European GNSS Agency

The agriculture sector has gone through a series of evolutionary milestones, from mechanisation, through the green revolution, to precision farming. The current revolution in the agriculture sector is digital farming, in which information about weather, soil conditions and crop health is combined with network technology to allow farmers to optimise their systems and improve their productivity. In Europe, EGNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) is a key enabling technology underpinning this revolution.

Digital farming, which was the central topic of the recent CEMA Farming 4.0 Summit in Brussels, describes the evolution of agriculture to become an inter-connected, knowledge-based production system that incorporates GNSS-enabled precision farming with intelligent networks and data management tools.

The use of digital technology incorporated in modern farm equipment is opening up new business models and opportunities in the agricultural sector, providing farmers with an unprecedented level of knowledge about their crops, livestock and operations and making the sector more efficient and environmentally sustainable.

Farmers quick to adopt EGNOS

In his presentation at the summit, the theme of which was ‘Moving towards connected & sustainable agriculture in Europe’, GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides said that the agriculture sector had been one of the first to make use of GNSS technology and that currently 80% of automated tractors were EGNOS-enabled.

He noted that the agricultural sector had gone through a series of evolutionary milestones, the most recent of which – precision farming and digital farming – are reliant on the guidance and monitoring capabilities offered by satellite technology: EGNSS and Copernicus. A recent milestone for Galileo – the market entry of a dual-frequency chipset - means that it is now even better placed to support the optimisation of farming operations.

In September this year, the chipset manufacturer Broadcom announced the entry to market of a dual-frequency chip. Dual-frequency chipsets and receivers benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, and faster transition from code tracking to phase tracking, among other benefits.

Galileo currently has more satellites operating in dual frequency than GPS. It also has a number of other features that can benefit the agriculture sector. “On the Open Signal, which can already be used by farmers, with single frequency Galileo was able to offer accuracy of 2.5 metres on the horizontal plane. However, with dual-frequency – as it does with EGNOS - the level of accuracy increases to sub-metre precision or 20-30 centimetres path-to-path,” des Dorides said. This level of navigational accuracy, combined with the Earth observation capabilities of Copernicus, supports real-time data analysis and in-field and inter-field optimisation in the agricultural sector, helping farmers to increase the productivity and sustainability of their operations. All of this will be complemented by a Galileo High Accuracy service by 2020, with FOC increasing the precision even more.

Watch this: EGNOS in Agriculture

Providing the viewpoint from farm equipment manufacturers, Thomas Böck, Chief Technology Officer at CLAAS, noted the importance of working with the GSA and with Galileo. He said that that there were a lot of opportunities for the industry and also for farmers themselves, in terms of increased profitability and sustainability, to be gained from this cooperation.

Matthew Foster, Vice President for Agricultural Commercial Development at CNH Industrial, noted that take-up of auto-guidance systems by farmers had been high and that the next step would be to achieve the connectivity needed to reap the benefits from all the data currently being produced.  For this to happen, and to ensure that farmers continue to adopt digital technologies, it will be necessary to have a Common Agricultural Policy that facilitates investment in precision farming.

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).

Europe's flagship space programmes, Galileo and Copernicus, shared a stand and a stage at this year's InterGEO event in Berlin.

For the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Commission, the aim of this year's joint appearance by Galileo and Copernicus at InterGEO 2017 was to highlight the powerful synergies that exist between the two services.

"This is the first time we have shared a common stand at an event of this type," said GSA Market Development Officer Reinhard Blasi. "We in the GNSS community know a lot about Galileo already, but we may not know so much about Copernicus. This is Europe's earth observation and monitoring programme, which, like Galileo, delivers openly and freely in a wide range of application areas, with both operational data and information services."

Blasi was speaking at the world's premier event for the geospatial industry, and the joint use of E-GNSS and Earth observation data certainly enables a number of applications of great interest to the mapping and surveying communities that gather at InterGEO. But there are also large numbers of potential value-added applications for the agriculture sector, for smart cities, road transport, maritime navigation, emergency/crisis management, utilities and many others.

"These synergies exist in many market segments," Blasi said, "for example in biomass monitoring, hydrographical offshore surveying or border surveillance." He cited a specific example in the area of precision agriculture, where Copernicus can deliver very detailed information about soil humidity and composition, which can then be used to generate metre- and centimetre-level maps of soil parameters. Farmers can then overlay Galileo- and EGNOS-generated location maps to guide targeted irrigation and other operations in their fields.

In the area of environmental management, Copernicus delivers key information on the state of forests, water quality and snow cover, while again Galileo and EGNOS provide precise guidance to specific areas of interest.

Many applications

The European Union is supporting a major initiative in the area of Smart Cities. Here, Copernicus can be of great use in the monitoring of urban growth, green areas, and land use, both legal and illegal, while European GNSS can be combined with this kind of information to help better understand the mobility habits of urban citizens.

"For public authorities, combined Earth observation and GNSS information is really very valuable," said Blasi, "for urban planning, defining new urban corridors and infrastructure projects and supporting law enforcement. And all of these are just a few of the areas where Galileo and Copernicus can work together to provide something that is more powerful than either one by itself."

At the joint Galileo/Copernicus stand in the InterGEo exhibition area, representatives from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), including Alexandra Förster and Lena Schultz-Lieckfeld, as well as the GSA's Blasi, and Julia Ioannou of the Copernicus Support Office, provided more insights into what can be accomplished by combining Copernicus and Galileo data.

There was also an array of representatives on hand from small and medium-sized companies that have been involved in Galileo initiatives, all ready to meet visitors and answer questions. For everyone involved in the two programmes, the experience of coming together and presenting, for the first time, a united front in a very large public forum, appeared to be productive and ultimately very rewarding.

Blasi said that in the future the two programmes would be more likely to work together in this way. "Galileo and Copernicus really do complement each other," he said, "so it makes sense for us, the people who work on these programmes, to come together like this, to tell our stories and promote our work, which is really of great benefit to the public and industry."

More good news for European GNSS

GSA Market Development Innovation Officer Alina Hriscu also spoke at a special conference session at InterGEO, where she described in detail Galileo operational status as well as the state of play among GNSS receiver manufacturers and the wider GNSS market. She also expressed the Agency's great satisfaction with the recent launch by Broadcom of the world's first dual frequency GNSS receiver for smartphones.

Broadcom Limited is a worldwide semiconductor leader, and its new receiver, the BCM47755, will provide, among other things, lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and will help to enable a new range of high-precision LBS applications.

As the GSA has pointed out, Europe’s Galileo constellation is largely responsible for the expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies, making it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately.

Special Galileo student prize awarded

InterGEO 2017 was also the occasion to recognize the work of some outstanding young people, in the context of the CLGE Students Contest. Every year, the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) organises the contest aimed at rewarding research in various surveying-related areas.

This year, as it has in previous years, the GSA sponsored a special prize for entries that show a dedicated use of Galileo, EGNOS or Copernicus. The winner, announced at InterGEO, was Sander Varbla from the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Varbla's paper, entitled 'Assessment of marine geoid models by ship-borne GNSS profiles', presented the results of a 2016 marine gravity and GNSS campaign carried out on board the Estonian Maritime Administration survey vessel 'Jakob Prei' in the WestEstonian archipeligo.

The prize, awarded by the GSA's Hriscu, came with a check for 1000 euros. After receiving the award and thanking the GSA and contest organisers, Varbla said, "This means a lot to me. It means that my work is valued and it makes a difference, and I'm really looking forward to continuing with this kind of research."

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).

