Gelilio
This improvement will allow seismologists to gain new insights into subterranean features and processes.
"One of the main users we see for this is oil and gas prospecting companies," said Mr Keegan.
 Galileo is expected to become fully operational in 2012 |
But rather than helping them to find new reserves, GeoSynch may allow them to work out when to stop pumping oil.
"Today there is no way of accurately measuring the depletion in an oil field," he said.
"If the oil reserves drop down below a certain level it is no longer commercially viable for them to continue working it." By mapping tiny subsurface changes, GeoSynch should have the accuracy to tell them when to stop.
But the application is not just limited to the oil industry. Mr Keegan also believes that it could be used to predict natural disasters.
"Before an earthquake there is compression of a fault and then that is released," he explained.
"When you compress earth it changes in density and there is therefore a change in the speed of sound [travelling through it]."
By measuring these subtle shifts and comparing them to areas where there is a build up of stress in the Earth's crust, Mr Keegan believes the system could help predict the cataclysmic events.
Prize draw
He is now working towards building a prototype of the system, helped along by the cash he received from the Galileo Masters.
"If everything goes to plan we could commercialise this in three years," he said.
That would mean that he could be up and running using the US GPS system even before the Galileo system is switched on, a date currently set for 2012.
Then he may be joined by a raft of other fledgling businesses given a boost by the UK Satellite Navigation Challenge.
The winners of this year's competition will win more than £35,000 worth of prizes including a patent for their idea.
The European winner will win a further 10,000 euros and the possibility of working with the European Space Agency to develop the proposal.
"A lot of the ideas coming forward are very futuristic," said Adam Tucker of the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBic), that runs the event. "What we are doing is providing them with a platform to assist them which may make them a commercial and viable business."
The competition's website will close to bids on 31 July.
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A European Commission and European Space Agency project
30 satellites to be launched in batches by end of 2011-12
Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems
Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre
Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances
Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service