EU's satellite system
to fi ne-tune GPS
The European Union launched a free
satellite navigation network that could
help pilots, drivers and blind people
by fi ne-tuning the accuracy of the US
GPS to around 2 meters. The EGNOS
system will use three satellites and 34
ground stations to narrow the horizontal
accuracy of GPS from around 7 meters
previously and improve its vertical
accuracy to help pilots during landings.
Farmers could also benefi t from improved
precision for spraying fertilizers, and new
applications could emerge on roads, such
as automatic tolling and pay-per-use car
insurance. The system was pioneered by
the Commission, the European Space
Agency and aviation safety authority
Eurocontrol. www.reuters.com
EGNOS Open Service
Operational Capability
The European Commission (EC) expects to
declare operational use of the Open Service
of the European Geostationary Navigation
Overlay Service (EGNOS) in October,
marking the start of its exploitation phase.
This milestone signals the maturity of
the development and qualifi cation of
EGNOS. For several months, EGNOS
has demonstrated excellent signal quality
throughout Europe, with augmentation
of GPS reaching accuracies of 1 to 2
meters at an availability level greater than
99%, according to the EC. The EC will
state upon Open Service availability in
October that this level of performance
is available, that it is here to stay for the
long term, and that it can be used for
free. The service is accessible to any user
equipped with a GPS/SBAS compatible
receiver within the EGNOS Open
Service area in Europe. No authorization
or receiver- specific certification is
required. This opens the doors for
receiver manufacturers and for application
developers to benefit from the performance
improvements offered by EGNOS, at
no additional cost. www.ec.europa.eu
GIOVE-A satellite orbit raised
GIOVE-A, the fi rst Galileo test satellite
in orbit, has been moved to a higher
orbit to ensure that it does not cross the
operational Galileo constellation's orbits
for more than 100 years. Launched on 28
December 2005 from Baikonur, with an
expected lifetime of two years, GIOVE-A
is still in perfect condition after almost
four years in space. During that time, it
has achieved all of its objectives. It has
validated key technologies, such as the
new rubidium clocks, and all elements
are working largely as expected. It has
secured the Galileo frequency fi lings with
the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), facilitated the experimental
reception of navigation signals from
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) - using two
transmission channels in parallel - and
transmitted data to characterise the MEO
environment using two different radiationmonitoring
instruments. www.esa.int
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