Page 51: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q4 2016)

50 52

Safety and security can be greatly enhanced if businesses are encouraged to use robust and reliable real-time track- ing & tracing of their shipments of dangerous goods. The newly available ‘precise information’ regarding the status of a certain dangerous material, and of potentially dangerous events that occur which currently go unnoticed, represents fertile ground for many operational and relational improvements in business. s.

At the same time, crucial pieces of data can be provided to regulators that are responsible for public security.

very year, the transportation of dangerous goods amounts plications like surveying.

to approximately 150 billion tonne-km on European • EGNOS Safety-of-life Service (SoL) is authorized for

E roads, railways and inland waterways. The safety and se- European civil aviation and has been operational since curity of operations are common concerns and as such, local- March 2011. EGNOS SoL delivers the integrity message ization and tracking technology can help by enabling the con- providing the veri? cation of the GPS system and timely tinuous reliable control and monitoring of dangerous goods warnings (within six seconds), when the system or its data traf? c during transport and the collection of data to be further should not be used for navigation. This feature means that analyzed for statistical reporting and incident prevention. EGNOS is able to meet the demands of safety-critical ap-

Traceability and monitoring are therefore key elements both plications in sectors such as aviation.

for intelligent and ef? cient transport logistics, and for ensur- • EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS) launched in 2012, ing safety and security in the dangerous goods’ supply chain. delivers a terrestrial commercial data service. It consists of a server that gets the data directly from the EGNOS system

State of Play: where Europe is and disseminates via terrestrial networks in real time, with-

Tracking and tracing solutions which are widely adopted in guaranteed maximum delay, security and performance. for the transport of dangerous goods are largely based on the EDAS is particularly suitable for professional applications. use of devices using satellite navigation technologies (GNSS /

Global Navigation Satellite Systems, primarily GPS) for local- EGNOS augments the GPS signal. It provides more precise ization and different telecommunication means for data trans- positioning services (up to 3-4 meters) and in addition, it gives mission (satellite and/or terrestrial). These devices are installed users information on the reliability of the GPS signals, rein- on board the freight vehicle or on the asset, and can integrate forcing data integrity. sensors (primarily based on the use of Radio Frequency Iden- Conceived for the aviation needs, EGNOS has interesting ti? cation technologies) to enable the monitoring of the status perspectives of utilization in other markets. EGNOS OS and of the goods. EDAS are suitable for the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)

Stakeholders agree that reliability is a fundamental require- sector, particularly for those applications requiring accurate ment for monitoring the transport of dangerous goods. This and reliable positioning. The receivers available today on the is where the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems market and integrated within operational systems/tracking de- (EGNSS), for example, the European Geostationary Naviga- vices are EGNOS-enabled. ITS is a combination of Informa- tion Overlay Service (EGNOS), can play a signi? cant role. tion Technology and telecommunications, allowing the provi-

EGNOS provides three services: sion of information and services for transport and mobility applications, in all areas of public and private administration.

• EGNOS Open Service (OS), launched in 2009, is de- Software solutions and technologies are needed to utilize livered free of charge. It is open for use to anyone with an EDAS, and build/offer commercial value added services exploit-

EGNOS-enabled receiver. This can be any receiver com- ing EGNOS features. Figure 1 presents one of the outcomes of patible with satellite-based augmentation systems. Being extensive trials conducted in various road environments.

based on GPS, the EGNOS signal does not require major Users of the EGNOS OS are able to enhance the accuracy changes for receivers. Today, many mass market receivers of the position measured with GPS by approximately three available on the market are also EGNOS enabled. EGNOS meters. EDAS could bring further enhancements by approxi-

OS is particularly suitable for mass market and some ap- mately four meters. Moreover, the use of EDAS provides in- www.maritimelogisticsprofessional.com 51I 50-63 Q4 MP2016.indd 51 11/9/2016 11:35:25 AM