Europe issues tender for GNSS high-accuracy evolution

Image: ESA

The European Commission (EC) is seeking help to build a roadmap for high-accuracy Galileo and EGNOS services.

The EC Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG-DEFIS) has issued an Invitation to Tender for a service contract to address how the future evolution of European GNSS (EGNSS) could be beneficial for innovative demanding applications.

The new service contract will assess the feasibility of an integrity service complementing EGNSS high accuracy in the 2030+ timeframe.

The new service contract will feed into the evolving needs of demanding new applications without disrupting the current business models of established service providers, according to the European GNSS Agency. The tender will assess various steps needed for the Galileo and EGNOS services to evolve.

A webinar to explain the framework and objectives of the procurement and the different tasks in the procurement is planned on September 23 at 16:00 CEST.

Emerging and next-generation applications will require more demanding positioning solutions to be able to offer innovative services. The use of an integrity service complementing European GNSS (EGNSS) High Accuracy in the 2030 horizon could result in the provision of an accurate and reliable positioning solution that would translate into the overall improvement of future innovative and demanding services.

As part of the services provided by Galileo, the Galileo High-Accuracy Service (HAS) will provide high-accuracy positioning and synchronization information, the EC said.

EGNOS version 3 will extend the service area to the entire landmasses of EU Member States. New EGNOS services could be implemented in further releases of EGNOS as an option for the integrity service complementing EGNSS High Accuracy.