You are here

EGNOS Edutools

Development of advanced educational tools related to European Space Agency's EGNOS system

Development of educational tools for EGNOS

Project duration: 2008 to 2009

Project manager: Miroslav Houdek

The main objectives of the project were development of educational programmes, which nowadays help to easily understand EGNOS system and its principles and also functioning GNSS systems in general. The expertise in area of satellite navigation, which was very helpful when running the project, was gained by ISS through implementation of predecessing project called SISNeT. Part of the project was also running a monitoring station, which was included in of EGNOS Real-time Monitoring Network, and further broaden ISS participation in the network.

SBAS MeNTOR is software which logically follows the idea of SBAS TeACHER developed in previous SISNeT PECS project. Where the TeACHER enables users to modify contents of SBAS messages in visual way, the SBAS MeNTOR continues with enabling users to define the desired values and states of the whole SBAS (Space Based Augmentation System, e.g. EGNOS, WAAS) and let the software generate all the specific messages of the selected period. The same task could be achieved by TeACHER software, but it would take more time (in order of magnitude) and user would be responsible of linking the data together flawlessly, which is next to impossible.

The second tool is the SBAS Simulator, which is a type of system volume simulator. The SBAS Simulator is software that allows users to process given scenario and produce a prediction of the SBAS operation under those circumstances. Such tools already exist, but it is not possible to make them available to public for various licensing and non-free platform dependency reasons. This software tool was developed in Java and therefore available to user over Internet, regardless of their platform or location.The tool can compute values for a single point, for multiple points evenly spaced within a grid over a geographical area and plot them in easily readable way. The tool is very user friendly and provides all necessary user interface elements to setup up the simulation, view the results and store the graphical representation of those as an image.The tool is based on Java platform and could be executed from any java-enabled computer. It can be found here.

Iguassu Software Systems (ISS)

The company was established in 1994 and it is focused on high-tech solutions including real-time software development from industrial systems to satellite control and satellite navigation. Customers include the European Space Agency and its suppliers, Eumetsat, HP, Agilent, Ingersoll-Rand and Inter-American Development Bank. ISS is currently working on:

  • Parallel Data-Mining Components (prime Iguassu)
  • Real-time EGNOS Performance Monitoring (prime Iguassu)
  • Interference Monitoring System for GNSS Reference Stations (subcontractor of Astrium D)
  • Open-standard On-line Observation Services (subcontractor of EOX)

What would you name as main benefits of the project to you and your company?

“This project meant for ISS, in terms of length and volume of work, the biggest ESA project (team of three experts for period of two years) since we started work on ESA projects. This is in itself a new experience, however an enormous added-value was my personal experience as member of EGNOS Project Office team in Toulouse. I could see ‘a bigger picture’ of the whole EGNOS project and moreover, directly communicate evolving project requirements, which have been changing due to upcoming proceedings, with my colleagues in Prague.“