GPS) satellites.
Simulations can also predict whether a receiver can pick up navigation signals in less favorable environments. To do so, they use software that predicts signal levels by analyzing architectural drawings of cities and building floor plans, as well as satellite and aerial images of cities. "We don’t just need to know whether we can receive a signal; we also need to know how accurate it will be and how the signal’s strength will change over time," says Zoran Dobrosavljevic, a senior consultant engineer at Roke Manor Research. "We have developed software that shows how the signal will be affected—in other words, how accurate the obtained position will be in any environment."
The simulation tool is to be integrated into a system being developed by engineers from Siemens Communications in Berlin. This system will use the Galileo satellites as well as GSM and UMTS base stations to determine the user’s exact position. Dr. Heiko Schmitz, who is in charge of the project, says, "The information we get from Roke Manor’s simulation system is very hard to obtain from field tests because the Galileo satellites are not yet in operation and the existing GPS satellites are in motion. Simulations allow us to vary parameters such as the number of satellites visible, signal distortion due to nearby objects, and signal degradation resulting from low-cost receivers, and get all the data for an optimal solution.
"Simulations have greatly speeded up development and put us ahead of the competition when it comes to helping mobile phone operators deliver location-based services. These services will bring major benefits for consumers and I think they will become an important business area—especially if they help people to locate their customers ."
Rob Simpson