my apologies for cross-posting
I hope this is of interest.
james
The Commission proposes integrating the EGNOS and GALILEO programmes
The Commission proposes integrating the EGNOS and GALILEO programmes
The Commission today adopted a proposal aimed at integrating the EGNOS
programme into the GALILEO programme. As stressed by Loyola de Palacio,
Commission Vice-President, "the EGNOS system demonstrates Europe's
capability as regards offering a satellite radionavigation system. This
system, which will improve the service offered by the GPS satellites, will
facilitate market penetration by GALILEO thanks to the rapid development of
a large number of satellite navigation applications, in particular in
transport, agriculture, fisheries and telecommunications." Apart from the
technical coming-together of these two programmes, the Commission is
proposing to place the EGNOS programme under the supervision of the GALILEO
Joint Undertaking as of now.
1. The EGNOS programme
The development of the EGNOS programme was decided upon by the Council in
1994. It is based on a tripartite agreement between the European Community,
represented by the European Commission (EC), the European Space Agency and
Eurocontrol.
EGNOS stands for "European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service" It
makes it possible to offer now services similar to those that will be
offered in the future by GALILEO, in particular through the transmission of
an integrity message. It is, however, dependent on the GPS system. It is
composed of several navigation payloads installed in geostationary
satellites and a ground network of 34 positioning stations and four control
centres, all interconnected.
EGNOS is the first phase of the European Union's policy on a global
navigation satellite system, the second phase being the Galileo programme
and the launch of a new constellation of radionavigation satellites. EGNOS,
which should be fully operational in 2004, is also Europe's contribution to
the international satellite radionavigation system devised by the
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
2. The benefits of EGNOS
With EGNOS, Europe is offering satellite navigation services which are
vastly superior to any service relying solely on GPS signals. EGNOS provides
substantial added value compared with the ordinary GPS system, because it:
improves the accuracy of positioning and increases the reliability of the
positioning information, supplementing the GPS signals with signals from
three separate geostationary satellites;
offers superior reception in certain places, because additional satellites
are used;
will provide the user with information about the reliability of the system
by transmitting integrity messages within six seconds whenever the quality
of the signals received falls below certain thresholds.
In addition, EGNOS transmits a Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) signal that
is invaluable to the scientific community and the financial sector.
Moreover, EGNOS contributes significantly to the success of GALILEO by
acting as a precursor. It will facilitate GALILEO's entry into service by
greatly increasing satellite navigation applications and contributing to the
completion of the necessary certification and approval procedures. In
addition to the development of a European satellite navigation technology
resulting from the EGNOS programme, the study carried out by
PricewaterhouseCoopers confirms the significant savings on the operating
costs of the future GALILEO system. A single figure suffices to illustrate
the benefits of EGNOS: as a result of EGNOS, the net present value of
revenue generated by GALILEO should increase by EUR 166 million. Lastly,
EGNOS is the European vector for penetrating European markets, at a time
when the equivalent American system (WAAS) is already present on several
markets.
3. Integration of EGNOS into GALILEO
The integration of EGNOS into GALILEO does not pose any specific problems.
On the institutional level, integrating the management of the EGNOS and
GALILEO programmes into a single entity will be the best solution to ensure
optimum complementarity. The Commission therefore proposes placing the EGNOS
programme under the supervision of the GALILEO Joint Undertaking and to give
this undertaking the task of:
supervising the operation of EGNOS after the Operational Readiness Review is
completed in June 2004,
launching, as soon as possible, calls for tenders in order to conclude a
concession agreement with an economic operator to operate EGNOS from June
2004.
Additional information about the GALILEO programme is available on the
following website:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_en.htm
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