Another small step forward for EGNOS

Initial operations for EGNOS
28 July 2005

The European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP) has begun the Initial
Operations Phase of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay
Service (EGNOS), following the successful conclusion of negotiations
with the European Space Agency.

During the Initial Operations Phase, the responsibility for providing
the EGNOS signal and data will be transferred from the development
agency (ESA) to the operator (ESSP). During this phase, the ESSP will
technically qualify and optimise EGNOS operations.

The EGNOS open service will be declared available in early 2006, once
the operations have been proven to be stable and robust. The open
service will be free of direct user charges and will support all except
safety-of-life applications.

The ESSP will work towards the certification of the EGNOS system by
national regulatory authorities (for example, Civil Aviation
Authorities) for use in safety-critical applications. This should enable
EGNOS Safety-of-Life Services in 2007, following completion of the
certification process.

The ESSP has been created by the major European air navigation service
providers - AENA (Spain), DFS (Germany), DSNA (France), ENAV (Italy),
NATS (United Kingdom), NAV (Portugal) and skyguide (Switzerland). The
mission of ESSP is to be the operator of the EGNOS system and the
provider of EGNOS safety critical services.

EGNOS is the European augmentation service for GPS (Global Positioning
System) and GLONASS (Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System). EGNOS
transmits wide area differential and ionospheric corrections and
associated integrity information to users by means of geostationary
satellites, delivering enhanced navigation performance.

EGNOS has been under design, development and progressive deployment
since 1997, culminating in its industrial deployment with the success of
the ESA milestone Operational Readiness Review (ORR) on 16 June 2005.
The transition from the ORR to the Initial Operations Phase is a key
step for the progression of European satellite navigation policy and its
implementation.

EGNOS is a joint project of the European Space Agency, the European
Commission and Eurocontrol - the European Organisation for the Safety of
Air Navigation. ESA is in charge of the system development and technical
qualification. The system design and development has been carried out by
an industrial consortium under the leadership of Alcatel Space.

EGNOS is Europe's first step in satellite navigation, paving the way for
Galileo, the future civil global positioning system.

--
Goalie of the Century

Interesting. I've noticed that my Legend seems to be picking up and
using DGPS signals quite often in the last few weeks.

Guy
--
Guy Morgan
Tug Thorn and butty Persephone WFB, Stockton Locks, Grand Union

Guy Morgan schrieb:



Not related to EGNOS operations, but to ESTB broadcasts being available from a
source (AOR-E) with better visibility from central europe.

- Carsten

Thanks for that info Carsten. I'm not well enough up in this yechnology
to have realised that there was a difference.

Cheers

Guy
--
Guy Morgan
Tug Thorn and butty Persephone WFB, Stockton Locks, Grand Union

But how do we =know= they are ESTB rather than EGNOS? That's a serious
question - what sort of warning do we get when they start pumping out
data derived from the EGNOS RIMS, via the EGNOS infrastructure & EGNOS
uplinks into AOR-E and back to our handsets?

Presumably they =are= going to test EGNOS (for consumer grade GPS use)
before declaring it all live (sometime in 2006, or ...7, or ...)?

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
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