ITU regs to save airplanes from satellite interference

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has introduced regulations that will prevent Europe's planned satellite positioning system, Galileo, from interfering with aircraft safety. The ITU allocated new frequency bands to satellite navigation service in 2000 prompting a series of studies on how the move might impact terrestrial radio air navigation services.

There were fears that the constellation of satellites in the proposed Galileo fleet would transmit signals that would confuse aircraft electronic navigation equipment operating within the same radio frequency range.