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The EUROCAE “ED-277 - Minimum Aviation System Performance Standard for Aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitter Remote Command Via Return Link Service”  has been published and is available. It describes the characteristics of remote command via the Return Link Service for Emergency Locator Transmitter Distress Tracking  - ELT(DT) - in particular for remote beacon activation and deactivation. Today, only Galileo provides Return Link capability.

Remote activation of a distress beacon is very relevant for aviation, as cases of aircraft disappearing still occur, such as the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, and the accident with the Air France flight AF447 between Rio and Paris in 2009. 

When investigations drag out, this only increases the negative economic and social impacts of the event. Faced with this problem, the aviation community is developing new solutions and standards to better estimate the location of an aircraft during an in-flight distress situation and improve response operations. 

Return Link Service as a unique Galileo differentiator

This latest document is targeted at service providers and users of the Galileo Return Link Service (RLS) and focuses on the high-level concept and typical functional interface and user requirements for aviation. The new standard complements previous standards in this field and the cases mandated by ICAO regulations . It offers the possibility to Commercial Aircraft Operators, to remotely activate ELT(DT)s in cases that are neither covered by ‘manual’ activation by the crew, nor by ‘automatic’ distress logic derived from the EUROCAE ED-237 standard. Remote beacon activation possibility is a valuable service for aircraft operators and air traffic services, as it helps to better determine the aircraft trajectory and shorten the time to locate the aircraft and potential survivors,  in cases where other mechanisms failed and communication with the pilot is lost. 

“This standard is the result of a joint effort at international level, with the main objective to contribute to saving lives.”, says Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency.

Read this: Happy birthday Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) Return Link Service!

Galileo’s Return Link Service has been operational since January 2020 and it is still the only GNSS that offers such capability. The ED-277 document is particularly relevant for Galileo, as it describes the requirements for a remote command service using the return link, and describes the operational concept that can be assessed in potential evolutions of the Galileo services  .

End-to-end validation

“User needs were carefully assessed in the concept of operation and validated in H2020 HELIOS project. The GSA integrated strategy leveraging Research & Innovation demonstrated once more how it substantially contributes to user and market uptake”, says Fiammetta Diani, Head of Market Development.

The concept of operation was developed in cooperation with users and in consultation with airlines. What’s more, the concept has been validated in an end-to-end test by the HELIOS project during two test campaigns: on the ground in 2019 and in flight, as part of the largest worldwide flight test for distress tracking, in November 2020. In both exercises, the team included interested airlines (Iberia and Air France) as well as air traffic controllers from Spain and France (Enaire and DGAC), together with Spanish and French rescue/mission coordination centres, along with France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC).

And this: Remote beacon activation with Galileo return link successfully tested

“The implementation of this Remote Beacon Activation standard for Galileo is the next logical step as it fully leverages the capabilities provided by Galileo’s Return Link Service today”, says Guerric Pont, GSA Head of Galileo Exploitation.

ED-277 is the result of 3 years’ work by EUROCAE, that started at the beginning of 2018, and has been now concluded. The group behind this standard was led by aviation beacon manufacturers Orolia and ECA Aerospace, with the European GNSS Agency (GSA) acting as secretary of the group, which also included representatives of the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA), and CNES.   Aviation stakeholders, including air navigation service providers, rescue coordination centres and industry, all actively contributed to the group.

The EUROCAE “ED-277 - Minimum Aviation System Performance Standard for Aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitter Remote Command Via Return Link Service”  has been published and is available  . It describes the characteristics of remote command via the Return Link Service for Emergency Locator Transmitter Distress Tracking  - ELT(DT) - in particular for remote beacon activation and deactivation. Today, only Galileo provides Return Link capability.

Remote activation of a distress beacon is very relevant for aviation, as cases of aircraft disappearing still occur, such as the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, and the accident with the Air France flight AF447 between Rio and Paris in 2009. 

When investigations drag out, this only increases the negative economic and social impacts of the event. Faced with this problem, the aviation community is developing new solutions and standards to better estimate the location of an aircraft during an in-flight distress situation and improve response operations. 

Return Link Service as a unique Galileo differentiator

This latest document is targeted at service providers and users of the Galileo Return Link Service (RLS) and focuses on the high-level concept and typical functional interface and user requirements for aviation. The new standard complements previous standards in this field and the cases mandated by ICAO regulations . It offers the possibility to Commercial Aircraft Operators, to remotely activate ELT(DT)s in cases that are neither covered by ‘manual’ activation by the crew, nor by ‘automatic’ distress logic derived from the EUROCAE ED-237 standard. Remote beacon activation possibility is a valuable service for aircraft operators and air traffic services, as it helps to better determine the aircraft trajectory and shorten the time to locate the aircraft and potential survivors,  in cases where other mechanisms failed and communication with the pilot is lost. 

“This standard is the result of a joint effort at international level, with the main objective to contribute to saving lives.”, says Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency.

Read this: Happy birthday Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) Return Link Service!

Galileo’s Return Link Service has been operational since January 2020 and it is still the only GNSS that offers such capability. The ED-277 document is particularly relevant for Galileo, as it describes the requirements for a remote command service using the return link, and describes the operational concept that can be assessed in potential evolutions of the Galileo services  .

