zprávy

A three-month series of events in different European cities, held as part of the Space and Society project, came to a close on June 29 with a conference in Brussels entitled “Towards a European Space Community”. The meeting coincided with the opening of an exhibition of photographs called “Space girls, space women”, a selection of which was on display at the conference. 

The Space and Society project was organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), with support from GSA and other leading European space organisations.

Raising Awareness

“Space systems and technologies play an important part in the everyday lives of European citizens, but they may not be aware of it,” explains Alice Tétu, Administrator of the Single Market, Production and Consumption (INT) section at EESC. “The idea behind the Space and Society initiative was to help raise awareness of the advantages and services that these technologies bring them.” 

Another important objective of the project was to generate interest by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in what satellite technologies like Copernicus and Galileo can offer. “In addition, we also wanted to use the project as a way of generating and maintaining political support for current and future space programmes at EU and national levels,” adds Tétu.

A Behind the Scenes Look

Speaking at the conference in Brussels, GSA Head of Market Development Gian-Gherardo Calini reminded participants how ubiquitous satellite-based location technology has become, often behind the scenes. “There are 3.6 billion GNSS devices in operation today and there are expected to be 7 billion by 2019– that’s one device per person on Earth,” he said, “This is the only market that is growing today, along with radio-frequency identification (RFID) and the internet.”

He noted that the European Union has already invested EUR 12 billion in Galileo, with the expectation that it will lead to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

Satellite positioning can have a considerable social and regional impact, with applications such as tracking vehicles carrying dangerous goods - for example delivering inflammable fuel to a small town. As an example, Calini cited the value-added SCUTUM project, which can lower the time to intervention in the case of an incident. Other emerging applications include navigating driverless cars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as the remote seeding, watering and harvesting of farm crops.

All Around Europe

In total, six Space and Society events were organised, each in a different Member State and according to the experience and interests of members.

On May 20, a conference in Kaunas (Lithuania) aimed to boost the space industry in the Baltic region, focusing on SMEs, the integration of satellite data, nanosatellites, regional cooperation, and funding opportunities at EU and national level. Shortly afterwards, on May 29, participants were able to visit the French national space research centre (CNES) and the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse to meet with SMEs and discuss new job opportunities in the space sector.

On June 3, Space and Society moved on to Rome, bringing together representatives from industry, SMEs and national and European authorities to discuss current and future legislation in the space sector. On June 25, participants were able to visit a school laboratory in the German aerospace centre (DLR) in Cologne, with the aim of promoting space in schools and universities. Also in June, a meeting held at NSO headquarters in The Hague (Netherlands) focused on the needs of the space industry, the role of business incubators and private-public collaboration, to get more SMEs into the space market.

The full programme of events in the Space and Society project, with the list of members and supporting agencies is available online here.

More Information

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

For some users of location based and T&S services, the loss or corruption of a satellite signal can have critical consequences. For sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity, Public Regulated Services (PRS) may represent the answer.

In 2014, there were an estimated 3.6 billion GNSS devices globally. This number is forecasted to increase to 7 billion by 2019. Smartphones are by far the most popular platform to access location-based services (LBS), with about 2 billion smartphone users anticipated by 2016. Most of these users are the general public, who agree to trade their privacy and data ownership for the convenience and functionality of “always on” location services – regardless of the risk of a maliciously corrupted GNSS signal.

But for some users - including governments, the police, military, fire-fighters, paramedics, and even financial institutions - loss or corruption of the GNSS signal can have immediate and critical consequences.

This is why the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) has been designed to provide a robust and secure signal that continues to be available to authorised users when access to other navigation services is lost or corrupted.

“It is clearly an advantage to have a GNSS signal that is robust when managing a crisis,” says Jorge Andreau Garcia of the Directorate of Space Defence at GMV, a technology group. “The PRS signal continues to be available even when other forms of communication are failing.”

Key to PRS is the use of a dual band signal (Galileo’s E1 and E6 signals), with high bandwidth, which makes it much more resistant to interference.  Access to PRS, which is decided by individual Member States, is controlled through encryption of the signals and restricting access through key management systems. Users who have not been granted access to the secure features of the PRS signal will not be able to determine any information from it. Galileo PRS therefore offers the robustness of a military GNSS signal with the potential of civilian-controlled GNSS.

Garcia also notes that another advantage is that the PRS signal is authenticated, so you can rely on what you’re getting in your receiver.

With a potential 3 million civilian service personnel in Europe, the potential market for PRS is substantial. One of the main challenges now is to develop low-cost handheld receivers capable of using the PRS signal. As the signal is comparable to the GPS signal, manufacturers are already designing devices that use Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) networks like TETRA and TETRAPOL, integrating the navigational algorithms and position information of both the PRS and GPS systems.

Critical Communications World

Some of the potential end users of PRS, as well as manufacturers of current critical communications receivers and the European GNSS Agency (GSA), gathered at the 17th annual Critical Communications World congress (CCW 2015) in Barcelona (Spain) at the end of May.

A whole range of hardware was on display during the event, everything from pocket-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that can enter dangerous buildings ahead of fire-fighters or soldiers to increase their situation awareness, to handheld radio receivers with robust satellite positioning that can operate in hostile, dangerous and noisy environments. 

Less obviously dangerous, but equally critical security applications for PRS and T&S services are in the finance and banking sector, where accurate timing of transactions is fundamental, as well as for the security and management of transport infrastructure, including the control of traffic flow in cities and rail networks.

Initial operational capability for Galileo with initial services is set to come on stream in 2016.

Download the Galileo PRS flyer.

More Information

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

For some users of location based and T&S services, the loss or corruption of a satellite signal can have critical consequences. For sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity, Public Regulated Services (PRS) may represent the answer.

