“Galileo for Gravity” (GAL) project completed
GeoNumerics is proud to announce the successful completion of the FP7/GSA research project “Galileo for Gravity” (GAL) on February 14th, 2014.
The goal of GAL was (1) to further develop the kinematic airborne strapdown INS/GPS gravimetric method by using Galileo measurements and (2) to integrate the so derived gravity measurements with those of the “Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer” GOCE satellite mission in order (3) to derive high resolution gravity-field anomalies and gravity models for geodetic (geoid) and geophysical applications. The GAL target for goal (1) was 1 mGal at a spatial resolution of better than 1 km.
In the GAL project, GeoNumerics has contributed an extended capability of its GENA platform in order to handle millions of unknowns and developed the dynamicSURVEY model toolbox for GENA. The extended capability of GENA is a keystone in the implementation of the Dynamic Network (DN) approach for the solution of large systems of differential and non-differential observation equations with applications to aerial, terrestrial and marine mobile mapping. In the model toolbox dynamicSURVEY, GeoNumerics has developed mathematical models to derive gravity perturbations from inertial observations (linear accelerations and angular rates) and GPS/Galileo carrier phase observations.
With the said approach and models, differences between estimated gravity anomalies and reference gravity data are in the order of 4 mGal and 3 mGal for accuracy and precision respectively. Considering the frequency of used IMU/GNSS data (10 Hz and 1 Hz respectively) and the aircraft speed (60 m/s), the mentioned accuracy and precision results demonstrate that the DN approach can fulfil the GAL requirements down to 0.5 mGal at a spatial resolution of 1 km.
The European Space Agency (ESA) mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Galileo is the European Union (EU) satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing system and, as such, the EU contribution to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) of systems together with the US GPS, the Russian GLONASS and the Chinese Beidou. It will consist of 30 satellites positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) planes at 23222 km altitude above the Earth. Its Final Operational Capability (FOC) configuration of 30 satellites is scheduled, as of today, for 2020.
GeoNumerics is a research and development (R&D) intensive small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) company specialised in geomatics and accurate navigation.
GOCE was an ESA mission and satellite (launched: 2009-03-17, ended: 2013-11-11) with the goal (1) to determine gravity-field anomalies with an accuracy of 1 mGal (where 1 mGal = 10–5 ms–2), (2) to determine the geoid with an accuracy of 1-2 cm and (3) to achieve the said accuracies at a spatial resolution better than 100 km. GOCE mapped variations in Earth’s gravity with extreme detail. As a result, for instance and among other applications, scientists exploited GOCE data to create the first global high-resolution map of the boundary between Earth’s crust and mantle –the Moho– and to detect sound waves from the massive earthquake that hit Japan (2011-03-11).
PROJECT DETAILS
Acronym: GAL
Title: Galileo for Gravity
Period: 2012-01-14 to 2014-02-14
Funding: European GNSS Agency (GSA), European Commission (EC) grant 287193, 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7), FP7-GALILEO-2011-GSA-1-a
Coordinator: Galileian Plus (Rome, IT)
Other participants: DEIMOS Engenharia (Lisabon, PT), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Lausanne, CH), GeoNumerics (Barcelona, ES), Institut Geològic de Catalunya (Barcelona, ES), Institute of Geomatics (Castelldefels, ES), Politecnico di Milano (Milano, IT)
Web page: http://www.gal-project.eu