Europe must speed development of applications for its global navigation...

using satellite navigation systems Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System, the EC said. EGNOS, which paves the way for Galileo, has been in service since October, offering enhanced satellite navigation signals up to 10 times more precise than GPS, it said. The EC’s 2010-2013 action plan adopted Monday calls for additional funding for a range of research proposals on GNSS applications, promoting Galileo- and EGNOS-enabled chips and handsets, and starting an application forum where users, developers, infrastructure managers and systems providers can exchange ideas on the evolution of the GNSS project, it said. Uptake of GNSS applications has been slow in Europe, an EC spokesman told us. One reason is that the GNSS market originates from the U.S., giving American companies an advantage, he said. Galileo and EGNOS have been restricted to civil use, but one of Galileo’s five services will be the “public regulated service” based on encrypted signals, the spokesman said. The Galileo project remains controversial because of questions about its costs and funding and the need for another GPS system. Three of the six key contracts for construction of the system have been awarded, and work under them has started, the spokesman said. The other three will be awarded later this year, he said. The first four satellites that are to form a mini test constellation will be sent into orbit in 2011, he said. The next 14 will arrive at a steady pace, beginning in 2012, until the initial constellation of 18 is completed by 2014, when the first services will be made available, he said.