TABLE OF CONTENTS In February 2004, the United States and the European Commission, joined by the European Union member states, had a successful round of negotiations in Brussels, where they reached an important agreement on the GPS/GALILEO cooperation [1]. This represents a key step for the GALILEO program, which recognizes the United States and Europe as equal partners in the navigation field and creates optimal conditions for the development of the European navigation system, fully independent, compatible, and interoperable with GPS. This agreement will allow users to exploit in a complementary way both systems with the same receiver, hence creating the world standard of radio navigation by satellite [1, 2]. The agreement establishes clear rules for both parties to jointly or individually continuously improve the performance of their respective systems, for the benefit of all users worldwide.
In February 2004, another important event took place: the GALILEO JU completed the first phase in the process to select the future concession holder of the European satellite navigation system. The second phase will continue with the consortia of companies on the short list. The selection results thus far are encouraging, as they demonstrate the willingness of the private sector to invest in GALILEO [3].
These events provide a good picture of GALILEO: a challenging idea that is coming to reality.
As highlighted in Chapter 1, GALILEO is the European radio navigation program that was launched by the European Commission and developed jointly with the European Space Agency [4 9]. It opens the door to...
