Comparison between IALA Beacon DGPS and EGNOS positioning performance in the transition area between Poland and Germany

Abstract

Although not recognised by all mariners, nowadays European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) provides a powerful Europe-wide usable Global Positioning System (GPS) augmentation system, which can support ship navigation with position accuracies of up to a few meters and additional integrity information. This paper shows the results of a comparative study between the EGNOS Open Service and the IALA Beacon differential GPS. It is based on a measurement campaign of 62 days in the Baltic Sea, mainly in the transition zone between a German and Polish IALA Beacon station. Results indicate that both EGNOS and IALA Beacon services provide the mariner within their service area with highly accurate augmentation data, so that it is possible for them to obtain horizontal positions with accuracies better than 1 m for EGNOS and 3 m for IALA Beacon (95 % criteria) independently from nautical tasks and environmental conditions. It is also shown how unintentional man-made interferences of the broadcasting channel can reduce the IALA Beacon performance significantly.