European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service

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EGNOS logo

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite navigation system under development by the European Space Agency, the European Commission and EUROCONTROL. It is intended to supplement the GPS and GLONASS systems by reporting on the reliability and accuracy of the signals. According to specifications, horizontal position accuracy should be better than 7 meters. In practice, the horizontal position accuracy is at the meter level. It will consist of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations. The system started its inital operations in July 2005, showing outstanding performances in terms of accuracy (less than 2 metres) and availability (above 99%); it is intended to be certified for use in safety of life applications in 2008. EGNOS is the first stepping stone towards the European Galileo global positioning system.

Similar service is provided in North America by the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), and in Asia, notably Japan, by the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS).

On July 28, 2005, it was announced a contract for EGNOS operations from the European Space Agency with an operating company, European Satellite Services Provider.

As of July 2005 EGNOS has been broadcasting a continuous signal, and at the end of that month the system was again used to track cyclists in the Tour de France road race [1].