zprávy

Airbus has been selected as the main contractor to develop EGNOS V3, the next generation of Europe’s Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS). The company was awarded the contract by the European Space Agency (ESA), which manages EGNOS development under a working arrangement signed with the European GNSS Agency (GSA).

For the next generation of the EGNOS augmentation system, the GSA requested the complete overhaul of the EGNOS ground segment, which was becoming obsolete. This modernisation programme will see the deployment of EGNOS V3 in ground stations at more than 50 sites in Europe, and surrounding countries.

The GSA also requested the development of new EGNOS capabilities to support the augmentation of a second GPS signal (L5) and of the Galileo signals E1-E5. Another requirement is that the system be made more robust, to deal with the increase in user numbers and to reflect their increasing dependence on EGNOS and its ground applications - in some countries (e.g. France) instrument landing systems (ILS) are being decommissioned on several airports because the civil aviation authorities have decided instead to rely on EGNOS.

Comprehensive modernisation programme

Under the contract, which was signed on January 26 2018, the ESA and Airbus will provide the GSA with two EGNOS upgrade versions. EGNOS V3.1 will ensure continuity of EGNOS augmentation of GPS L1, but with a more resilient performance, while EGNOS V3.2 will support a new SBAS service, transmitting on the L5 frequency, which will augment Galileo L1/E1 – L5/E5 along with GPS.

Watch this: EGNOS for Aviation

The GSA’s request for EGNOS V3 development is part of its overall EGNOS modernisation programme that also includes renewal of the space segment. As part of this programme, the GSA has contracted Eutelsat for the preparation and service provision phases of the EGNOS GEO-3 payload, to be hosted on the EUTELSAT 5 West B satellite that is due to be launched this year. Furthermore, the GSA will soon publish a request for information (RFI) on opportunities to deploy future new EGNOS payloads.

The programme also covers Europe’s contribution to the development of new SBAS standards for aviation in coordination with ICAO, RTCA and EUROCAE, and the development of a prototype of the SBAS-DFMC multi-frequency (L1-L5), multi-constellation (Galileo-GPS) receiver for aviation, which is being developed by Thales Avionics. After 2025, SBAS-DFMC users will be able to use the new service thanks to EGNOS L5 geo-stationary signals.

Seamless transition

In parallel with the EGNOS modernisation programme, the GSA, with the support of ESSP, ESA and TAS-F, is maintaining the efficient operation of EGNOS V2 until it is time to move to EGNOS V3. For current EGNOS users, the transition between EGNOS V2 and EGNOS V3 will be seamless, as the new system is being developed with backward compatibility.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

On Friday 9 February 2018, the web portal of the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) registered its 1000th user. This is a great achievement for the broader GNSS community and for the European GNSS Programmes (EGNOS and Galileo) in particular.

The GSC web portal entered into service in 2013 and, since then, it has received more than 175,000 visits from over 190 different countries around the globe. Every month over 20 new users register on the portal, bringing the current total to more than 1,000 registrations. The most downloaded document from the website is the Galileo IS OS Service Definition Document (SDD).

Read this: GSC showcased at First Galileo User Assembly

If you are not yet registered on the GSC site, we invite you to register so that, among other things, you will be able to subscribe to the Galileo service notifications (NAGUs) as well as gain access to the Galileo official Helpdesk.

GSC at a glance

Located in Madrid, the European GNSS Service Centre is an integral part of the European GNSS infrastructure. It provides a single interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS) and Commercial Service (CS) user communities and offers specific added-value services beyond the Galileo Signal-In-Space (SIS) transmitted by the operational satellites.

The GSC is conceived as a centre of expertise, knowledge sharing, custom performance assessment, and information dissemination. The GSC serves the user community through its web portal. This one-stop-shop portal provides Galileo users with relevant infor¬mation on the system’s status and easy access to the dedicated Helpdesk. In addition, an automatic alert system notifies registered users about events affecting the Galileo services.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).