European Navigation Inc

[Clinio Lofton]

ProfTerry Moore, president of EUGIN, and Bart Banning, president of the NIN, welcomed participants to the European Navigation Conference, ENC, and expressed their happiness at having everyone present in person.

The opening day also included the signing of a number of key industrial contracts to support ESA as system prime for the development of Galileo Second Generation, which will bring enhanced capabilities and enable new navigation services.

Mark Harbers, Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, emphasised the need for resilient navigation systems. In particular, satellite based PNT has become indispensable in the daily lives of most Europeans, part of the lifeblood of our society. Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GNSS, are set to continue to grow, with 10 billion receivers operational worldwide by 2031. They are critical to the flow of people and goods by air, sea, and land.

Next up was the panel on Galileo Second Generation, where an update was given by ESA and all industrial prime contractors on the development and building of the system, which is now entering its full development phase.

The European Navigation Conference lasted three days in all with many resilient-PNT related topics being discussed, including new high precision GNSS based services such as Precise Point Positioning and the Galileo High Accuracy Service, Artificial Intelligence, LEO PNT, lunar navigation and exploration and maritime/aviation applications.

USSF Lt. Col. Robert Wray representing the U.S. Space Force at the European Navigation Conference in Noordwijk, Netherlands. Wray's keynote speech at the conference focused on the importance of the Global Positioning System and the Space Force's role in maintaining and operating it. USSF's attendance at navigation events helps build international partnerships and share knowledge of GPS. (U.S. Space Force photo)

The European Space Agency has its own navigation system, the Galileo constellation, controlled by civilians and solely for civilian use. GPS is operated primarily by military members and has specific signals and tactics designed to support American, allied and partner military capabilities.

After his speech, Wray fielded questions, including why the USSF operates GPS versus a civil entity. Wray explained that the military builds, launches and operates GPS because of its importance to American and global society, and that the United States ensures all necessary resources are prioritized towards the protection and assurance of precision navigation and timing.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the next European Navigation Conference will take place from 21-24 May 2024 at ESA ESTEC in The Netherlands. Building on a very successful event in 2023, ENC2024 will be brought to you as a collaboration led by RIN, with support from the Netherlands Institute of Navigation and across the European Group of Institutes of Navigation (EUGIN).

The central role the ESTEC facility plays in European navigation missions and innovation makes such a fitting venue for the ENC. We would like to thank the European Space Agency (ESA) for their continued support in extending the opportunity to meet again at ESTEC in Noordwijk for ENC2024.

Overall navigation system resilience requires the vulnerabilities of not only the core systems but also those of associated systems and data to also be addressed, including mapping information, related databases, routing/path definition, guidance and control.

This will be a broad and inter-disciplinary conference for every professional with an interest in the fields of positioning, navigation and timing: scientists, technicians, policy makers, and above all, users.

The Royal Institute of Navigation is a learned society and a professional body for navigation whose vision is to be an inclusive group of diverse disciplines working together for a more navigable world.

Practically, there are also many NDBs in instrument approaches (obviously one would use a GPS in the OBS mode, but that isn't the point) yet no European country (except possibly Switzerland, from some digging I did a few years ago) has a US-style GPS/ADF substitution concession.

Last I looked, Canada and Greenland also required ADF. But no one has objected to me flying with only a GPS. In both those places, IFR is mostly in uncontrolled airspace (below 24,000 feet) - excepting the approaches of course - and no one much appears to care how we navigate those so long as we are successful. And being successful is much more likely with a GPS, in my opinion.

Germany does not require an ADF unless you are planning to conduct an NDB approach. However, Germany does require a DME for all aircraft in its airspace under IFR, no matter what approach they are planning conduct. This rule is being violated all the time (by N-regs) but I have never heard about it actually being enforced. Still it's risky, the fines are high and you do get ramp-checked every now and then.

It's more than that. If GPS was allowed as the sole source of navigation, a foreign country could flip a switch and ground all civil aircraft in Europe. That is not desired from a strategic point of view.

Not just N-regs. Loads of people fly around with just a GNS430 (etc), especially in UK Class G, and then, when they get an IR, flying IFR everywhere is just.... hey! .... a Eurocontrol flight plan away

This is a long debate I know but IMHO there is absolutely NO possible scenario in which the USA would turn off its GPS (and suffer instant and massive economic damage as a result) but Europe would not switch off theirs.

G Bush once said (IIRC) that the USA would shoot down Galileo satellites if the USA came under missile attack, and frankly that is exactly what I would do too. IMHO, it is completely inconceivable that Europe has not done a secret "understanding" with the USA to turn off Galileo if there was such a scenario, and anyway if some country is shooting missiles at the USA they will be (or will soon be) doing the same to Europe.

I think the USA turning it off is by far the least likely scenario. The thinking behind Galileo is IMHO European political empire building. I haven't looked at the website but only a couple of years ago they were making totally wild claims of creating 100k jobs, etc.

Maybe they will find ways of making Galileo chargeable in some way, but with NAVSTAR covering all known business (including surveying, using DGPS etc) free of charge I don't see what niches are left. They would have to create chargeable scenarios by legal means i.e. banning the use of NAVSTAR for certain things, but what could they be? LPV (NAVSTAR+EGNOS) is already coming in and will be well established in Europe by the time the Galileo constellation is fully functional. Can one imagine the EU doing a law banning these approaches, forcing Garmin/Jepp etc to depublish/republish existing ones and implement some kind of taxation scheme, collecting revenues for Brussels? I can't.

What is left is presumably road charging, using equipment required by law and required to use Galileo only, but hanging that on Galileo is nothing to do with the road charging itself so why bother? Road charging may well come in (with electric vehicles being very very cheap to run).

I've never heard about it, let me see if I can find an example. Most ramp checks focus on documents, flight planning, weight and balance. The people doing those checks are usually not experts in airplane equipment and IFR mandatory instrumentation. If I was asked about my DME and didn't have one, I would point to my Aspen and say it's integrated in that box.

Still, there is a political goal of self sufficient infrastructure. There's some value to it. The US of A of today can be very different from the same country in a few decades. The political decision to create Galileo was taken so it has to be executed and making sure it gets adopted is part of that. I predict that "charging" aspect will disappear.

LPV (NAVSTAR+EGNOS) is already coming in and will be well established in Europe by the time the Galileo constellation is fully functional. Can one imagine the EU doing a law banning these approaches, forcing Garmin/Jepp etc to depublish/republish existing ones and implement some kind of taxation scheme, collecting revenues for Brussels? I can't.

Once Galileo is operational, they can require LPV receivers to use the Galileo signal as of a certain date. That would not change anything about LPV and EGNOS (which is the core of LPV) is unrelated to GPS. When Russia had GLONASS up and running, they introduced a law prohibiting the import of GPS receivers that did not support GLONASS.

Good Morning. As an American, I am contemplating a new plane, the Cessna JTA, and may have an interest in flying it to Europe, et al and was wondering if it might be advisable to get the ADF option installed. And I thank Peter for introducing me to your site where I can learn more about Europe GA.

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