This certification mark is awarded within the scope of voluntary testing and certification. In cooperation with the applicant test criteria will be set up before commencing with the testing. The assessment of the test-bed and associated tests are focused on conformity with the applicable Galileo specifications and on the competence and quality of the applicant’s operation of the test-bed systems.

Certification test criteria are differentiated between technical and operational requirements.

The technical requirements shall ensure conformity of the test-bed signals with the applicable Galileo specifications. They are largely based on the following documents:

• European GNSS (Galileo) Open Service Signal In Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD), defining the Galileo Open Service (OS) signal structure
• ECSS (ECSS: The European Cooperation for Space Standardization) standards of series E (Engineering), in particular ECSS-E-10 und ECSS-E-70

The operational requirements shall ensure conformity of the test-bed operation with the requirements of a ‘test laboratory’. They are therefore based on:

• DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005: General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
• Requirements of the ECSS standards for the operation of ground-based infrastructure

When assessing the test-bed emphasis is put on:

• Conformity of the signals to the Galileo specifications:
  In a Galileo test-bed the generated signals shall be conform to the signals as defined in the ‘European GNSS (Galileo) Open Service Signal in Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD). A ground-based system does have certain constraints affecting the signal structure when compared to a satellite system (transmit stations on ground, not in orbit, therefore near-far effect issues). Nevertheless the signal environment shall be as realistic as possible, so that the test-bed signals correctly replicate the satellite signals and will be correctly received and processed by commercial-of-the-shelf satellite receivers.

  Further requirements concerning the availability and reliability of the test-bed signals will be considered as well. They will be derived from the test-bed system specifications as wells as from the applicant’s requirement documents.

• Quality and Competence of the test-bed operation:
  For the users of a test and development environment, e.g. developers of Galileo receiver hardware and software, it is essential that the test-bed is able to reliably reproduce test conditions. For this reason every experiment has to be executed with the respective required quality.
  The quality of operation will be validated according to ‘DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005: General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories’ and according to quality requirements from the ECSS standards. Here the focus is on organisation and management, used hard- and software and documentation management.
• Project Management in conformance with ECSS for the develoüment of the system:
  Galileo is a space project that is performed following the rules for space engineering as defined in the ECSS standards. For the installation of the Galileo test-bed the ECSS shall be applied as far as applicable. The focus is  primarily on the project management during installation of the test-bed. For this purpose it is validated that the structure follows  the ECSS rules (see ESA life-cycles). Furthermore the design and the development shall also be structured according to ECSS. Within the scope of the certification it will be assessed, if the requirements by the client are met and if the documentation is in line with the ECSS standards in form and content. The ECSS standards will be adapted to the characteristics of the specific test-bed (ECSS Tailoring). The validation includes the areas engineering – with the focus on ground infrastructure -, risk and configuration management as well as documentation management.
• Specific (Customer) Requirements:
  According to contractual agreements between client and the organization chosen for the installation of the test-bed, there are additional requirements outside the test criteria defined by the ECSS standards. These are a specific behaviour of the system, size and coverage of the test-bed, additional functions or similar. These requirements will be assessed within the scope of the certification and documented in the test protocol.