The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite based augmentation system (SBAS) under development by the European Space Agency, the European Commission and EUROCONTROL. It is intended to supplement the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo systems by reporting on the reliability and accuracy of the signals. The official start of operations was announced by the European Commission on 1 October 2009.[1]
According to specifications, horizontal position accuracy should be better than seven metres. In practice, the horizontal position accuracy is at the metre level. It will consist of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations.
The system started its initial operations in July 2005, showing outstanding performances in terms of accuracy (better than two metres) and availability (above 99%); it is intended to be certified for use in safety of life applications in 2010. A commercial service is under test and will also be made available in 2010.
Similar service is provided in North America by the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), and in Asia, notably Japan, by the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS).
On 28 July 2005, the European Space Agency announced it had signed a contract with an operating company, European Satellite Services Provider, to run EGNOS. As of July 2005, EGNOS has been broadcasting a continuous signal, and at the end of July 2005 the system was again used to track cyclists in the Tour de France road race.[2]
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Satellites
Similarly to WAAS, EGNOS is mostly designed for aviation users which enjoy unperturbed reception of direct signals from geostationary satellites up to very high latitudes. The use of EGNOS on the ground, especially in urban areas is limited due to relatively low elevation of geostationary satellites: about 30° above horizon in central Europe and much less in the North of Europe. To address this problem, ESA released in 2002 SISNeT,[3][4] an Internet service designed for continuous delivery of EGNOS signals to ground users. First experimental SISNeT receiver was created by the Finnish Geodetic Institute[1]. The commercial SISNeT receivers have been developed by Septentrio.[5]
| Satellite Name & Details | NMEA / PRN | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Ocean Region-East | NMEA #33 / PRN #120 | 15.5°W |
| ARTEMIS | NMEA #37 / PRN #124 | 21.5°E |
| Europe Middle East Africa | NMEA #39 / PRN #126 | 25°E |
Ground stations
More than 40 ground stations are linked together to create EGNOS network which consists:
34 RIMS (Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Stations) - receiving signals from US GPS satellites,
4 MCC (Mission Control Centers) - data processing and differential corrections counting ,
6 NLES (Navigation Land Earth Stations) - accuracy and reliability data sending to three geostationary satellite transponders to allow end-user devices receive them.
References
External links
- ESA information on EGNOS
- The EGNOS book
- European Space Agency information on EGNOS for Professionals
- Learning EGNOS
- EGNOS Operations User Support
- Usman A Zahidi, "EGNOS enabled GPS Software Receiver" Report Page, [2]
- Information on WAAS, EGNOS & MSAS
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