Europe's flagship space programmes, Galileo and Copernicus, shared a stand and a stage at this year's InterGEO event in Berlin.

For the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Commission, the aim of this year's joint appearance by Galileo and Copernicus at InterGEO 2017 was to highlight the powerful synergies that exist between the two services.

"This is the first time we have shared a common stand at an event of this type," said GSA Market Development Officer Reinhard Blasi. "We in the GNSS community know a lot about Galileo already, but we may not know so much about Copernicus. This is Europe's earth observation and monitoring programme, which, like Galileo, delivers openly and freely in a wide range of application areas, with both operational data and information services."

Blasi was speaking at the world's premier event for the geospatial industry, and the joint use of E-GNSS and Earth observation data certainly enables a number of applications of great interest to the mapping and surveying communities that gather at InterGEO. But there are also large numbers of potential value-added applications for the agriculture sector, for smart cities, road transport, maritime navigation, emergency/crisis management, utilities and many others.

"These synergies exist in many market segments," Blasi said, "for example in biomass monitoring, hydrographical offshore surveying or border surveillance." He cited a specific example in the area of precision agriculture, where Copernicus can deliver very detailed information about soil humidity and composition, which can then be used to generate metre- and centimetre-level maps of soil parameters. Farmers can then overlay Galileo- and EGNOS-generated location maps to guide targeted irrigation and other operations in their fields.

In the area of environmental management, Copernicus delivers key information on the state of forests, water quality and snow cover, while again Galileo and EGNOS provide precise guidance to specific areas of interest.

Many applications

The European Union is supporting a major initiative in the area of Smart Cities. Here, Copernicus can be of great use in the monitoring of urban growth, green areas, and land use, both legal and illegal, while European GNSS can be combined with this kind of information to help better understand the mobility habits of urban citizens.

"For public authorities, combined Earth observation and GNSS information is really very valuable," said Blasi, "for urban planning, defining new urban corridors and infrastructure projects and supporting law enforcement. And all of these are just a few of the areas where Galileo and Copernicus can work together to provide something that is more powerful than either one by itself."

At the joint Galileo/Copernicus stand in the InterGEo exhibition area, representatives from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), including Alexandra Förster and Lena Schultz-Lieckfeld, as well as the GSA's Blasi, and Julia Ioannou of the Copernicus Support Office, provided more insights into what can be accomplished by combining Copernicus and Galileo data.

There was also an array of representatives on hand from small and medium-sized companies that have been involved in Galileo initiatives, all ready to meet visitors and answer questions. For everyone involved in the two programmes, the experience of coming together and presenting, for the first time, a united front in a very large public forum, appeared to be productive and ultimately very rewarding.

Blasi said that in the future the two programmes would be more likely to work together in this way. "Galileo and Copernicus really do complement each other," he said, "so it makes sense for us, the people who work on these programmes, to come together like this, to tell our stories and promote our work, which is really of great benefit to the public and industry."

More good news for European GNSS

GSA Market Development Innovation Officer Alina Hriscu also spoke at a special conference session at InterGEO, where she described in detail Galileo operational status as well as the state of play among GNSS receiver manufacturers and the wider GNSS market. She also expressed the Agency's great satisfaction with the recent launch by Broadcom of the world's first dual frequency GNSS receiver for smartphones.

Broadcom Limited is a worldwide semiconductor leader, and its new receiver, the BCM47755, will provide, among other things, lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and will help to enable a new range of high-precision LBS applications.

As the GSA has pointed out, Europe’s Galileo constellation is largely responsible for the expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies, making it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately.

Special Galileo student prize awarded

InterGEO 2017 was also the occasion to recognize the work of some outstanding young people, in the context of the CLGE Students Contest. Every year, the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) organises the contest aimed at rewarding research in various surveying-related areas.

This year, as it has in previous years, the GSA sponsored a special prize for entries that show a dedicated use of Galileo, EGNOS or Copernicus. The winner, announced at InterGEO, was Sander Varbla from the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Varbla's paper, entitled 'Assessment of marine geoid models by ship-borne GNSS profiles', presented the results of a 2016 marine gravity and GNSS campaign carried out on board the Estonian Maritime Administration survey vessel 'Jakob Prei' in the WestEstonian archipeligo.

The prize, awarded by the GSA's Hriscu, came with a check for 1000 euros. After receiving the award and thanking the GSA and contest organisers, Varbla said, "This means a lot to me. It means that my work is valued and it makes a difference, and I'm really looking forward to continuing with this kind of research."

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).

Europe's flagship space programmes, Galileo and Copernicus, shared a stand and a stage at this year's InterGEO event in Berlin.

For the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Commission, the aim of this year's joint appearance by Galileo and Copernicus at InterGEO 2017 was to highlight the powerful synergies that exist between the two services.

"This is the first time we have shared a common stand at an event of this type," said GSA Market Development Officer Reinhard Blasi. "We in the GNSS community know a lot about Galileo already, but we may not know so much about Copernicus. This is Europe's earth observation and monitoring programme, which, like Galileo, delivers openly and freely in a wide range of application areas, with both operational data and information services."

Blasi was speaking at the world's premier event for the geospatial industry, and the joint use of E-GNSS and Earth observation data certainly enables a number of applications of great interest to the mapping and surveying communities that gather at InterGEO. But there are also large numbers of potential value-added applications for the agriculture sector, for smart cities, road transport, maritime navigation, emergency/crisis management, utilities and many others.

"These synergies exist in many market segments," Blasi said, "for example in biomass monitoring, hydrographical offshore surveying or border surveillance." He cited a specific example in the area of precision agriculture, where Copernicus can deliver very detailed information about soil humidity and composition, which can then be used to generate metre- and centimetre-level maps of soil parameters. Farmers can then overlay Galileo- and EGNOS-generated location maps to guide targeted irrigation and other operations in their fields.

In the area of environmental management, Copernicus delivers key information on the state of forests, water quality and snow cover, while again Galileo and EGNOS provide precise guidance to specific areas of interest.

Many applications

The European Union is supporting a major initiative in the area of Smart Cities. Here, Copernicus can be of great use in the monitoring of urban growth, green areas, and land use, both legal and illegal, while European GNSS can be combined with this kind of information to help better understand the mobility habits of urban citizens.

"For public authorities, combined Earth observation and GNSS information is really very valuable," said Blasi, "for urban planning, defining new urban corridors and infrastructure projects and supporting law enforcement. And all of these are just a few of the areas where Galileo and Copernicus can work together to provide something that is more powerful than either one by itself."

At the joint Galileo/Copernicus stand in the InterGEo exhibition area, representatives from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), including Alexandra Förster and Lena Schultz-Lieckfeld, as well as the GSA's Blasi, and Julia Ioannou of the Copernicus Support Office, provided more insights into what can be accomplished by combining Copernicus and Galileo data.

There was also an array of representatives on hand from small and medium-sized companies that have been involved in Galileo initiatives, all ready to meet visitors and answer questions. For everyone involved in the two programmes, the experience of coming together and presenting, for the first time, a united front in a very large public forum, appeared to be productive and ultimately very rewarding.

Blasi said that in the future the two programmes would be more likely to work together in this way. "Galileo and Copernicus really do complement each other," he said, "so it makes sense for us, the people who work on these programmes, to come together like this, to tell our stories and promote our work, which is really of great benefit to the public and industry."

More good news for European GNSS

GSA Market Development Innovation Officer Alina Hriscu also spoke at a special conference session at InterGEO, where she described in detail Galileo operational status as well as the state of play among GNSS receiver manufacturers and the wider GNSS market. She also expressed the Agency's great satisfaction with the recent launch by Broadcom of the world's first dual frequency GNSS receiver for smartphones.

