EGNOS and Galileo moving forward

13 March 2009

Speakers from industry, science and governments around the world gathered in Munich from 3-5 March to discuss the state of the art in satellite navigation – and Europe’s Galileo and EGNOS systems.

The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit has established itself as an international conference dealing with the state of satellite navigation now and in the future. The opening session of the Summit's seventh year featured updates on Galileo and EGNOS, Europe’s global navigation satellite system (GNSS) programmes.

Fotis Karamitsos, Director of the Maritime Transport, Galileo & Intelligent Transport unit of the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, said the EU’s efforts in satellite navigation have accelerated rapidly over the past year.

Solid budget in place
In July 2008 a solid budgetary and legal base for Galileo and EGNOS was established with strong support from the European Parliament and Member States, he said. In parallel, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the procurement process for Galileo’s Full Operational Capability (FOC) on behalf of the European Commission.

In September 2008, the GNSS Committee adopted the initial work programme and in December, the Commission signed a Delegation Agreement with ESA for the deployment of Galileo’s full infrastructure.

In addition, the ownership of Galileo assets has been transferred to the European Community. The most crucial issue now is to complete the procurement process for all of Galileo’s infrastructure, Karamitsos said. Together with ESA, the Commission has completed the initial dialogue phase of the procurement process with the retained bidders.

The Commission has sent out refined technical specifications for the most time-critical work packages, in particular those for system engineering support, satellites and launchers. These specifications will be followed by ones for the ground control and mission segments, along with others for operations.

”If all goes well, we will be able to conclude the contracts for most of the work packages starting from the middle of the year,” Karamitsos said.

EGNOS developments
Meanwhile, EGNOS, which is currently operational, is at the stage where a contract for the replenishment of transponders is awaiting formal signature, thus ensuring the continuation of service for many years to come. The next important step for EGNOS will be to achieve certification for its use in aviation, Karamitsos said.

EGNOS augments and complements the US’ GPS system. In addition, EGNOS provides verification of the system’s integrity, a feature necessary to meet the demands of safety-critical applications in sectors such as aviation, maritime and emergency services.

Another important step for EGNOS will be the transfer of operational responsibility to the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP). The organisation was created to operate the EGNOS system and provide safety-of-life services to different user communities.

In parallel the Commission is promoting the use of precise positioning and timing data for a wide variety of applications and services. A call for proposals has been launched to cover uses of EGNOS that add value to economic and social activities.

“I already mentioned aviation, the primary application domain of EGNOS, but many other opportunities will be created for taking advantage of the signal in road or maritime transport, agriculture, just to name a few sectors,” Karamitsos said.

Budget for future development
This year’s activities are crucial for the implementation of the full Galileo configuration and the uptake of EGNOS. Preparations are also being made for the post-2013 period, he said.

The current five-year budgetary provision of €3.4 billion for Galileo and EGNOS ends in 2013. The GNSS regulation under which the allocation was made requires the Commission to propose options for the governance, financing and operation of the GNSS programmes after 2013.

“This work has to start this year,” Karamitsos said. “We intend to fully involve industry and of course our partners in the EU Member States in the assessment of the options.”

Next on the podium was ESA’s Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, who told participants he is confident that the right track has been found in establishing the Galileo and EGNOS systems.

“Success will be measured by the number of citizens who will use Galileo,” he said.

Updates on other GNSS systems
Other speakers provided updates on the state of the world’s satellite navigation systems. For example, Lt Col Harold Martin of the US Air Force Space Command spoke about the modernisation of his country’s Global Positioning System (GPS-III). Sergey Revnivykh, Deputy Head of Mission Control Centre in Moscow provided similar details about Russia’s GLONASS.

Dr. Jing Guifei, head of the navigation division of the National Remote Sensing Centre of China, spoke about the status of his country’s BEIDOU/COMPASS system. Satoshi Kogure, associate senior engineer with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency described his country’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

About 400 participants from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia attended the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2009, held at the Residenz München.

The Summit is part of the efforts of the Bavarian government and the cluster on aerospace and satellite navigation to stimulate applications and services in the high-tech field in the greater area around Munich, Germany.

More information:
Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2009