South Africa closer to setting up an SBAS

On 26 and 27 September Pretoria hosted the final meeting of the SATSA project (SBAS Awareness and Training for South Africa), presenting the results, final conclusions and future working lines of the program.

A GMV-led, FP7-funded project under the aegis of the European GNSS Agency (GSA), SATSA’s mission has been to build the capacity of South African companies in terms of Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS).

The instruction and training given by GMV under the SATSA project will enhance these companies’ future management of the SBAS to be deployed in their region, either as South Africa’s own system or an extension of Europe’s SBAS, EGNOS. This instruction has been given in a series of training courses not only for the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), which has participated as project partner from the start, but also other important South African aeronautics organizations such as ATNS, ATA and CAA.

Main members of the SATSA consortium. Image courtesy of EE Publishers, South Africa

Since the project kicked off in early 2012, several working sessions have been held using various inhouse GMV tools (polaris, magicSBAS, ECLAYR, magicGEMINI), enabling the concepts acquired in the training days to be put into practice.

Lastly, throughout the whole of this year, several trials and tests have been held to help SANSA operate magicSBAS as the prototype of a centralized SBAS processing system and bring home the potential advantages and services of this system to South Africa’s society, not only in the field of civil aviation but also for other applications calling for a higher positioning precision.

SATSA has therefore demonstrated the viability of setting up an SBAS in South Africa, not only by means of tests but also by studying real cases and cost-benefit analysis. Consolidation of the SBAS prototype and its operations could be the next stage on the South African roadmap. By opting for GMV’s technological solutions, the South African authorities would also benefit from the new GMV tool, magicLPV, and include flight tests in real aeronautical operations as a first step towards the design and implementation of an operational system that benefits the whole of South Africa’s society.
 

The research leading to the abovementioned results has received funding from the European Union’s framework program ( FP7/2007-2013 ) under subsidy agreement [ 287169 ]. This communication is the sole responsibility of the author and may not in any circumstances be regarded as reflecting an official opinion of the European Commission”