Broadcom Limited is a worldwide semiconductor leader, and its new receiver, the BCM47755, will provide, among other things, lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and will help to enable a new range of high-precision LBS applications.

As the GSA has pointed out, Europe’s Galileo constellation is largely responsible for the expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies, making it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately.

Special Galileo student prize awarded

InterGEO 2017 was also the occasion to recognize the work of some outstanding young people, in the context of the CLGE Students Contest. Every year, the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) organises the contest aimed at rewarding research in various surveying-related areas.

This year, as it has in previous years, the GSA sponsored a special prize for entries that show a dedicated use of Galileo, EGNOS or Copernicus. The winner, announced at InterGEO, was Sander Varbla from the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Varbla's paper, entitled 'Assessment of marine geoid models by ship-borne GNSS profiles', presented the results of a 2016 marine gravity and GNSS campaign carried out on board the Estonian Maritime Administration survey vessel 'Jakob Prei' in the WestEstonian archipeligo.

The prize, awarded by the GSA's Hriscu, came with a check for 1000 euros. After receiving the award and thanking the GSA and contest organisers, Varbla said, "This means a lot to me. It means that my work is valued and it makes a difference, and I'm really looking forward to continuing with this kind of research."

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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).

The 1st Galileo User Assembly is set to take place in Madrid on November 28-29. The event will provide Galileo and EGNOS users with the opportunity to discuss their needs, share their experience and provide feedback on EGNSS performance.

One year after the launch of Galileo Initial Services, in December 2016, EGNSS users will gather for the 1st Galileo User Assembly in Madrid this November. On the first day of the Assembly, Galileo and EGNOS users will participate in the first ever EGNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP), broken into four thematic groups - Transport, Mass Market, Professional and R&D. The participants in the thematic groups will then discuss their findings in a plenary session, to be held on the second day of the Assembly.

Improving service delivery

Participants in the event will be given a general update on the Galileo programme, along with presentations on Galileo Initial Services performance, the Galileo Services Roadmap and the Galileo User Interfaces. They will also have the opportunity to take part in the 2017 Galileo User Satisfaction Survey, through which the GSA aims to gain a better understanding of Galileo’s value to users, aiming at continuously improving service delivery. The User Consultation Platform will be covering both EGNOS and Galileo.

Watch this: Galileo Initial Services

The 1st Galileo User Assembly will be hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) at its premises in Madrid. The GSC provides an interface for the Galileo Open Service (OS), Commercial Service (CS) and Safety-of-Life (SoL) user communities, and participants in the Assembly will have the opportunity to tour the premises and to take part in a networking reception.

You can pre-register to attend the 1st Galileo User Assembly here. Places are limited, so filling out the form does not guarantee a place. You will receive a confirmation via email once your request is processed.

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 the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Commission, the aim of this year's joint appearance by Galileo and Copernicus at InterGEO 2017 was to highlight the powerful synergies that exist between the two services.

"This is the first time we have shared a common stand at an event of this type," said GSA Market Development Officer Reinhard Blasi. "The GNSS community knows a lot about Galileo already, and is getting increasingly interested to know more about Copernicus. This is Europe's earth observation and monitoring programme, which, like Galileo, delivers openly and freely both operational data and information services impacting a wide range of application areas. "

Blasi was speaking at the world's premier event for the geospatial industry, and the joint use of E-GNSS and earth observation data certainly enables many applications of great interest to the mapping and surveying communities that gather at InterGEO. But there are also large numbers of potential value-added applications for the agriculture sector, for smart cities, road transport, maritime navigation, emergency/crisis management, utilities and many others.

Among the specific examples presented, a notable one is in the area of precision agriculture, where Copernicus can deliver detailed information about soil and plant condition, which can then be used to generate precise maps of parameters on the field. Farmers can then overlay Galileo- and EGNOS-generated location maps to guide targeted irrigation and other operations in their fields. "Synergies exist in many additional segments for example in biomass monitoring, hydrographical offshore surveying or border surveillance."

In the area of environmental management, Copernicus delivers key information on the state of forests, water quality and snow cover, while again Galileo and EGNOS provide geo-tagging of samples as well as precise guidance to specific areas of interest.

“It always boils down to the principle that Copernicus tells you what is around you while with EGNOS and Galileo you precisely know where you are.”

Many applications

The European Union is supporting a major initiative in the area of Smart Cities. Here, Copernicus can be of great use in the monitoring of urban growth, green areas, and land use, both legal and illegal, while European GNSS can be combined with this kind of information to help better understand the mobility habits of urban citizens.

"For public authorities, combined Earth observation and GNSS information is really very valuable," said Blasi, "for urban planning, defining new urban corridors, monitoring land movements and infrastructure projects and supporting law enforcement. And all of these are just a few of the areas where Galileo and Copernicus can work together to provide something that is more powerful than either one by itself."

At the joint Galileo/Copernicus stand in the InterGEo exhibition area, representatives from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) the Copernicus Support Office, provided more insights into what can be accomplished by combining Copernicus and Galileo data.

There was also an array of representatives on hand from small and medium-sized companies that have been involved in Galileo initiatives, all ready to meet visitors and answer questions. For everyone involved in the two programmes, the experience of coming together and presenting, for the first time, a united front in a very large public forum, appeared to be productive and ultimately very rewarding.

Blasi said that in the future the two programmes would be more likely to work together in this way. "Galileo and Copernicus really do complement each other," he said, "so it makes sense for us, the people who work on these programmes, to come together like this, to tell our stories and promote our work, which is really of great benefit to the public and industry."

The UNOOSA and GSA are preparing a report to be published shortly on the EGNSS-Copernicus synergies. The emphasis is on the impact of the joint usage of GNSS and Earth Observation may have to support the countries to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

More good news for European GNSS

A special conference session at InterGEO allows describing in detail Galileo operational status as well as the state of play among GNSS receiver manufacturers and the wider GNSS market, including the recent launch by Broadcom of the world's first dual frequency GNSS receiver for smartphones.

Broadcom Limited is a worldwide semiconductor leader, and its new chipset will provide, among other things, lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and will help to enable a new range of high-precision LBS applications.

As the GSA has pointed out, Europe’s Galileo constellation is largely responsible for the expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies for mass market applications, making it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately.

Special Galileo student prize awarded

InterGEO 2017 was also the occasion to recognize the work of some outstanding young people, in the context of the CLGE Students Contest. Every year, the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) organises the contest aimed at rewarding research in various surveying-related areas.

This year, as it has in previous years, the GSA sponsored a special prize for entries that show a dedicated use of Galileo, EGNOS and/or Copernicus. The winner, announced at InterGEO, was Sander Varbla from the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Varbla's paper, entitled 'Assessment of marine geoid models by ship-borne GNSS profiles', presented the results of a 2016 marine gravity and GNSS campaign carried out on board the Estonian Maritime Administration survey vessel 'Jakob Prei' in the WestEstonian archipeligo.

After receiving the award and thanking the GSA and contest organisers, Varbla said, "This means a lot to me. It means that my work is valued and it makes a difference, and I'm really looking forward to continuing with this kind of research."

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).

The European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) has published updated Galileo Satellite Metadata information on its web portal.

The updated Metadata contains information on the properties of both Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) and Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites, including:

• Physical characteristics (mass, area of reflectivity, etc.)
• Attitude law
• Antenna parameters (Phase Centre Offsets (PCOs), Phase Centre Variations (PCVs)

This information is required to properly implement advanced processing algorithms for precise orbit determination or Precise Point Positioning (PPP). 

