Discussing EGNOS for intelligent mobility
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The European GNSS Agency (GSA) organised a session to discuss EGNOS for road transport applications at ITS in Europe 2011 in Lyon, France. The panel included speakers from several EU-supported projects and was moderated by Edgar Thielmann, Head of EGNOS and Galileo Applications at the European Commission.
One of the lorries now fitted with EGNOS for tracking and tracing. ©Hywel JonesThe European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) improves the accuracy of satellite positioning by providing signals that correct GPS data and include information on their reliability.
Speaking at the 8th ITS European Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services in Lyon, France, Fiammetta Diani, Market Development Officer at the European GNSS Agency (GSA) said, “EGNOS has come a long way. Right now, in mid-2011, some of the leading service providers and operators have recognised EGNOS, and most new automotive receiver units are EGNOS-ready.”
Taking the next step towards wider use
Diani presented the EC-funded project "EGNOS-2-Road", which aims to evaluate the added value of EGNOS, based on user criteria. For example, test configurations are being tried on a new motorway from Livorno to Rome that will require tolling systems able to distinguish between parallel roads in close proximity to each other.
Other applications have been tested in Rome itself, such as enforcing limited traffic zones, urban pricing schemes, tracking and tracing for tourist coaches, parking management and city logistics. In some situations, the location system using the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS) drastically reduced errors compared to GPS alone, arriving at accuracy levels of within one metre.
The system was able to provide a ‘confidence level’ for a circle of radius 9-10m (meaning the system could guarantee the vehicle was situated within this circle) in both highway and urban environments. The final results, including technical, business and legal analysis from the EGNOS-2-Road project will be available in September 2011.
The GINA project, presented by Paolo Cerini, a Manager with the consultancy Bain and Company, has already completed a business plan analysis of GNSS for innovative road applications. The scenario analysed the business case for a European Electronic Tolling Service provider offering an electronic fee collection system with eCall services using EGNOS.
The business model is very encouraging, with good profitability, but it's a business for big players as it implies “a long break-even point”, with free cash flow (FCF) positive after six years and cumulative FCF positive after 10 years. According to the cost structure analysis, use of EGNOS would bring an improvement in performance and reliability while having an impact on cost of only 1%.
Furthermore, there are good business opportunities in extending the business model beyond toll collection through value-added services (VAS), such as fleet management or track and trace, although this would need detailed analysis for specific service providers.
EGNOS enables new innovative services
Some of these potential services were covered by Guy Fremont, Innovative Solutions Manager with SANEF, the French road operator. He presented SafeTRIP, a project focused on using satellites for two-way communications as well as GNSS positioning. The aim is to improve safety and mobility, including emergency handling and accident prevention.
Services to be tested include emergency calls (with video) and video monitoring of traffic conditions by patrol vehicles. The project is evaluating 19 technologies through 12 demo applications and services. Most of these are safety-related, but unexpectedly perhaps they also include two entertainment services for coach passengers, “as this can result in fewer distractions for the driver and therefore safer travel.”
Luisa Andreone of Fiat’s Centro Ricerche (CRF) focused more on the vision of vehicle manufacturers, as well as the CoVeL project, which is using EGNOS to provide navigation at lane level. This could be used to provide services such as lane navigation assistance and collision avoidance.
“Safe mobility needs EGNOS to complement vehicle sensors when establishing relative positioning to avoid collisions,” she said. “Active green driving, with dynamic optimisation of speed or route for fuel efficiency, will also need accurate positioning of the kind provided by EGNOS.”
As the demand for such services increases, the panel areed that the increased accuracy and reliability of positioning provided by EGNOS held great potential for growing the market for GNSS services in Europe.