EGNOS

What is EGNOS?

• The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service is a satellite based augmentation system (SBAS) developed by the European Space Agency, the European Commission, and EUROCONTROL to supplement the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo systems by reporting on the reliability and accuracy of their signals.

 

How does EGNOS work?

• Similar to WAAS, the EGNOS system consists of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations.
• More than 40 ground stations are linked together to create the EGNOS network consisting of:
  • 34 RIMS (Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Stations) - receiving signals from US GPS satellites,
  • 4 MCC (Mission Control Centers) - data processing and differential corrections counting,
  • 6 NLES (Navigation Land Earth Stations) - accuracy and reliability data sending to three geostationary satellite transponders to allow end-user devices to receive them.

EGNOS coverage

• EGNOS coverage currently extends to parts of Europe and Africa.

Do I need EGNOS?

• Unless you will be piloting an aircraft over Europe any time soon, probably not. However, if your Garmin GPSr is EGNOS enabled, you can still use EGNOS to more accurately plot your position on Earth, so why not? Besides, you didn't buy a GPS receiver because you thought paper maps and a compass were 'close enough', now did you?

EGNOS Satellite Map

• PRN is the satellites actual Psuedo-Random Noise code.
• NMEA is the satellite number referenced by some GPS receivers (NMEA = PRN - 87).