The updated information can be found under the ‘Support to Developers’ tab in the Galileo Satellite Metadata section. 

All questions and comments can be directed to the Galileo Helpdesk.

About the GSC

The GSC is run by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). It was created to act as an interface between the Galileo system and its end users. The aim of the GSC is to provide system users with relevant information on Galileo. Through the easy-to-use GSC web portal, Galileo users can access a Helpdesk dedicated to addressing a wide range of questions on the status of Galileo and its use. The GSC also actively provides support to R&D and industry from its centre of expertise, as well as hosts workshops and training sessions.

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).

The European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) has published updated Galileo Satellite Metadata information on its web portal.

The updated Metadata contains information on the properties of both Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) and Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites, including:

• Physical characteristics (mass, area of reflectivity, etc.)
• Attitude law
• Antenna parameters (Phase Centre Offsets (PCOs), Phase Centre Variations (PCVs)

This information is required to properly implement advanced processing algorithms for precise orbit determination or Precise Point Positioning (PPP). 

The updated information can be found under the ‘Support to Developers’ tab in the Galileo Satellite Metadata section. 

All questions and comments can be directed to the Galileo Helpdesk.

About the GSC

The GSC is run by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). It was created to act as an interface between the Galileo system and its end users. The aim of the GSC is to provide system users with relevant information on Galileo. Through the easy-to-use GSC web portal, Galileo users can access a Helpdesk dedicated to addressing a wide range of questions on the status of Galileo and its use. The GSC also actively provides support to R&D and industry from its centre of expertise, as well as hosts workshops and training sessions.

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).

The European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) has published updated Galileo Satellite Metadata information on its web portal.

The updated Metadata contains information on the properties of both Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) and Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites, including:

• Physical characteristics (mass, area of reflectivity, etc.)
• Attitude law
• Antenna parameters (Phase Centre Offsets (PCOs), Phase Centre Variations (PCVs)

This information is required to properly implement advanced processing algorithms for precise orbit determination or Precise Point Positioning (PPP). 

The updated information can be found under the ‘Support to Developers’ tab in the Galileo Satellite Metadata section. 

All questions and comments can be directed to the Galileo Helpdesk.

About the GSC

The GSC is run by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). It was created to act as an interface between the Galileo system and its end users. The aim of the GSC is to provide system users with relevant information on Galileo. Through the easy-to-use GSC web portal, Galileo users can access a Helpdesk dedicated to addressing a wide range of questions on the status of Galileo and its use. The GSC also actively provides support to R&D and industry from its centre of expertise, as well as hosts workshops and training sessions.

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).

The European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) has published updated Galileo Satellite Metadata information on its web portal.

The updated Metadata contains information on the properties of both Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) and Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites, including:

• Physical characteristics (mass, area of reflectivity, etc.)
• Attitude law
• Antenna parameters (Phase Centre Offsets (PCOs), Phase Centre Variations (PCVs)

This information is required to properly implement advanced processing algorithms for precise orbit determination or Precise Point Positioning (PPP). 

The updated information can be found under the ‘Support to Developers’ tab in the Galileo Satellite Metadata section. 

All questions and comments can be directed to the Galileo Helpdesk.

About the GSC

The GSC is run by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). It was created to act as an interface between the Galileo system and its end users. The aim of the GSC is to provide system users with relevant information on Galileo. Through the easy-to-use GSC web portal, Galileo users can access a Helpdesk dedicated to addressing a wide range of questions on the status of Galileo and its use. The GSC also actively provides support to R&D and industry from its centre of expertise, as well as hosts workshops and training sessions.

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).

Agriculture faces significant challenges, there is ever-increasing pressure on profit margins and farmers are also trying to produce food in the most sustainable way possible.

The AGRO SHOW in Bednary, near Poznan, is an opportunity for companies to showcase the latest technologies to help farmers work as efficiently as possible. Precision farming makes use of satellite technology allowing real-time management of crops, fields and animals. It helps to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of farming. This is underlined, for instance, by the “European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI). This Partnership was launched in 2012 by the European Commission (DG AGRI) to contribute to the European Union's 'Europe 2020' strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in which precision farming plays a key role.

The Bednary show focuses on arable farming. Combining sensor technologies with software linked to EGNOS and Galileo allows farmers to monitor and react to what is happening on the ground. Sensors can pick up on water, nutrient and pesticide levels. The technology will identify where product is needed and the best way to deliver this on the ground. It is also used for seeding and harvesting.

Most producers of agricultural vehicles have incorporated satellite receivers into their machinery to make sure they can offer the highest levels of productivity to farmers. We spoke to three companies to find out how they were making use of GNSS to help farmers.
‘Precision engineering is becoming more and more important in modern agriculture’

Karl Wilhelm Hundertmark, CLAAS Polska, spoke about the role of precision machinery in agriculture, which he said is becoming more and more important. He said that machines were now installed with standard informatics tools that, for example, help to manage fuel consumption and carry out early diagnosis of machine faults. CLAAS, like many manufacturers, install EGNOS as standard in all their agricultural vehicles and for ploughing and spraying it is particularly useful. For seeding, further accuracy is needed, down to as little as two to three centimetres.

Galileo enabled device for precision agriculture

Jerzy Koronczok, Agrocom Polska presented the software developed in the course of the Geopal H2020 project, which can be accessed through any computer. This tool also requires a small Galileo enabled device. This little box (see photo) is useful to all farmers, including small farmers, as it can be added to older machinery. It works with a tablet or smart phone and is a cost-effective solution to digitally document all the farm’s machinery and equipment. Movement and location are easily monitored through the application, which makes use of Galileo satellite signals. Free of charge in its basic version, farmers can tailor it to their specific needs. Farmers can also decide which additional components they need to buy, so that they only pay for what they really need.

‘Customers can save a lot of money on all agriculture products through technology’

Bogdan Kazimierczak, Product Sales Specialist with John Deere Polska, stood beside a large picture of a tractor on the moon! The image makes the point that precision farming tools use satellite information. Kazinierczak explained that these technologies save farmers a lot of money on fertilizers, pesticides and fuel. He said that even smaller farms of 75 hectares can make use of applications to help manage their properties as efficiently as possible.

Kazinierczak says that there are also benefits for the environment. Precision agriculture can reduce the risk of excess chemicals going into the ground by making use of section controls. For example, in an area where chemicals can’t be used, the system will be shut off and no chemicals will be sprayed. So, developments in the agriculture sector are showing that, as highlighted in a European Parliament study on precision agriculture, “suitable services from GNSS developments (Galileo) as a key feature of Precision Agriculture are a priority, but also more easily available data from remote sensing programmes (Copernicus) can be a stimulant to improving Precision Agriculture applications.”

So, it seems that exploiting the synergies between Galileo and Copernicus is the way forward for agriculture.

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).

Agriculture faces significant challenges, there is ever-increasing pressure on profit margins and farmers are also trying to produce food in the most sustainable way possible.

The AGRO SHOW in Bednary, near Poznan, is an opportunity for companies to showcase the latest technologies to help farmers work as efficiently as possible. Precision farming makes use of satellite technology allowing real-time management of crops, fields and animals. It helps to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of farming. This is underlined, for instance, by the “European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI). This Partnership was launched in 2012 by the European Commission (DG AGRI) to contribute to the European Union's 'Europe 2020' strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in which precision farming plays a key role.

