WAAS (again)...

Does anyone know whether WAAS is working in the UK yet?

My GPS seems to think that it is, and is giving small very small error / high accuracy figures (i.e. today was giving accuracies of within 7ft when stationary, and 9ft @ 36kts) - which if its true, is quite impressive.

D...

I get about 15ft accuracy without WAAS, and about 75ft accuracy with it turned on - unless I've missed something somewhere, it can't be working right :eh:

-Alex

Last I heard it was supposed to be on.

I get around 6-9ft accuracy with WAAS switched on. They are still in test phases so they won't guarentee the signal will always be there, but I haven't noticed it drop yet.

You useless *** Pettal.....


"Who benefits from WAAS?

Currently, WAAS satellite coverage is only available in North America. There are no ground reference stations in South America, so even though GPS users there can receive WAAS, the signal has not been corrected and thus would not improve the accuracy of their unit. For some users in the U.S., the position of the satellites over the equator makes it difficult to receive the signals when trees or mountains obstruct the view of the horizon. WAAS signal reception is ideal for open land and marine applications. WAAS provides extended coverage both inland and offshore compared to the land-based DGPS (differential GPS) system. Another benefit of WAAS is that it does not require additional receiving equipment, while DGPS does.

Other governments are developing similar satellite-based differential systems. In Asia, it's the Japanese Multi-Functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), while Europe has the Euro Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). Eventually, GPS users around the world will have access to precise position data using these and other compatible "


Jonathan

Jonathan,

I've seen that document before (there has been a thread on it previously and I think its on there) - but surely at some point it will be available!! Does the document you quote have a date - either of when the doc was published, or when we are supposed to get WAAS in Europe?

I've only recently noticed that the GPS says it is "Using WAAS", and what appears to be an increase in accuracy. I am merely curious!!

Dylan...

Jonathan,

I've seen that document before (there has been a thread on it previously and I think its on there) - but surely at some point it will be available!! Does the document you quote have a date - either of when the doc was published, or when we are supposed to get WAAS in Europe?


Dylan...

Hi Dylan - quote comes from Garmin- also same story from web search.
Look at the latter half-- WAAS as such,- will be a different european thing..
But speaking for myself - garmin chartplotter- 2010c - accuracy is +/- 3 meters. -which aint too bad.............and for an appalling navigator like me
its good enough
regards
Jonathan

You useless *** Pettal.....

Don't be a knob all your life Jonathan. :sick:

The european version is called EGNOS (as in the old article you've managed to dig up) and is currently transmitting and working although it is still in test phase.

I've posted plenty of material on this subject within this section of the boards. Maybe some bedtime reading would be in order?

FYI (This was the last announcement I received)

Dear ESTB/EGNOS User, please note the following ESTB News:

ESA announces the continuation of ESTB service provision
Since 2001, the European Space Agency has developed and operated the EGNOS Test Bed (ESTB) as an early prototype for the EGNOS system. EGNOS will provide a geostationary overlay service over Europe for the navigation signals provided by the American Global Positioning System, called GPS.

The operation of the ESTB over the past years provided, with a remarkable level of availability, EGNOS like signals that supported European industry and service providers in their early development of GNSS-based technologies and applications – not least in their preparation for the advent of Galileo. It appeared that a wide range of users in a variety of transport domains progressively became used to the availability of this ESTB service, and already incorporated it in their applications. In particular some farming applications already integrated these EGNOS like signals and data in their everyday activities. This is very encouraging and confirms the promising GNSS market potential.

As per initial plans, the ESTB services were discontinued on 27th May 2005, when the geostationary Inmarsat III satellite (IOR-E, PRN131), used for the ESTB transmissions, was switched off by Inmarsat. The EGNOS system currently starting its initial operations, most ESTB users could now rely on the EGNOS signal transmission on Artemis, PRN 124 (Inmarsat IOR-W, PRN 126 remained used for EGNOS tests purposes and may have signal interruptions). However it appeared that the discontinuation of the ESTB signals triggered concerns from some specific users: Indeed the ESTB is providing a specific message type (MT0/2) that is used by some specific receivers, and this specific message type will be provided by the EGNOS System only in early 2006. To ensure this specific user community with a smooth transition to equivalent EGNOS service, ESA and European Commission therefore decided to resume ESTB transmissions as soon as possible by sharing the GEO resources between ESTB and EGNOS systems over the coming months.

The users equipped with receivers needing MT0/2 will therefore be provided with continued ESTB transmission via Inmarsat-3 AOR-E satellite with PRN 120 from today. The EGNOS Initial Operations will use ESA Satellite Artemis on PRN 124, but without MT 0/2 until early 2006. Should a resource conflict be faced, ESTB users must however be warned that the EGNOS Initial Operations with take precedence and may result in discontinuation of the ESTB transmissions at short notice.


Funnily enough my GPS seems to be working rather well with the EGNOS signals although it takes sometime to download the catalogue initially it only does this once and just takes updates after the initial download. Most EGNOS/WAAS GPS's show the connection as a "D" on their satellite page as well as big wording saying "Using WAAS".

I'd imagine even you could find it Jonathan......if you managed to dislodge your head for a minute or two!? :sick: