Cornell cracks Galileo’s code

Members of

's Global Positioning System (GPS) Laboratory have cracked the pseudo random number (PRN) codes of Europe's first global navigation satellite. The researchers published the codes and the methods used to extract them, giving free access to navigation devices that need PRNs to listen to satellites.

The navigational satellite, GIOVE-A (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element-A), is a prototype for 30 satellites that by 2010 will compose Galileo, a $4 billion joint venture of the European Union, European Space Agency and private investors. Galileo is Europe's answer to the US' GPS.

GPS satellites were put into orbit by the US Department of Defense and are funded by taxpayers, so the signal is free and consumers need only purchase a receiver. Galileo, however, must make money to reimburse its investors by an as yet undecided method, but probably by charging a fee for PRN codes. Because Galileo and GPS will share frequency bandwidths, Europe and the United States signed an agreement whereby some of Galileo's PRN codes must be "open source." Despite broadcasting since its first signals in January 2006, none of GIOVE-A's codes have not been made public.