The Bednary show focuses on arable farming. Combining sensor technologies with software linked to EGNOS and Galileo allows farmers to monitor and react to what is happening on the ground. Sensors can pick up on water, nutrient and pesticide levels. The technology will identify where product is needed and the best way to deliver this on the ground. It is also used for seeding and harvesting.

Most producers of agricultural vehicles have incorporated satellite receivers into their machinery to make sure they can offer the highest levels of productivity to farmers. We spoke to three companies to find out how they were making use of GNSS to help farmers.
‘Precision engineering is becoming more and more important in modern agriculture’

Karl Wilhelm Hundertmark, CLAAS Polska, spoke about the role of precision machinery in agriculture, which he said is becoming more and more important. He said that machines were now installed with standard informatics tools that, for example, help to manage fuel consumption and carry out early diagnosis of machine faults. CLAAS, like many manufacturers, install EGNOS as standard in all their agricultural vehicles and for ploughing and spraying it is particularly useful. For seeding, further accuracy is needed, down to as little as two to three centimetres.

Galileo enabled device for precision agriculture

Jerzy Koronczok, Agrocom Polska presented the software developed in the course of the Geopal H2020 project, which can be accessed through any computer. This tool also requires a small Galileo enabled device. This little box (see photo) is useful to all farmers, including small farmers, as it can be added to older machinery. It works with a tablet or smart phone and is a cost-effective solution to digitally document all the farm’s machinery and equipment. Movement and location are easily monitored through the application, which makes use of Galileo satellite signals. Free of charge in its basic version, farmers can tailor it to their specific needs. Farmers can also decide which additional components they need to buy, so that they only pay for what they really need.

‘Customers can save a lot of money on all agriculture products through technology’

Bogdan Kazimierczak, Product Sales Specialist with John Deere Polska, stood beside a large picture of a tractor on the moon! The image makes the point that precision farming tools use satellite information. Kazinierczak explained that these technologies save farmers a lot of money on fertilizers, pesticides and fuel. He said that even smaller farms of 75 hectares can make use of applications to help manage their properties as efficiently as possible.

Kazinierczak says that there are also benefits for the environment. Precision agriculture can reduce the risk of excess chemicals going into the ground by making use of section controls. For example, in an area where chemicals can’t be used, the system will be shut off and no chemicals will be sprayed. So, developments in the agriculture sector are showing that, as highlighted in a European Parliament study on precision agriculture, “suitable services from GNSS developments (Galileo) as a key feature of Precision Agriculture are a priority, but also more easily available data from remote sensing programmes (Copernicus) can be a stimulant to improving Precision Agriculture applications.”

So, it seems that exploiting the synergies between Galileo and Copernicus is the way forward for agriculture.

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).

Agriculture faces significant challenges, there is ever-increasing pressure on profit margins and farmers are also trying to produce food in the most sustainable way possible.

The AGRO SHOW in Bednary, near Poznan, is an opportunity for companies to showcase the latest technologies to help farmers work as efficiently as possible. Precision farming makes use of satellite technology allowing real-time management of crops, fields and animals. It helps to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of farming. This is underlined, for instance, by the “European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI). This Partnership was launched in 2012 by the European Commission (DG AGRI) to contribute to the European Union's 'Europe 2020' strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in which precision farming plays a key role.

The Bednary show focuses on arable farming. Combining sensor technologies with software linked to EGNOS and Galileo allows farmers to monitor and react to what is happening on the ground. Sensors can pick up on water, nutrient and pesticide levels. The technology will identify where product is needed and the best way to deliver this on the ground. It is also used for seeding and harvesting.

Most producers of agricultural vehicles have incorporated satellite receivers into their machinery to make sure they can offer the highest levels of productivity to farmers. We spoke to three companies to find out how they were making use of GNSS to help farmers.
‘Precision engineering is becoming more and more important in modern agriculture’

Karl Wilhelm Hundertmark, CLAAS Polska, spoke about the role of precision machinery in agriculture, which he said is becoming more and more important. He said that machines were now installed with standard informatics tools that, for example, help to manage fuel consumption and carry out early diagnosis of machine faults. CLAAS, like many manufacturers, install EGNOS as standard in all their agricultural vehicles and for ploughing and spraying it is particularly useful. For seeding, further accuracy is needed, down to as little as two to three centimetres.

Galileo enabled device for precision agriculture

Jerzy Koronczok, Agrocom Polska presented the software developed in the course of the Geopal H2020 project, which can be accessed through any computer. This tool also requires a small Galileo enabled device. This little box (see photo) is useful to all farmers, including small farmers, as it can be added to older machinery. It works with a tablet or smart phone and is a cost-effective solution to digitally document all the farm’s machinery and equipment. Movement and location are easily monitored through the application, which makes use of Galileo satellite signals. Free of charge in its basic version, farmers can tailor it to their specific needs. Farmers can also decide which additional components they need to buy, so that they only pay for what they really need.

‘Customers can save a lot of money on all agriculture products through technology’

Bogdan Kazimierczak, Product Sales Specialist with John Deere Polska, stood beside a large picture of a tractor on the moon! The image makes the point that precision farming tools use satellite information. Kazinierczak explained that these technologies save farmers a lot of money on fertilizers, pesticides and fuel. He said that even smaller farms of 75 hectares can make use of applications to help manage their properties as efficiently as possible.

Kazinierczak says that there are also benefits for the environment. Precision agriculture can reduce the risk of excess chemicals going into the ground by making use of section controls. For example, in an area where chemicals can’t be used, the system will be shut off and no chemicals will be sprayed. So, developments in the agriculture sector are showing that, as highlighted in a European Parliament study on precision agriculture, “suitable services from GNSS developments (Galileo) as a key feature of Precision Agriculture are a priority, but also more easily available data from remote sensing programmes (Copernicus) can be a stimulant to improving Precision Agriculture applications.”

So, it seems that exploiting the synergies between Galileo and Copernicus is the way forward for agriculture.

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).

Agriculture faces significant challenges, there is ever-increasing pressure on profit margins and farmers are also trying to produce food in the most sustainable way possible.

The AGRO SHOW in Bednary, near Poznan, is an opportunity for companies to showcase the latest technologies to help farmers work as efficiently as possible. Precision farming makes use of satellite technology allowing real-time management of crops, fields and animals. It helps to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of farming. This is underlined, for instance, by the “European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI). This Partnership was launched in 2012 by the European Commission (DG AGRI) to contribute to the European Union's 'Europe 2020' strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in which precision farming plays a key role.

The Bednary show focuses on arable farming. Combining sensor technologies with software linked to EGNOS and Galileo allows farmers to monitor and react to what is happening on the ground. Sensors can pick up on water, nutrient and pesticide levels. The technology will identify where product is needed and the best way to deliver this on the ground. It is also used for seeding and harvesting.

Most producers of agricultural vehicles have incorporated satellite receivers into their machinery to make sure they can offer the highest levels of productivity to farmers. We spoke to three companies to find out how they were making use of GNSS to help farmers.
‘Precision engineering is becoming more and more important in modern agriculture’

Karl Wilhelm Hundertmark, CLAAS Polska, spoke about the role of precision machinery in agriculture, which he said is becoming more and more important. He said that machines were now installed with standard informatics tools that, for example, help to manage fuel consumption and carry out early diagnosis of machine faults. CLAAS, like many manufacturers, install EGNOS as standard in all their agricultural vehicles and for ploughing and spraying it is particularly useful. For seeding, further accuracy is needed, down to as little as two to three centimetres.