End-to-end validation

“User needs were carefully assessed in the concept of operation and validated in H2020 HELIOS project. The GSA integrated strategy leveraging Research & Innovation demonstrated once more how it substantially contributes to user and market uptake”, says Fiammetta Diani, Head of Market Development.

The concept of operation was developed in cooperation with users and in consultation with airlines. What’s more, the concept has been validated in an end-to-end test by the HELIOS project during two test campaigns: on the ground in 2019 and in flight, as part of the largest worldwide flight test for distress tracking, in November 2020. In both exercises, the team included interested airlines (Iberia and Air France) as well as air traffic controllers from Spain and France (Enaire and DGAC), together with Spanish and French rescue/mission coordination centres, along with France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC).

And this: Remote beacon activation with Galileo return link successfully tested

“The implementation of this Remote Beacon Activation standard for Galileo is the next logical step as it fully leverages the capabilities provided by Galileo’s Return Link Service today”, says Guerric Pont, GSA Head of Galileo Exploitation.

ED-277 is the result of 3 years’ work by EUROCAE, that started at the beginning of 2018, and has been now concluded. The group behind this standard was led by aviation beacon manufacturers Orolia and ECA Aerospace, with the European GNSS Agency (GSA) acting as secretary of the group, which also included representatives of the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA), and CNES.   Aviation stakeholders, including air navigation service providers, rescue coordination centres and industry, all actively contributed to the group.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is excited to announce the winners in this year’s MyGalileoSolution & MyGalileoDrone competitions. After a lively debate, the jury has selected the winning teams in both competitions based not only on their innovative use of key Galileo differentiators, but also on their market-oriented approach and potential for wide uptake. The winning teams were announced during Entrepreneurship Day, hosted by the GSA on 2 March. And so, without further ado, the winners are…

In the MyGalileoDrone competition, the first prize went to the team Abzero (Italy), for Nautilus – a unique tracking solution for the autonomous delivery of medical goods. Second prize was awarded to Spectralight (Poland) for SpectraDrone, a greener alternative to classical fireworks. ThunderFly (Czech Republic) received third prize for TF-ATMON – a system for performing in-situ atmospheric measurements, while fourth prize went to Raytrack (Spain) for 5GBeamCheck, which uses a UAV to perform 5G antenna tests. The winning team receives EUR 100,000, with EUR 60,000 going to the team in second place, EUR 40,000 for third place, and EUR 30,000 to the fourth.

MyGalileoSolution results

In the MyGalileoSolution competition, the first place in Track 1 (from idea to prototype) went to VisionAnchor (Slovenia) the world's first video anchor monitoring system for boats, with second prize going to BitPet (Norway), an Augmented Reality mobile game where each player takes care of a digital pet. Third prize went to BeeLive (Greece), a beekeeper's decision-making and social networking tool based on GNSS-enabled devices. 

Read this: Galileo enabling infrastructure development in harsh environments

Meanwhile, in Track 2 (from prototype to product), the top three teams were 10Lines (Estonia), an autonomous parking lot marking solution in first place, followed by V-Labs (Switzerland), an Augmented Reality solution for visualising, measuring and modifying geospatial data with centimetre accuracy in second, and Lympik Oculus (Austria), a sport analysis application in third. MyGalileoSolution is the biggest competition ever organised by the GSA, with a prize pool of almost EUR 1.5 million shared by 50 teams, including the six finalists, with awards ranging from EUR 15,000 to EUR 60,000.

Fostering Galileo’s uptake

At the Entrepreneurship Day, the top contestants from both competitions presented their applications and pitched their ideas after which the winning teams were announced and the prizes awarded. 

“This year’s competition was exceptional and I congratulate all the winners on their victory,” said GSA Executive Director Rodrigo da Costa. “The MyGalileoSolution and MyGalileoDrone competitions play an important role in fostering the uptake of Galileo across a wide range of market segments. A key role of the GSA, and of EUSPA in the future, is to increase the competitiveness of the EU downstream industry by supporting innovators, SMEs and start-ups. These two competitions help us to do exactly that,” he said.

About MyGalileoDrone & MyGalileoSolution

MyGalileoSolution and MyGalileoDrone are the continuation of the successful MyGalileoApp competition. The competitions, which ran over 6 months, included multiple rounds of reviews with GSA, market and technology experts, and the teams received mentoring on a variety of subjects. More than 600 applications were received to both competitions and 80 start-ups were supported by the GSA to realize their dream.

And this: Galileo delivers accuracy; drones deliver solutions

The teams came from various locations in Europe and represent academia and industry alike. They include start-ups and SMEs from a broad spectrum of market segments. The total prize pool of the competitions is EUR 1.7 million, including the grand prizes for the top teams and smaller awards for qualifying solutions. Contestants were evaluated based on criteria such as innovation, Galileo relevance, market potential and feasibility of implementing the ideas. 

About Entrepreneurship Day

Entrepreneurship Day, hosted by the GSA on 2 March, is one of the first events launched under the umbrella of the CASSINI initiative. The half-day event is one of many upcoming activities to be hosted by the GSA, aimed at supporting entrepreneurship by providing opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators.

The event aimed to promote EGNSS-based creative ideas and lucrative business opportunities, to raise awareness of the role of downstream space in achieving the EU’s common goals and priorities, and to provide a networking platform for all interested parties.

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).