The use is free of charge although man hours are costed for any assistance required. However, ESA underlines that only a limited man power is available for instruction in the use of equipment/software.

The following procedure should be followed by any external entity wishing to use a simulation facility:

·          Make request to the laboratory responsible (i.e. Simon Johns);

·          State the minimum requirements required of the facility

·          Memorandum of agreement is created based on this information, which will form part of the contract

·          A contract is generated which must be signed and returned

The procedure nominally takes no more than 2 weeks.

See: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/Navigation/Rx_Workshop/Tools_6_Thales_R&T.pdf

The GSVF was developed by Thales RT for the Galileo project and is under constant development (current version is compliant to SIS ICD 12)The GSVF was developed by Thales RT for the Galileo project and is under constant development (current version is compliant to SIS ICD 12).

In terms of physical models, the GSVF complies to:

·          ESA reference environment models: -‘Blind’and ‘Receiver Reference’ troposphere models- Modified-NeQuick ionosphere model

·          ESA-specified multipath models targeted at end user applications:

-          Ground reflected ray for aeronautical users

-          Reflection from static objects for vehicular users

-          Azimuth & elevation based rays for static users

-          File-based time-dependent multipath effects

-          Periodic linear multipath effects

-          All rays allow configurable Rayleigh fading

There are dedicated hardware resources for multipath generation: Up to four rays per satellite with no loss of satellite channels. Satellite channels can be used for high-fidelity multipath generation

·          One satellite channel used per high-fidelity multipath ray

·          Up to 51 multipath rays