Galileo enabled device for precision agriculture

Jerzy Koronczok, Agrocom Polska presented the software developed in the course of the Geopal H2020 project, which can be accessed through any computer. This tool also requires a small Galileo enabled device. This little box (see photo) is useful to all farmers, including small farmers, as it can be added to older machinery. It works with a tablet or smart phone and is a cost-effective solution to digitally document all the farm’s machinery and equipment. Movement and location are easily monitored through the application, which makes use of Galileo satellite signals. Free of charge in its basic version, farmers can tailor it to their specific needs. Farmers can also decide which additional components they need to buy, so that they only pay for what they really need.

‘Customers can save a lot of money on all agriculture products through technology’

Bogdan Kazimierczak, Product Sales Specialist with John Deere Polska, stood beside a large picture of a tractor on the moon! The image makes the point that precision farming tools use satellite information. Kazinierczak explained that these technologies save farmers a lot of money on fertilizers, pesticides and fuel. He said that even smaller farms of 75 hectares can make use of applications to help manage their properties as efficiently as possible.

Kazinierczak says that there are also benefits for the environment. Precision agriculture can reduce the risk of excess chemicals going into the ground by making use of section controls. For example, in an area where chemicals can’t be used, the system will be shut off and no chemicals will be sprayed. So, developments in the agriculture sector are showing that, as highlighted in a European Parliament study on precision agriculture, “suitable services from GNSS developments (Galileo) as a key feature of Precision Agriculture are a priority, but also more easily available data from remote sensing programmes (Copernicus) can be a stimulant to improving Precision Agriculture applications.”

So, it seems that exploiting the synergies between Galileo and Copernicus is the way forward for agriculture.

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).

Agriculture faces significant challenges, there is ever-increasing pressure on profit margins and farmers are also trying to produce food in the most sustainable way possible.

The AGRO SHOW in Bednary, near Poznan, is an opportunity for companies to showcase the latest technologies to help farmers work as efficiently as possible. Precision farming makes use of satellite technology allowing real-time management of crops, fields and animals. It helps to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of farming. This is underlined, for instance, by the “European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI). This Partnership was launched in 2012 by the European Commission (DG AGRI) to contribute to the European Union's 'Europe 2020' strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in which precision farming plays a key role.

The Bednary show focuses on arable farming. Combining sensor technologies with software linked to EGNOS and Galileo allows farmers to monitor and react to what is happening on the ground. Sensors can pick up on water, nutrient and pesticide levels. The technology will identify where product is needed and the best way to deliver this on the ground. It is also used for seeding and harvesting.

Most producers of agricultural vehicles have incorporated satellite receivers into their machinery to make sure they can offer the highest levels of productivity to farmers. We spoke to three companies to find out how they were making use of GNSS to help farmers.
‘Precision engineering is becoming more and more important in modern agriculture’

Karl Wilhelm Hundertmark, CLAAS Polska, spoke about the role of precision machinery in agriculture, which he said is becoming more and more important. He said that machines were now installed with standard informatics tools that, for example, help to manage fuel consumption and carry out early diagnosis of machine faults. CLAAS, like many manufacturers, install EGNOS as standard in all their agricultural vehicles and for ploughing and spraying it is particularly useful. For seeding, further accuracy is needed, down to as little as two to three centimetres.

Galileo enabled device for precision agriculture

Jerzy Koronczok, Agrocom Polska presented the software developed in the course of the Geopal H2020 project, which can be accessed through any computer. This tool also requires a small Galileo enabled device. This little box (see photo) is useful to all farmers, including small farmers, as it can be added to older machinery. It works with a tablet or smart phone and is a cost-effective solution to digitally document all the farm’s machinery and equipment. Movement and location are easily monitored through the application, which makes use of Galileo satellite signals. Free of charge in its basic version, farmers can tailor it to their specific needs. Farmers can also decide which additional components they need to buy, so that they only pay for what they really need.

‘Customers can save a lot of money on all agriculture products through technology’

Bogdan Kazimierczak, Product Sales Specialist with John Deere Polska, stood beside a large picture of a tractor on the moon! The image makes the point that precision farming tools use satellite information. Kazinierczak explained that these technologies save farmers a lot of money on fertilizers, pesticides and fuel. He said that even smaller farms of 75 hectares can make use of applications to help manage their properties as efficiently as possible.

Kazinierczak says that there are also benefits for the environment. Precision agriculture can reduce the risk of excess chemicals going into the ground by making use of section controls. For example, in an area where chemicals can’t be used, the system will be shut off and no chemicals will be sprayed. So, developments in the agriculture sector are showing that, as highlighted in a European Parliament study on precision agriculture, “suitable services from GNSS developments (Galileo) as a key feature of Precision Agriculture are a priority, but also more easily available data from remote sensing programmes (Copernicus) can be a stimulant to improving Precision Agriculture applications.”

So, it seems that exploiting the synergies between Galileo and Copernicus is the way forward for agriculture.

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).

The European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is defining the roadmap for the evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the EGNOS Service Releases of EGNOS V3 currently defined. Evolutions shall support the implementation of safer and more efficient aviation operations. In this sense, further evolutions of EGNOS services for aviation safety beyond 2025 could take any of the following three directions, either:

(1)    Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;

 (2)    Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;

 (3)    Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by improving the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The aims are to analyse and define the reasons motivating evolutions along those three axes beyond 2025, determine constraints and pre-requisites, and assess the added value to end users. The analysis shall consider each area separately and determine under what condition it would be beneficial for the programme to implement these services. The analysis shall focus on:

(1)    Identifying user requirements for each of these new services and how they translate into service requirements for EGNOS;

 (2)    Defining the associated regulatory constraints and safety analyses required before the service can be implemented operationally;

(3)    Analysing the added value for aviation end users and defining how the service could be provided, to enable a programmatic decision on which service should be implemented as a priority.

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is in charge of the technical supervision of the project on behalf of the European Commission.

More information about the invitation to tender can be found here.

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).

The European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is defining the roadmap for the evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the EGNOS Service Releases of EGNOS V3 currently defined. Evolutions shall support the implementation of safer and more efficient aviation operations. In this sense, further evolutions of EGNOS services for aviation safety beyond 2025 could take any of the following three directions, either:

(1)    Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;

 (2)    Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;

 (3)    Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by improving the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The aims are to analyse and define the reasons motivating evolutions along those three axes beyond 2025, determine constraints and pre-requisites, and assess the added value to end users. The analysis shall consider each area separately and determine under what condition it would be beneficial for the programme to implement these services. The analysis shall focus on:

(1)    Identifying user requirements for each of these new services and how they translate into service requirements for EGNOS;

 (2)    Defining the associated regulatory constraints and safety analyses required before the service can be implemented operationally;

(3)    Analysing the added value for aviation end users and defining how the service could be provided, to enable a programmatic decision on which service should be implemented as a priority.

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is in charge of the technical supervision of the project on behalf of the European Commission.

More information about the invitation to tender can be found here.

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).

The European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is defining the roadmap for the evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the EGNOS Service Releases of EGNOS V3 currently defined. Evolutions shall support the implementation of safer and more efficient aviation operations. In this sense, further evolutions of EGNOS services for aviation safety beyond 2025 could take any of the following three directions, either:

(1)    Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;

 (2)    Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;

 (3)    Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by improving the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The aims are to analyse and define the reasons motivating evolutions along those three axes beyond 2025, determine constraints and pre-requisites, and assess the added value to end users. The analysis shall consider each area separately and determine under what condition it would be beneficial for the programme to implement these services. The analysis shall focus on:

(1)    Identifying user requirements for each of these new services and how they translate into service requirements for EGNOS;

 (2)    Defining the associated regulatory constraints and safety analyses required before the service can be implemented operationally;

(3)    Analysing the added value for aviation end users and defining how the service could be provided, to enable a programmatic decision on which service should be implemented as a priority.

