Egis awarded European Commission contract to advise on future uses of EGNOS in aviation

Within the scope of H2020*, a team lead by Egis and including Thales Alenia Space has been awarded a contract to analyse possible evolutions in future aviation services for EGNOS, Europe's satellite-based augmentation system. EGNOS is used to improve the performance of global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) and this project will address the long-term evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the V3 Service Releases currently defined.

The project team will investigate three specific focus areas identified by the European Commission:

1. Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;
2. Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;
3. Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by improving the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The twelve-month contract will deliver analysis of operational user needs, safety risk assessments and cost benefit analyses. An important part of the work will be defining the underlying issues and trends that will influence developments beyond 2025.

Egis BU Aviation Service Line director, Thierry Arino said: "Our team is working closely with partners DSNA (Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne) and ESSP (European Satellite Services Provider), who will provide technical inputs and valuable user perspectives. The aim is to answer questions about technical feasibility, viable business models and the optimum implementation timeline. Ultimately the European Commission should have the necessary elements to support their decision-making process regarding potential new services based on the EGNOS system beyond V3."