When Information Security is Critical

For some users of location based and T&S services, the loss or corruption of a satellite signal can have critical consequences. For sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity, Public Regulated Services (PRS) may represent the answer.

In 2014, there were an estimated 3.6 billion GNSS devices globally. This number is forecasted to increase to 7 billion by 2019. Smartphones are by far the most popular platform to access location-based services (LBS), with about 2 billion smartphone users anticipated by 2016. Most of these users are the general public, who agree to trade their privacy and data ownership for the convenience and functionality of “always on” location services – regardless of the risk of a maliciously corrupted GNSS signal.

But for some users - including governments, the police, military, fire-fighters, paramedics, and even financial institutions - loss or corruption of the GNSS signal can have immediate and critical consequences.

This is why the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) has been designed to provide a robust and secure signal that continues to be available to authorised users when access to other navigation services is lost or corrupted.

“It is clearly an advantage to have a GNSS signal that is robust when managing a crisis,” says Jorge Andreau Garcia of the Directorate of Space Defence at GMV, a technology group. “The PRS signal continues to be available even when other forms of communication are failing.”

Key to PRS is the use of a dual band signal (Galileo’s E1 and E6 signals), with high bandwidth, which makes it much more resistant to interference.  Access to PRS, which is decided by individual Member States, is controlled through encryption of the signals and restricting access through key management systems. Users who have not been granted access to the secure features of the PRS signal will not be able to determine any information from it. Galileo PRS therefore offers the robustness of a military GNSS signal with the potential of civilian-controlled GNSS.

Garcia also notes that another advantage is that the PRS signal is authenticated, so you can rely on what you’re getting in your receiver.

With a potential 3 million civilian service personnel in Europe, the potential market for PRS is substantial. One of the main challenges now is to develop low-cost handheld receivers capable of using the PRS signal. As the signal is comparable to the GPS signal, manufacturers are already designing devices that use Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) networks like TETRA and TETRAPOL, integrating the navigational algorithms and position information of both the PRS and GPS systems.

Critical Communications World

Some of the potential end users of PRS, as well as manufacturers of current critical communications receivers and the European GNSS Agency (GSA), gathered at the 17th annual Critical Communications World congress (CCW 2015) in Barcelona (Spain) at the end of May.

A whole range of hardware was on display during the event, everything from pocket-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that can enter dangerous buildings ahead of fire-fighters or soldiers to increase their situation awareness, to handheld radio receivers with robust satellite positioning that can operate in hostile, dangerous and noisy environments. 

Less obviously dangerous, but equally critical security applications for PRS and T&S services are in the finance and banking sector, where accurate timing of transactions is fundamental, as well as for the security and management of transport infrastructure, including the control of traffic flow in cities and rail networks.

Initial operational capability for Galileo with initial services is set to come on stream in 2016.

Download the Galileo PRS flyer.

More Information

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