Safety net falls

On 25 June, the UK withdrew from the EU’s EGNOS Safety of Life service and the EGNOS Working Agreements (EWAs), thereby losing the associated legal indemnity for users. There has been no change to the data transmitted by EGNOS satellites.

“The UK’s precipitous withdrawal from statutory agreements on the use of the European satellite overlay system EGNOS will adversely impact several transportation systems” warned Cynthia Robinson, president of the Royal Institute of Navigation.

She explained: “The recent withdrawal of the legal indemnity for aviation EGNOS use in the UK could ultimately affect ships, autonomous vehicles and Beyond-Visual-Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) drones as well, unless a replacement solution can be secured quickly.

“The shipping industry will need to consider appropriate solutions for UK waters as future maritime EGNOS Safety-of-Life services will no longer be made available to the UK in 2023. Possible future wider EGNOS V3 SoL services overlaying GPS and Galileo will also be denied to the UK.”

She concluded: “The Royal Institute of Navigation is working closely with the UK government on the implications of the loss of the EGNOS augmentation Safety of Life services, as well as advising on how best to build resilience, integrity and improved security into the positioning and navigation technologies that affect just about every aspect of our modern lives.”

By Rebecca Jeffrey