In 2014, there were an estimated 3.6 billion GNSS devices globally. This number is forecasted to increase to 7 billion by 2019. Smartphones are by far the most popular platform to access location-based services (LBS), with about 2 billion smartphone users anticipated by 2016. Most of these users are the general public, who agree to trade their privacy and data ownership for the convenience and functionality of “always on” location services – regardless of the risk of a maliciously corrupted GNSS signal.

But for some users - including governments, the police, military, fire-fighters, paramedics, and even financial institutions - loss or corruption of the GNSS signal can have immediate and critical consequences.

This is why the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) has been designed to provide a robust and secure signal that continues to be available to authorised users when access to other navigation services is lost or corrupted.

“It is clearly an advantage to have a GNSS signal that is robust when managing a crisis,” says Jorge Andreau Garcia of the Directorate of Space Defence at GMV, a technology group. “The PRS signal continues to be available even when other forms of communication are failing.”

Key to PRS is the use of a dual band signal (Galileo’s E1 and E6 signals), with high bandwidth, which makes it much more resistant to interference.  Access to PRS, which is decided by individual Member States, is controlled through encryption of the signals and restricting access through key management systems. Users who have not been granted access to the secure features of the PRS signal will not be able to determine any information from it. Galileo PRS therefore offers the robustness of a military GNSS signal with the potential of civilian-controlled GNSS.

Garcia also notes that another advantage is that the PRS signal is authenticated, so you can rely on what you’re getting in your receiver.

With a potential 3 million civilian service personnel in Europe, the potential market for PRS is substantial. One of the main challenges now is to develop low-cost handheld receivers capable of using the PRS signal. As the signal is comparable to the GPS signal, manufacturers are already designing devices that use Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) networks like TETRA and TETRAPOL, integrating the navigational algorithms and position information of both the PRS and GPS systems.

Critical Communications World

Some of the potential end users of PRS, as well as manufacturers of current critical communications receivers and the European GNSS Agency (GSA), gathered at the 17th annual Critical Communications World congress (CCW 2015) in Barcelona (Spain) at the end of May.

A whole range of hardware was on display during the event, everything from pocket-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that can enter dangerous buildings ahead of fire-fighters or soldiers to increase their situation awareness, to handheld radio receivers with robust satellite positioning that can operate in hostile, dangerous and noisy environments. 

Less obviously dangerous, but equally critical security applications for PRS and T&S services are in the finance and banking sector, where accurate timing of transactions is fundamental, as well as for the security and management of transport infrastructure, including the control of traffic flow in cities and rail networks.

Initial operational capability for Galileo with initial services is set to come on stream in 2016.

More Information

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

Through the Horizon 2020 project - Building European Links towards Southeast Asia (BELS) -  the GSA is helping to facilitate the introduction of E-GNSS into Southeast Asia (SEA).

    See Also: European GNSS – Now there’s an App for That!

Operating between 2015 and 2018, BELS brings together 12 European, Asian and Australia partners, including European companies with a presence in the region, as well as leading universities. The project is based at NAVIS, a technology centre located in Hanoi, Vietnam.
BELS concentrates on three areas:

1. Opening new markets to EU companies
2. Increasing awareness of E-GNSS technology through workshops
3. Increasing the technical expertise of people in the region

Southeast Asia already enjoys a large population of people (more than 600 million) and many technically skilled experts in satellite technology. The GSA is working to attract more young researchers into E-GNSS technology and expanding the reach of the GSA in Southeast Asia. As part of this effort, the Agency is collaborating with leading universities in the region and facilitating the mobility of PhD students.

To launch the collaboration, the project recently held a workshop in Vietnam that brought together leading European E-GNSS experts and their Vietnamese counterparts. Both parties stressed the need for innovation in satellite navigation as being the key to greater adoption of the technology.

Vietnamese delegation, gathering Prof. Mai Ha, Chief of Office of Vietnam Space Committee,  Prof. Ta Hai Tung, Director of the NAVIS Centre, and leaders of the project consortium met  the GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides  in Prague at the beginning of June this year. The meeting among others contributed to the high level goal of the BELS project: strengthen ties with the SEA region in the field of Global Navigation Satellite System.

More Information

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

Through the Horizon 2020 funded Building European Links towards Southeast Asia (BELS) project, the GSA is helping to facilitate the introduction of E-GNSS into Southeast Asia (SEA).

    See Also: European GNSS – Now there’s an App for That!

Operating between 2015 and 2018, BELS brings together 12 European, Asian and Australia partners, including European companies with a presence in the region, as well as leading universities. The project is based at NAVIS, a technology centre located in Hanoi, Vietnam.
BELS concentrates on three areas:

1. Opening new markets to EU companies
2. Increasing awareness of E-GNSS technology through workshops
3. Increasing the technical expertise of people in the region

Southeast Asia already enjoys a large population of people (more than 600 million) and many technically skilled experts in satellite technology. The GSA is working to attract more young researchers into E-GNSS technology and expanding the reach of the GSA in Southeast Asia. As part of this effort, the Agency is collaborating with leading universities in the region and facilitating the mobility of PhD students.

To launch the collaboration, the project recently held a workshop in Vietnam that brought together leading European E-GNSS experts and their Vietnamese counterparts. Both parties stressed the need for innovation in satellite navigation as being the key to greater adoption of the technology.

Vietnamese delegation, gathering Prof. Mai Ha, Chief of Office of Vietnam Space Committee,  Prof. Ta Hai Tung, Director of the NAVIS Centre, and leaders of the project consortium met  the GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides  in Prague at the beginning of June this year. The meeting among others contributed to the high level goal of the BELS project: strengthen ties with the SEA region in the field of Global Navigation Satellite System.

More Information

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).