reg media player
Fyi, the volume slider gets detected as a clickjacking attempt. firefox 42.0
Europe is now two satellites closer to firing up its Galileo satnav system following the launch today of Galileos 11 and 12. The pair blasted off from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, atop a Soyuz rocket at 11:51 GMT. While the Russian lifter hoisted the satellites into low orbit, the final task of getting …
The standard accuracy of GPS was 15m and is now "better than 3.5m".
So the Galileo public signal is good or better. The encrypted signal for commercial users is down to 1cm.
Also, they claim the constellation design gives better precision at higher latitudes than GPS or GLONASS, so even if you're only getting down to 1m on the public signal, you should be able to get that level more consistently in more places.
because it ups the ante for determining where you are. The cell towers can coordinate to specify your (much-less accurate) location, but the bad guys need to have an in with the mobile provider to get the info. BUT, if your phones knows your position to a meter or three, it can well be broadcasting the info to the world from any app that's registered for GPS access.* Shortsighted downvoters.
--------------
* Assuming the OS really limits access as advertised.
I don't know about anyone else, but personally, I think human beings are capable of some pretty amazing things when we work together. We can throw a massive and massively accurate clock into orbit around our planet using a controlled explosion not just once, but a dozen times.
Yet some folk complain that a £5 device that fits in their pocket (I'm talking about the chip and antenna, not a whole location/navigation/routing device) might tell them they are one step away from where they actually are.
Anyway, cheers, science.
Well, you can read the operations manual for Soyuz, and from the look of it, while there is data interfaces between the rocket and the payload, it should be relatively easy to secure.
Physical security of the payload before launch would be the important part.
Galileo doesn't comply / match the US GPS system crippling regimes, such as over a war zone - which might be the whole world - they will destroy Galileo satellites.
Meanwhile we have the Russian GLONASS system - currently GLONASS-K - GLONASS compatible GPS receivers can acquire satellites up to 20% faster than devices that rely on US-GPS alone. It is less accurate than the US-GPS system but now covers the world. GLONASS has better performance in dense urban areas.
Many smartphones sold in the Far East are Glonass ready. GARMIN has dual system receivers (see their web site) but activating GLONASS may require changing the Satellite System setting to GPS+GLONASS from the Setup System menu.
The standard-precision GLONASS signal offers horizontal positioning accuracy within 5–10 metres, vertical positioning within 15 metres (49 ft), a velocity vector measuring within 10 centimetres per second (3.9 in/s), and timing within 200 ns, all based on measurements from four first-generation satellites simultaneously - the minimum required by receivers.
The Chinese Beidou system - whose name translates as "Big Dipper" - the system is able to pinpoint locations to within 33 feet (10 m). The US' GPS system currently relies on 24 satellites, China aims to have 35 in the constellation by 2020.
My phone (Nexus 5, Snapdragon 800 SoC) will pick up both GPS and GLONASS sats, but I've only ever seen it use two GLONASS in the solution. I don't think the Snapdragon 800 will do Galileo, though I think the 810 will. Has anyone ever seen a Galileo in the sat list that some of the satnav phone apps have?
Yes, Russia provided tax breaks to devices that supported their own technology (logic being, that any loss from tax revenue is offset by increased licensing revenue of the technology, plus its widespread adoption).
A lot of the location chip designers added it, because having two networks decreases the time to get a fix. I am sure when the EU and Chinese networks become functional, they will add those as well (although ideally you want an odd number, so you can quorum, in case one superpower decides to turn off or diddle the location output).
Essentially it is cheaper for them to make one chip that supports all the networks than to make a 4 custom chips for each network, and it is better for the end user, who can now use multiple networks to get a better/faster fix.
As a result almost all modern phones support GPS+Glonass, in fact a lot of mobiles use it without actually mentioning it (it just gets lumped into "GPS", or "Location" terms). I know my (relatively ancient) note 2 supports both, so I am sure all new phones do as well.
Galileo does have a war zone jamming system agreed with the US.
What it does is allow aircraft to land, ships to dock and road traffic to be charged if a future US administration decided to reduce GPS coverage over Europe as part of a future disagreement with cheese eating surrender monkeys.