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General questions on EGNOS.

 

Answers

 

 
EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, is the European SBAS and has been deployed to provide regional satellite-based augmentation services to aviation, maritime and land-based users in Europe. EGNOS is the first step in the European Satellite Navigation strategy that leads to Galileo, the future European satellite navigation system that will complement GPS.

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The European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP-SAS) is the central coordinator and the end-to-end responsible of the EGNOS operation and service provision. The ESSP-SAS is responsible for EGNOS Signal and Data Provision including operations management of the system infrastructure and operations teams for matters such as coordination and planning, first and second line maintenance activities, operations user interface and interface to industrial teams for third line maintenance activities.

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  • ESSP : EGNOS services provider
  • European Commission : Programme Manager and system owner.
  • European Space Agency : Delegated Design and Procurement Agent, intermediary between the Commission and industry for the development of new EGNOS system releases
  • Thales Alenia Space : industrial prime contractor
  • GSA : market development and management of FP7 funds to promote and accelerate EGNOS adoption
  • Eurocontrol: supports the development and implementation of EGNOS approach procedures. Has developed a NOTAM tool and web-based interface for EGNOS availability forecasts, provides aviation user requirements and monitors the performance of the deployed system
  • EASA : certifies EGNOS-enabled receivers and, in the future, the EGNOS services provider

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EGNOS is a public utility and is intended to be free of direct user charges, like WAAS in the US. EGNOS will continue to exist even after Galileo has become operational. In fact, EGNOS will augment not only GPS but also Galileo.

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    There is a disclaimer stating that the Open Service is provided without service guarantees and associated liability. There is no certification of Open Service or its applications, it is offered for free to the user without any direct relationship with the provider and therefore the user retains the primary responsibility to assess when and how (i.e. alone or with other means of navigation) EGNOS should be used to best meet his needs. This disclaimer is necessary for legal reasons, to clarify the extent of the European Commission and/or the service provider liability in case of damages caused by reduced performance or signal interruption. It does not by any means reduce the European Commission's and the service provider's commitment to provide the highest possible accuracy and availability of the signal. For reference, many other widely used products and services also come without any guarantee and liability for similar reasons and that is also the case of GPS.

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    EGNOS is very similar to WAAS and fully interoperable with WAAS i.e. aircraft equipped with a WAAS-enabled receiver are able to use EGNOS. EGNOS is also interoperable with the Japanese MSAS.

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Satellite Name

PRN Number

Satellite Location (Longitude)

NMEA Number (Gamin receivers)

Inmarsat-3 AOR-E

PRN 120

15.5° W

33

ESA-Artemis

PRN 124

21.5° E

37

Inmarsat-3 IOR-W

PRN 126

25.0°E

39

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    Yes, EGNOS can be used for personal navigation in Europe, providing greater precision than when using the GPS signal alone. The receiver must be labelled as WAAS or EGNOS enabled. Additionally, in some enabled receivers the use of EGNOS corrections have to be manually activated

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    In order to centralize the user questions related to EGNOS and its applications, the ESSP operates a dedicated helpdesk service that among other topics, addresses questions such as:
  • General questions on EGNOS services
  • EGNOS coverage and performances
  • Support to EDAS users
  • Anomalies reporting
  • EGNOS program

    • The EGNOS Helpdesk may be contacted at egnos-helpdesk@essp-sas.eu

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