On the afternoon of 16 September, five operational Galileo satellites broadcast a new encrypted navigation signal over Europe for a two‑hour trial. The signal is part of the forthcoming Signal Authentication Service (SAS), which aims to guarantee the authenticity of navigation data through cryptographic techniques.
Ground‑based receivers were set up at the Andøya Space Centre in Norway and at ESA’s navigation laboratory ESTEC in the Netherlands. Both sites successfully decrypted the signal and derived accurate position fixes.
This marks the first real‑world use of an authenticated Galileo signal while simulating spoofing conditions. The successful fixes demonstrate that the SAS concept can operate in a live environment and detect potentially manipulated signals.
The data are now being analysed to mature the service ahead of operational deployment. Additional tests are planned to verify resilience against a variety of attack scenarios.