2009 Early Achievement Award

Presented to: Dr. José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez

Citation: For his remarkable contributions to the design of the Galileo frequency and signal plan and for his sustained technical work on compatibility and interoperability

Dr. José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez is a research engineer at the Institute of Geodesy and Navigation, University FAF Munich, where he is responsible for research activities on GNSS signals, Galileo evolution, interoperability and compatibility.

José Ángel started his career in satellite navigation at the end of 2002 while he was writing his master thesis on interoperability and compatibility between Galileo and GPS. He has made significant and pioneering contributions throughout his early career in the field of signal structure, multiplex techniques as well as compatibility and interoperability among GNSS systems. He has actively participated in the developing innovations of the CBOC multiplexing, which is the European implementation of the MBOC common modulation agreed between GPS and Galileo for the E1/L1 frequency band. Moreover, he is deeply involved in the Galileo program, where he supports the European Space Agency, the European Commission, and the European GNSS Supervisor Authority, through the Galileo Signal Task Force and all its different groups where he is a well respected member.

In his work over the past years, José Ángel has made fundamental achievements in signal and code design, introducing theoretical models with which current and future navigation signals can be described. Furthermore, his studies have helped in better understanding how the compatibility between different signals can be achieved. In particular, the results of this work can be considered as a fundamental contribution to the design and development of the current Galileo frequency and signal plan.

José Ángel received his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (2003), and his doctoral degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University FAF Munich, Germany (2008). In addition, he holds a master’s degree in Economics from the National University of Distance Education in Spain.