Galileo Broadcasting Satellite Identified
On Saturday, December 10, at about 06:00 UTC, one of the two Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites launched on October 21 started transmitting navigation signals on the L1/E1 frequency using the E11 ranging code.
According to prediction visibilities based on NORAD/JSpOC tracking information, the transmitting satellite is PFM, the ProtoFlight Model (GSAT0101). The FM2 (Flight Model 2) satellite (GSAT0102) has not yet started transmitting navigation signals.
Stations of the COoperative Network for GIOVE Observation (CONGO) were among the first to track the satellite. Results have also been reported by Thales Avionics, JAVAD GNSS, Politecnico di Torino's NavSAS group, and Thales Alenia Space.
The following figure shows C/N0 values in dB-Hz of PFM 1-Hz data collected at the University of New Brunswick CONGO station on December 10. Time axis runs for 24 hours starting at 01:00 UTC. Receiver is a Javad Delta-G2T.
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