Originally published January 24 2006
Galileo satellite system to have many uses
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Galileo network is able to track a vehicle's exact movements, which could provide large advancements in road-user tolling and emergency calling. In an accident, emergency information entered by the driver could be sent.
This week, the first test satellite in Europe's 3.4bn-euro (£2.3bn; $4bn) Galileo satellite-navigation system blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The final global network of 30 Galileo satellites is crucial to providing the high volumes of time- and location-based data needed for new services such as advanced sat-nav, mobile location data, natural disaster surveillance and air traffic control.
Powerful applications are expected on the roads; the Galileo network would allow a vehicle's exact movements to be tracked, presenting new possibilities for road-user charging and tolling.
The precision and availability of the Galileo signal would facilitate the application of charges according to the distance travelled by a vehicle, along with other parameters.
"For example, you might want to vary the charge according to speed, or whether someone is travelling through a city centre," Hans-Peter Marchlewski, general counsellor for the Galileo Joint Undertaking, told the BBC News website.
There have been quite significant studies which show that revenue-neutral road-user charging would give you quite significant gains in congestion reduction Prof Mike McDonald, University of Southampton Galileo sat-nav could potentially form the basis for general "pay-as-you-go" road pricing proposed for the UK as a replacement for road tax and petrol duty.
They are used in a distance-related charging scheme for heavy goods vehicles in Austria and a congestion charging scheme underway in Trondheim, Norway.
SAT-NAV AND ROAD SAFETY Autobahn pile-up (AP) 'Smart box' would automatically transmit location of vehicle Emergency request could be triggered at airbag inflation Message might contain details of passengers, e.g. in coaches Real-time traffic data would guide others away from scene Future systems could warn of road dangers and take control of vehicle, e.g. limiting speed With Galileo and GPS, the satellite signal can be supplemented where it drops out by ground stations, although these must have a line of sight with the vehicle.
Some Galileo initiatives for the road sector are, however, being coordinated at the European level.
The European Commission is undertaking studies into the idea of equipping heavy goods vehicles and coaches with onboard terminals offering Galileo-based services, especially in EFC.
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