The IG starts the project GAL: Galileo for gravity

The Institute of Geomatics starts a new project funded by the European GNSS Supervisory Authority, in the frame of the 7th European Framework Program for Research and Development (FP7). The project runs from 2012 to 2014 and is lead by Galileian Plus and with the participation of the   Institute  of  Geomatics, Deimos Engenharia , the Geological Institute of Catalonia , the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the Polytechnic of Milan .

 

The  idea  underlying  the  GAL  project  is  the  study  and  development  of  a  state-of-the-art methodology for  the  determination  of  precise  and  high-resolution  gravity  field  models made  available  by  precise  kinematic  airborne gravimetry with EGNOS, GPS, Galileo and strapdown Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and its further integration with GOCE global models.

 

The  GAL  concept  is  based  on  the  combination  of  satellite-derived  global  gravity  models with  airborne-derived  local  models.  While  the  GOCE  gradiometric  measurements  will provide  the  global  gravity  model,  the  airborne  EGNOS/GNSS/INS  ranging  and  inertial measurements  will  provide  the local ones. While GOCE gradiometry will resolve the gravity field with an accuracy of 1-2 mgal and a geoid accuracy of 1- 2 cm at 100 km wavelengths and longer, airborne  gravimetry  will  resolve,  with  comparable accuracy,  the  gravity  field  with resolutions  ranging  from  the  200  km  to  1  km.  The  spectral  overlap  of  the  two  systems’ resolution  intervals  will  provide  the  redundancy  required  for  model  consistency  assurance between the two data sets and for consistent calibration of the airborne gravimetric system to a global gravity reference frame.

 

The   proposed   concept   shall   eliminate   the   need   for   large   scale   terrestrial   gravity measurements  thus  allowing  for  affordable  gravity  missions  over  the  Earth  land  masses  and, therefore,  for  high  resolution  gravity  field  determination  and,  more  specifically,  for  high resolution geoid determination which, in turn, is a GNSS enabler.

 

For more information contact: christian.miranda@ideg.es or visit www.gal-project.eu .