Galileo and more accurate smartphone GPS

[+J Grouchy]

FCC ruling will help make smartphone GPS more accurate

 

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...the FCC has just made a move to open up satellite navigation beyond America's borders. A new order means your smartphone can also use Europe's Galileo system, which will make sat nav faster and more accurate...

 

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Your phone can probably use Galileo already, but the functionality is disabled because of US regulations against ground radios connecting to foreign satellites. To enable the two bands (out of three) now permitted, your device maker might need to roll an update out to you.

 

[+Viajero Perdido]

Interesting.

 

My phone, a Chinese model shipped directly to me in Canada and thus likely not subject to FCC anything (nor Canadian equivalent), has been receiving up to 21 satellites for years - I count 21 (/20 variously) numbered satellite slots on the Locus display - of which GPS would account for only 12, if I remember right.

 

So I'm getting two satellite systems already.  Would the second be Galileo?

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by Viajero Perdido
I have trouble counting past 10

[RuideAlmeida]

4 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

So I'm getting two satellite systems already.  Would the second be Galileo?

 

Most probably GLONASS also...

[+noncentric]

Are existing handheld GPSr's able to connect to these Galileo sats already, or is that something that would have to be done via manufacturer's firmware updates?

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

1 hour ago, noncentric said:

Are existing handheld GPSr's able to connect to these Galileo sats already, or is that something that would have to be done via manufacturer's firmware updates?

Probably not. Very few Garmin devices have this capability.

 

Check out https://www.usegalileo.eu/EN/ for a searchable list of Galileo compatible devices.

[+HHL]

20 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

of which GPS would account for only 12

GPS uses 31 satellites.

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GPS system (click here)

 

[+HHL]

13 hours ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

Check out https://www.usegalileo.eu/EN/ for a searchable list of Galileo compatible devices.

That list isn't complete. The brandnew GPSmap 66 series uses Galileo as well.

 

Hans

[+Viajero Perdido]

4 minutes ago, HHL said:

GPS uses 31 satellites. 

 

...of which, only a maximum of 12 are visible at a time, right?

 

On my phone, on a clear-sky day I'm seeing 17-20 satellites showing signal bars, so the extras must be from another system.  The Russian one, from the sounds of it.

[+HHL]

7 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

...of which, only a maximum of 12 are visible at a time, right?

Yes. ;-)

[+barefootguru]

The FCC saying you weren’t allowed to *receive* information from GNSS (Galileo) satellites is weird.

 

Wikipedia says:

 

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Samsung Galaxy S8, Moto X4, Apple iPhone 8 / Apple iPhone X and later devices and BQ Aquaris X5 Plus are compatible with Galileo

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(satellite_navigation)#Receivers

 

Apple’s latest also support the Japanese QZSS, handy for Asia-Oceania.

[+geodarts]

Of particular interest may be not simply whether a device has Galileo support, but if  it uses dual frequency.  

 

The  Broadcom BCM47755 chip,  introduced last year, is "a dual-frequency (E1/L1+E5/L5) GNSS chip that can compute location with an accuracy of up to a few decimetres.…". I

 

The Mi8 and other devices are beginning to use this.  Other manufacturers are introducing competing dual frequency technology.

 

This article is way beyond my technical expertise but seems to be a good discussion about dual frequency implementation. 

Edited November 18, 2018 by geodarts

[+Viajero Perdido]

Interesting article (linked above), also the app the author created, GPSTest.

 

The app confirms one thing for me.  It's the Russians and the Americans, working together, that are helping me find caches. 

[+arisoft]

2 hours ago, geodarts said:

Of particular interest may be not simply whether a device has Galileo support, but if  it uses dual frequency.  

 

Yes, using two different frequency bands at the same time is the way what military has been used to eliminate ionospheric errors. Originally the alternative band was encrypted and useless for commercial grade receivers but things seems to be changing.