CTT is presently involved in a number of satellite navigation related projects, among them:

• The PTF project (Precise Timing Facility)
• The HARRISON project
• The IRGAL project

THE PRECISE TIMING FACILITY (PTF)

The PTF project, awarded at the end of 2005 to CTT by ESA Galileo Industries in the frame of the Phase C/D/E1 of the Galileo development and In Orbit Validation, aims at implementing the Precise Timing Facility (PTF), which is one of the key elements of the Galileo Ground Segment.
Its scope is to provide an accurate, stable and precise reference timescale, the Galileo System Time (GST), to the Orbitography and Synchronization Processing functions of the Galileo System. In order to fulfill this objective, the PTF is designed with a structure similar to a Timing Laboratory but with the necessary redundancies and control systems in order to be able to work autonomously. The PTF uses commercially available atomic clocks like Hydrogen Masers to guarantee the required short term stability and Caesium Clocks for the medium-long term stability. The PTF also steers the Galileo GST timescale to TAI/UTC to guarantee the UTC dissemination to Galileo Users.

For the purpose of participating in the  development of the PTF, the Consorzio Torino Time has selected scientific, metrological and industrial members only. The institutional members Fondazione Torino Wireless and Finpiemonte are not involved in the execution of the operative part of the work due to their institutional role.
However, as members of Consorzio Torino Time, they drive and support the following initiatives:

1. Promotional activities on Galileo Time
2. Organisation of Workshops, forum, Working Groups
3. Education programs
4. Attraction of talents in the Time area through financing of Fellowship programs.

Consorzio Torino Time, is the Prime Contractor for conducting and implementing an effective process for the PTF Project development. To this purpose Consorzio Torino Time is in charge of the overall Program and Technical Management through its Project Office.
This provides a strong and efficient co-ordination structure representing a unique interface towards the Customer for all organisational and technical matters and then avoiding duplication of interfaces at management and technical level. In addition, taking into account the criticality of the PTF as part of the GMS elements chain, the proposed unique prime-ship ensures a coherent harmonisation among the engineering tasks and a proper control and co-ordination of the related activities.

The Consorzio Torino Time Members are in charge of the following activities:

• Thales Alenia Space Italia:  System Design Engineering & Integration
• ALTEC:  Project Control, Data Management, Integrated Logistic Support,
• INRIM:  Galileo System Time (GST) Algorithms Design &Validation,
• Alenia SIA:  SW D&D Integration, Verification and Qualification;
• SEPA:  PTF Element AI&V and Factory & Segment Level Acceptance, HW DDVQ, Timing S/S Electrical Design, COTS Procurement and Acceptance;
• Politecnico di Torino:  GST Algorithms Matlab Models & Algorithms testing.

The following CTT subcontractors are in charge of:

• TEMEX (Switzerland): H-Maser Steering algorithm, Clock Anomalies Detection, provision of Timing sub-systems
• AOS (Poland):  Time Transfer and GGTO Models and Time Transfer Coding & Implementation.
• T4Science (Switzerland):  provision of  Active Hydrogen Maser Units for the required short term stability.

THE HARRISON PROJECT

The Harrison Project is a response to the Third GJU call of the FP6, ‘Galileo Timing and Synchronisation applications’. The project started on November 2006 and is coordinated by CTT.
The Harrison project is aimed at studying the value added by Galileo in Time and Synchronization applications and at defining the requirements for the design and the provision of advanced services in this field. The study analyses the Time user community needs and identifies the applications and services that need a precise time reference for event synchronisation and time event recording. The User communities taken into consideration include Scientific Applications, Astronomy and Quantum Cryptography, Financial and Banking, Railways, Energy and Power, Mobile communications, Data Network Security and Synchronisation. The project investigates also the aspects related to the legal time, the user needs of an authenticated and certified time distributed via GNSS and the possible implementations. Pilot projects that use the Authenticated and Certified Time Solution for field demonstrations are also foreseen by the project. The Timing application Market Analysis is also performed.

The Harrison Consortium consists of a high number of skilled partners belonging to several application domains and European countries, as follows:

THE IRGAL PROJECT

IRGAL (Innovation and Research on Galileo) is a project awarded to CTT on Dec 2006 by the Piedmont Region in the Frame of the DOCUP 2000-2006 call. IRGAL main goal is the strengthening and growth of the Piedmont research and industrial communities working in the Galileo/GNSS Time and Receivers fields through the attainment of  scientific and technologically specific R&D objectives. Both GNSS Time and Receivers are areas of excellence in Turin, thanks to the presence of INRiM, the Italian Metrological Institute recognized worldwide for its excellence in Time and Frequency, and of the Galileo Lab and NavSAS Research Team, an ISMB and Politecnico di Torino joint initiative in the field of GNSS Receivers.

Time objectives
IRGAL specific objectives in the Time field are the implementation of an innovative Caesium clock prototype for ground applications and an optical link prototype for accurate Time Transfer between remote sites.

Receiver objectives
In the frame of the GNSS Receiver activities, the IRGAL project objectives are the implementation of a flexible and reconfigurable GNSS Receiver, implemented in both a Fully SW defined Radio platform and an FPGA SW defined radio platform, including the development of a multi-frequency GPS/Galileo RF front-end chipset.

Results dissemination
The dissemination of the results obtained by the IRGAL project will be addressed to the enterprises in the territory and the international scientific, technologic community. This will reinforce the attraction and the competitiveness in the field of Galileo research-products-services in Piedmont with regards to both national and international investments and co-operations.
The dissemination will occur through seminars, workshops, information days and through the participation to international events in order to make “Turin” and “Piedmont” known as Excellence Centres for Satellite Navigation.

Cooperation with GTR
Among its purposes, the IRGAL project also aims to promote the co-operation between the Piedmont and the Lazio Regions regarding the Galileo Test Range (GTR) initiative. The project will identify potential co-operation activities on Galileo between the two Regions.