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is in charge of the technical supervision of the project on behalf of the European Commission.

More information about the invitation to tender can be found here.

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).

The European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is defining the roadmap for the evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the EGNOS Service Releases of EGNOS V3 currently defined. Evolutions shall support the implementation of safer and more efficient aviation operations. In this sense, further evolutions of EGNOS services for aviation safety beyond 2025 could take any of the following three directions, either:

• (1)    Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;
• (2)    Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;
• (3)    Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by reducing the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The aims are to analyse and define the reasons motivating evolutions along those three axes beyond 2025, determine constraints and pre-requisites, and assess the added value to end users. The analysis shall consider each area separately and determine under what condition it would be beneficial for the programme to implement these services. The analysis shall focus on:

• (1)    Identifying user requirements for each of these new services and how they translate into service requirements for EGNOS;
• (2)    Defining the associated regulatory constraints and safety analyses required before the service can be implemented operationally;
• (3)    Analysing the added value for aviation end users and defining how the service could be provided, to enable a programmatic decision on which service should be implemented as a priority.

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is in charge of the technical supervision of the project on behalf of the European Commission.

More information about the ITT can be found here.

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).

The European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is defining the roadmap for the evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the EGNOS Service Releases of EGNOS V3 currently defined. Evolutions shall support the implementation of safer and more efficient aviation operations. In this sense, further evolutions of EGNOS services for aviation safety beyond 2025 could take any of the following three directions, either:

(1)    Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;

 (2)    Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;

 (3)    Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by reducing the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The aims are to analyse and define the reasons motivating evolutions along those three axes beyond 2025, determine constraints and pre-requisites, and assess the added value to end users. The analysis shall consider each area separately and determine under what condition it would be beneficial for the programme to implement these services. The analysis shall focus on:

(1)    Identifying user requirements for each of these new services and how they translate into service requirements for EGNOS;

 (2)    Defining the associated regulatory constraints and safety analyses required before the service can be implemented operationally;

(3)    Analysing the added value for aviation end users and defining how the service could be provided, to enable a programmatic decision on which service should be implemented as a priority.

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is in charge of the technical supervision of the project on behalf of the European Commission.

More information about the invitation to tender can be found here.

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).

The European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is defining the roadmap for the evolution of the EGNOS programme beyond the EGNOS Service Releases of EGNOS V3 currently defined. Evolutions shall support the implementation of safer and more efficient aviation operations. In this sense, further evolutions of EGNOS services for aviation safety beyond 2025 could take any of the following three directions, either:

(1)    Enlarge the provision of EGNOS services to Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) beyond navigation, notably to address surveillance (ADS-B) and possibly support timing services for communication systems; this approach is aligned with the vision of integrated CNS;

 (2)    Provide additional features to increase the robustness against external intentional or unintentional threats/attacks to the EGNOS navigation service, for instance by adding authentication to GNSS signals or ad hoc features at antenna and receiver level;

 (3)    Enhance the navigation, positioning and/or timing performance provided at user level, for instance by improving the vertical position accuracy and the time-to-alert to enable supporting Cat-II approach procedures.

The aims are to analyse and define the reasons motivating evolutions along those three axes beyond 2025, determine constraints and pre-requisites, and assess the added value to end users. The analysis shall consider each area separately and determine under what condition it would be beneficial for the programme to implement these services. The analysis shall focus on:

(1)    Identifying user requirements for each of these new services and how they translate into service requirements for EGNOS;

 (2)    Defining the associated regulatory constraints and safety analyses required before the service can be implemented operationally;

(3)    Analysing the added value for aviation end users and defining how the service could be provided, to enable a programmatic decision on which service should be implemented as a priority.

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is in charge of the technical supervision of the project on behalf of the European Commission.

More information about the invitation to tender can be found here.

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).

To identify timing service needs that are not yet being met by the EGNSS basic time service, the ‘DEMonstrator of EGNSS services based on Time Reference Architecture’ (DEMETRA) project developed a prototype of an EGNSS-based time disseminator that provides time certification, redundancy, resilience, integrity, and improved accuracy, while validating the concept of ‘time as a service’.

The overarching goal of the DEMETRA project was to promote the use of EGNSS (EGNOS and Galileo) by enhancing and augmenting its timing service characteristics. To ensure that the needs of timing and synchronisation users were incorporated into the project design, the developers engaged with these end-users to design a system to demonstrate new or advanced timing services based on a common infrastructure that is scalable, robust, and continuously monitored.

Nine different time services were developed and integrated in the demonstrator, with varying degrees of technical and commercial maturity, based on the European GNSS basic timing service, which was complemented by other independent time transfer technologies. The services tested were:

1. Time Broadcasting over TV/Radio Links;
2. Certified Trusted Time Distribution using the Network Time Protocol (NTP);
3. Time & Frequency Distribution over Optical Link;
4. Time & Frequency Distribution via GEO Satellite;
5. User GNSS Receiver Calibration;
6. Certified Time Steering;
7. Time Monitoring and Steering;
8. Time Integrity; and an
9. All-in-one Time Synchronisation Solution.

These services could become the basis for European timing standards, making timing of critical European infrastructure independent from GPS and fostering the dissemination of EGNSS-based common standardised time services throughout Europe.

Watch this: DEMETRA: Time as a Service

Main features

The project demonstrated the feasibility of delivering early EGNSS timing services to end users by utilising an operational prototype of a Galileo Time Services Provider (TSP) which could provide timing products to the Galileo system while also providing additional time services to other external customers.

The demonstrator was built around the concept of a common core infrastructure hosting advanced time services and delivering common services. These include time services monitoring, reference time, managing a centralised TSP database, and offering public and private web services such as the provision of TSP information for the general public and usage data and KPI for subscribed users. The demonstrator was deployed as an open and scalable architecture with common interfaces, making it easier to integrate new time services in the future.

This allows service developers to focus on performance at user level.

Galileo Time Services Provider

An eye on the market

There is significant untapped potential on the market for timing services, with some users already requiring these services and others about to reach a maturity level at which they will require them in the near future. The project conducted a Timing Service User Needs Analysis to identify the timing needs of end-users in market sectors as diverse as agriculture, energy, finance, media, science, surveying, telecommunications and transport.

This analysis concluded that the finance, energy and telecommunications markets have the greatest short-term commercial potential for the delivery of timing services. Synchronisation monitoring, accuracy, certification and availability were found to be the key areas where timing services are required in these three markets.

Each market is already served by existing solutions, but these mainly concentrate on the delivery of accurate time and focus less on monitoring, certification of time sources and availability of time. To ensure that the needs of the market are met, specific business plans will be rolled out for each DEMETRA service. These will vary considerably based on the maturity of the service and the applicability of the service to each market.

For more information, click here.

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).

To identify timing service needs that are not yet being met by the EGNSS basic time service, the ‘DEMonstrator of EGNSS services based on Time Reference Architecture’ (DEMETRA) project developed a prototype of an EGNSS-based time disseminator that provides time certification, redundancy, resilience, integrity, and improved accuracy, while validating the concept of ‘time as a service’.

The overarching goal of the DEMETRA project was to promote the use of EGNSS (EGNOS and Galileo) by enhancing and augmenting its timing service characteristics. To ensure that the needs of timing and synchronisation users were incorporated into the project design, the developers engaged with these end-users to design a system to demonstrate new or advanced timing services based on a common infrastructure that is scalable, robust, and continuously monitored.

