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Civil protection

Among the four navigation services provided by Galileo, the “Public Regulated Services” (PRS) will be restricted to users authorised by European governments for sensitive applications requiring a high level of continuity. The Galileo PRS provides position and timing information for government-authorised applications, including emergency services, critical infrastructure and defence.

The PRS uses robust signals that are encrypted and more resistant to spoofing and jamming.

Potential use cases of PRS include:

  • fire brigades
  • health services (ambulance)
  • humanitarian aid
  • search and rescue
  • police
  • coastguard
  • border control
  • customs
  • civil protection units.

Emergency and disaster management

GNSS offers a unique tool to support management of various types of emergencies. Positioning and reporting is vital during emergency management for police, fire brigades, civil protection, ambulances, and other related departments.

Crisis and emergency situations require a joint effort by different forces in a coordinated way and in time-constrained, stressful environments. During and after large-scale disasters, infrastructure for transport and communication is often unavailable. Roads, power lines and water distribution systems may be damaged or even destroyed. As a consequence, rescue and assistance operations can be very difficult. Galileo PRS will be able to support emergency situations during difficult environments, where local terrestrial systems may not be available. 

In addition, Galileo and EGNOS, in conjunction with other services such as Earth Observation imagery from the Copernicus programme, may help to prevent catastrophic events through surveying and monitoring of assets such as dams and bridges, and earthquake early warning systems.

Critical Infrastructure

Furthermore, GNSS services can support national and European critical infrastructure through the provision of reliable and trustworthy navigation and timing information. This might include diverse national and EU assets such as e.g. banking/financial systems, transport, energy facilities and healthcare. The highly accurate and resilient signals from Galileo and EGNOS can provide space-based means of supporting such assets, adding extra layers of robustness to such infrastructure.

 

Learn more about the Galileo PRS here.