Italy Hosts Europe's First Satellite Navigation Control Centre

GPS NEWS

EGNOS

Ciampino (ESA) Jul 07, 2004
Italy takes on a prominent role in European satellite navigation with the opening on 13 July of a master control centre for EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), the first European satellite navigation system, at the air traffic control centre in Ciampino, near Rome, operated by ENAV, the Italian agency for air navigation services. EGNOS is the precursor to Galileo, the full global satellite navigation system under development in Europe. When completed at the end of this year, EGNOS will consist of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations (nearly 40 will be deployed).

These stations will transmit information on the reliability and accuracy of the positioning signals sent out by the systems currently in operation, the US GPS and the Russian GLONASS. EGNOS will allow users in Europe and beyond to determine their position within 2 m, compared to about 20 m with GPS.

After certification, EGNOS will be used for safety-critical applications such as flying aircraft or navigating ships through narrow channels. There will also be many mass-market applications, such as car navigation or bus and truck fleet management, and professional or specific uses, like assistance to blind pedestrians.

The new master control centre in Ciampino is now ready to be operated, along with four facilities deployed in Italy:

two ranging and integrity monitoring stations, located in Ciampino and in Catania, Sicily, to pick up GPS signals and deliver them to the control centres for processing, and two �navigation land earth stations�, one in Fucino and the other in Scanzano in Sicily, to send EGNOS processed signals to the geostationary satellites, which then relay them back to users� receivers.

Other EGNOS facilities deployed so far include two more master control centres, at the German air traffic control centre in Langen, near Frankfurt, and the Spanish air traffic control centre in Torrej�n, near Madrid, plus a network of stations across Europe.

With the EGNOS system, Europe transmits a positioning signal through its own network, and receivers can now track it. The Italian facilities are now reinforcing this first step for Europe in satellite navigation, paving the way for Galileo.

EGNOS is a joint project of the European Space Agency, the European Commission and Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.

GPS NEWS

Commission Adopts New Galileo Communication

Brussels - Feb 27, 2004
The European Commission adopted a Communication on the Galileo research programme on February 18 2004. Aimed at creating a satellite radionavigation system, the programme, says the report, is making steady progress.

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