September 2006

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Inside GNSS asked receiver designers at a cross-section of GNSS manufacturers what they thought about the binary offset carrier (BOC) and mutiplex BOC (MBOC) designs proposed for the GPS L1C and Galileo Open Service signals. In the conclusion of this two-part series, they talk about the implications for product designs, applications, and end users.

Electronic engineer Philip Mattos loves the English countryside and mows his field with technology no more sophisticated than a 1948 tractor – meanwhile, the skies above his head are full of GNSS technology for which he has been designing products over the past 30 years.

“Downstream” GNSS manufacturers and service providers aren’t waiting for the Galileo systems to come on-line. In partnership with the European Space Agency  and European Commission, they’re conducting demonstration projects to help identify future applications markets, including electronic road tolling and other uses requiring high-precision mapbases and signal authentication.

During the past 15 years, China has steadily accelerated its activities in the realm of satellite navigation and positioning. Researchers from leading GNSS engineering centers in Wuhan provide an overview of these efforts.

If all goes well, Galileo will have a full constellation of satellites up in five or six years. But the GPS L1C signal that would use BOC or MBOC won’t even begin launching until 2013, and many years will have to before the old signals are replaced. Given those respective modernization timelines, the bilateral agreement left it up to Europe to decide — BOC or MBOC? — and the United States would follow.