EU makes precursor Galileo navigation system available to the public

The EU on Thursday opened the European Global Navigation Overlay System to general use. With satellites and ground stations, the system can improve the accuracy of GPS from ten to two meters.

EGNOS uses three geostationary satellites, about 40 ground stations and four control centers. There is currently coverage in Western Europe, but this could be extended to Eastern Europe and North Africa, if reports EETimes. Incidentally, the satellites are not used exclusively for EGNOS. Two are in use by Inmarsat, while a third is the Artemis communications satellite, a joint project of the EU and Japan.

The signals can be picked up by GPS receivers with special software. The use is free. Experts expect that the improved accuracy will lead to many new applications in aerospace, agriculture and traffic. EGNOS is managed by a consortium consisting of the EU, the European Space Agency (ESA) and European air traffic control Eurocontrol. The system is the predecessor of the fully European navigation system Galileo, which should become operational in 2014.