EGNOS Safety of Life (SoL) Service
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What is the EGNOS SoL Service?
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What does it do?
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Where is it used?
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EUSPA's role
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Facts & Figures
What is the EGNOS SoL Service?
The EGNOS Safety of Life (SoL) Service offers reliable and more precise GNSS signals.
Launch
Sectors
Purpose
What does it do?
The EGNOS SoL Service is mainly designed for civil aviation. Specifically, it enables such applications as localiser performance with vertical guidance (LPV) operations, which allow equipped aircraft to perform precision approaches down to 200 feet.
To achieve this, the service uses a combination of:
Where is it used?
The EGNOS SoL Service enhances aviation safety by enabling aircraft to make precision approaches with vertical guidance. In doing so, it helps reduce delays, diversions, and cancellations while also lowering operational costs.
Improved landing at smaller airports by enabling Localiser Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) approach procedures where ground-based navigation aids might not be available or feasible.
In larger airports it adds increased capability, flexibility, and serves as a reliable backup if ground-based systems fail, being a more cost-effective navigation option than legacy ground-based navigation aids.
Decreases environmental impact, thanks to lower fuel consumption.
Reduces noise levels around the airport area.
EGNOS SoL is also used in:
Maritime - a specialised Safety of Life Service Assisted for Maritime Users (ESMAS).
EUSPA’s role
EUSPA operates, improves, promotes, and ensures the robustness of the EGNOS Safety of Life (SoL) Service:
- Manages and promotes the use of EGNOS SoL in various sectors.
- Ensures the service meets stringent safety, security and performance standards (e.g. ICAO standards).
- Maintains and improves the EGNOS system as Design and Production Organisation.
Facts & Figures
- EGNOS SoL makes aviation safer. By enabling LPV operations, it allows aircraft to perform precision approaches down to 200 feet (or 60 meters), for pilots to evaluate if the visibility is good enough to continue the landing process.
- There are currently over 1,000 LPV runway approaches across Europe, an increase of more than 40% in the last four years.
- With LPV approaches, aircraft can land at airports where traditional ground-based equipment might not be available, such as small airports and those in rural areas.
- LPV approaches help pilots access airports even in poor weather conditions, which results in fewer delays and cancellations.
- These optimised flight routes have an environmental benefit too, as they can reduce CO2 emissions.