Proposal for the Definition of a Galileo Timing Service

On top of positioning, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) can be used for time determination and synchronization applications. The European GNSS Galileo is therefore good candidate to offer a dedicated Timing Service, with accuracy, robustness and integrity. In this frame the EGALITE (Galileo Timing Service Extension and Consolidation) project was launched in 2018. The EGALITE project was funded by the EC as part of the Horizon 2020 framework programme and aimed at studying the possibility of developing a EGNSS Timing Service based on Galileo with committed end-to-end performances. The project’s consortium is led by GMV with VVA, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt and Observatoire Royal de Belgique as partners. The aim of this paper is to provide a summary of the main outcomes of the activities developed in the frame of EGALITE project: • A brief description of the project objectives is provided, including the motivation for developing a EGNSS Timing Service and what is understood by Timing Service. • The integrity capability of the future potential EGNSS Timing Service is addressed including aspects previously mentioned: high-level architecture definition, receiver processing, operational concept, standardisation and certification aspects and Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) results. • The design of a Legal Time Traceability Service is also proposed in the paper. As will be seen in the paper, we propose EGNSS Timing Services based on Galileo with committed end-to-end performances provided EGNSS Timing Receivers are certified.