OEGNOS 2 - Austrian EGNOS Data Server

The accuracy of satellite based position determination and navigation can be improved significantly using miscellaneous correction processes, like terrestrial differential services (DGNSS) or Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS). The European contribution to SBAS, the European Geostatio- nary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), became operational in October 2009, when the European Commission launched EGNOS open service that offers free access service to citizens and business.

The potential of the EGNOS service, however, can not be fully exploited within the Alps, since the satellite signal is shaded in many cases by topo- graphy. Furthermore, EGNOS accounts for ionospheric effects on a European scale, but cannot reflect local ionospheric conditions and does not take tropospheric conditions into account.

The Austrian EGNOS data server (OEGNOS) provides an EGNOS correction data service especially tailored to these requirements. Local weather station used for atmospheric To improve deficiencies due to correction the local atmospheric conditions, local meteorological parameters, derived from real measurements, are integrated into the EGNOS corrections.

Therefore, the EGNOS correction data-stream is decoded, supplemented by the computed local ionospheric and tropospheric corrections, encoded into a RTCM format and provided to users via an authenticated terrestrial communication connection. Consequently, the service availability increases due to the application of terrestrial communication while at the same time off-the-shelf receivers can be used without the need for special software updates. Local tropospheric corrections are based on the measurements of the local weather station at the University Centre of Rottenmann. Alternatively data of a national meteorological data centre could be used.

Due to the improved absolute accuracy of the single point positioning new application areas arise (e.g., agrarian area determination, special inland waterway navigation applications), which cannot be covered by conventional GPS/EGNOS positioning in Austria. Furthermore, the OEGNOS service will provide a service level (e.g., integrity), which is generally not provided by DGNSS.

The first version of this service for test and demonstration purposes covers a local area in the surroundings of Rottenmann (Styria). Rottenmann was chosen because of an existing GNSS reference station, which is used for testing purposes, and a polymorphic area (valley, mountain, rural, urban).

Coordinator

TeleConsult Austria GmbH - Elmar Wasle

Partners

• University Centre of Rottenmann - Klaus Aichhorn
• Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute - Walter Hausleitner
• Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics - Prof. Robert Weber

TCA - TeleConsult Austria GmbH
Elmar Wasle
Schwarzbauerweg 3
A-8043 Graz
Tel.: +43 (316) 890971 - 13
E-mail: ewasle@teleconsult-austria.at
Web: www.teleconsult-austria.at