Nine different time services were developed and integrated in the demonstrator, with varying degrees of technical and commercial maturity, based on the European GNSS basic timing service, which was complemented by other independent time transfer technologies. The services tested were:

1. Time Broadcasting over TV/Radio Links;
2. Certified Trusted Time Distribution using the Network Time Protocol (NTP);
3. Time & Frequency Distribution over Optical Link;
4. Time & Frequency Distribution via GEO Satellite;
5. User GNSS Receiver Calibration;
6. Certified Time Steering;
7. Time Monitoring and Steering;
8. Time Integrity; and an
9. All-in-one Time Synchronisation Solution.

These services could become the basis for European timing standards, making timing of critical European infrastructure independent from GPS and fostering the dissemination of EGNSS-based common standardised time services throughout Europe.

Watch this: DEMETRA: Time as a Service

Main features

The project demonstrated the feasibility of delivering early EGNSS timing services to end users by utilising an operational prototype of a Galileo Time Services Provider (TSP) which could provide timing products to the Galileo system while also providing additional time services to other external customers.

The demonstrator was built around the concept of a common core infrastructure hosting advanced time services and delivering common services. These include time services monitoring, reference time, managing a centralised TSP database, and offering public and private web services such as the provision of TSP information for the general public and usage data and KPI for subscribed users. The demonstrator was deployed as an open and scalable architecture with common interfaces, making it easier to integrate new time services in the future.

This allows service developers to focus on performance at user level.

Galileo Time Services Provider

An eye on the market

There is significant untapped potential on the market for timing services, with some users already requiring these services and others about to reach a maturity level at which they will require them in the near future. The project conducted a Timing Service User Needs Analysis to identify the timing needs of end-users in market sectors as diverse as agriculture, energy, finance, media, science, surveying, telecommunications and transport.

This analysis concluded that the finance, energy and telecommunications markets have the greatest short-term commercial potential for the delivery of timing services. Synchronisation monitoring, accuracy, certification and availability were found to be the key areas where timing services are required in these three markets.

Each market is already served by existing solutions, but these mainly concentrate on the delivery of accurate time and focus less on monitoring, certification of time sources and availability of time. To ensure that the needs of the market are met, specific business plans will be rolled out for each DEMETRA service. These will vary considerably based on the maturity of the service and the applicability of the service to each market.

For more information, click here.

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).

To identify timing service needs that are not yet being met by the EGNSS basic time service, the ‘DEMonstrator of EGNSS services based on Time Reference Architecture’ (DEMETRA) project developed a prototype of an EGNSS-based time disseminator that provides time certification, redundancy, resilience, integrity, and improved accuracy, while validating the concept of ‘time as a service’.

The overarching goal of the DEMETRA project was to promote the use of EGNSS (EGNOS and Galileo) by enhancing and augmenting its timing service characteristics. To ensure that the needs of timing and synchronisation users were incorporated into the project design, the developers engaged with these end-users to design a system to demonstrate new or advanced timing services based on a common infrastructure that is scalable, robust, and continuously monitored.

Nine different time services were developed and integrated in the demonstrator, with varying degrees of technical and commercial maturity, based on the European GNSS basic timing service, which was complemented by other independent time transfer technologies. The services tested were:

1. Time Broadcasting over TV/Radio Links;
2. Certified Trusted Time Distribution using the Network Time Protocol (NTP);
3. Time & Frequency Distribution over Optical Link;
4. Time & Frequency Distribution via GEO Satellite;
5. User GNSS Receiver Calibration;
6. Certified Time Steering;
7. Time Monitoring and Steering;
8. Time Integrity; and an
9. All-in-one Time Synchronisation Solution.

These services could become the basis for European timing standards, making timing of critical European infrastructure independent from GPS and fostering the dissemination of EGNSS-based common standardised time services throughout Europe.

Watch this: DEMETRA: Time as a Service

Main features

The project demonstrated the feasibility of delivering early EGNSS timing services to end users by utilising an operational prototype of a Galileo Time Services Provider (TSP) which could provide timing products to the Galileo system while also providing additional time services to other external customers.

The demonstrator was built around the concept of a common core infrastructure hosting advanced time services and delivering common services. These include time services monitoring, reference time, managing a centralised TSP database, and offering public and private web services such as the provision of TSP information for the general public and usage data and KPI for subscribed users. The demonstrator was deployed as an open and scalable architecture with common interfaces, making it easier to integrate new time services in the future.

This allows service developers to focus on performance at user level.

Galileo Time Services Provider

An eye on the market

There is significant untapped potential on the market for timing services, with some users already requiring these services and others about to reach a maturity level at which they will require them in the near future. The project conducted a Timing Service User Needs Analysis to identify the timing needs of end-users in market sectors as diverse as agriculture, energy, finance, media, science, surveying, telecommunications and transport.

This analysis concluded that the finance, energy and telecommunications markets have the greatest short-term commercial potential for the delivery of timing services. Synchronisation monitoring, accuracy, certification and availability were found to be the key areas where timing services are required in these three markets.

Each market is already served by existing solutions, but these mainly concentrate on the delivery of accurate time and focus less on monitoring, certification of time sources and availability of time. To ensure that the needs of the market are met, specific business plans will be rolled out for each DEMETRA service. These will vary considerably based on the maturity of the service and the applicability of the service to each market.

For more information, click here.

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).

To identify timing service needs that are not yet being met by the EGNSS basic time service, the ‘DEMonstrator of EGNSS services based on Time Reference Architecture’ (DEMETRA) project developed a prototype of an EGNSS-based time disseminator that provides time certification, redundancy, resilience, integrity, and improved accuracy, while validating the concept of ‘time as a service’.

The overarching goal of the DEMETRA project was to promote the use of EGNSS (EGNOS and Galileo) by enhancing and augmenting its timing service characteristics. To ensure that the needs of timing and synchronisation users were incorporated into the project design, the developers engaged with these end-users to design a system to demonstrate new or advanced timing services based on a common infrastructure that is scalable, robust, and continuously monitored.

Nine different time services were developed and integrated in the demonstrator, with varying degrees of technical and commercial maturity, based on the European GNSS basic timing service, which was complemented by other independent time transfer technologies. The services tested were:

1. Time Broadcasting over TV/Radio Links;
2. Certified Trusted Time Distribution using the Network Time Protocol (NTP);
3. Time & Frequency Distribution over Optical Link;
4. Time & Frequency Distribution via GEO Satellite;
5. User GNSS Receiver Calibration;
6. Certified Time Steering;
7. Time Monitoring and Steering;
8. Time Integrity; and an
9. All-in-one Time Synchronisation Solution.

These services could become the basis for European timing standards, making timing of critical European infrastructure independent from GPS and fostering the dissemination of EGNSS-based common standardised time services throughout Europe.

Watch this: DEMETRA: Time as a Service

Main features

The project demonstrated the feasibility of delivering early EGNSS timing services to end users by utilising an operational prototype of a Galileo Time Services Provider (TSP) which could provide timing products to the Galileo system while also providing additional time services to other external customers.

The demonstrator was built around the concept of a common core infrastructure hosting advanced time services and delivering common services. These include time services monitoring, reference time, managing a centralised TSP database, and offering public and private web services such as the provision of TSP information for the general public and usage data and KPI for subscribed users. The demonstrator was deployed as an open and scalable architecture with common interfaces, making it easier to integrate new time services in the future.

This allows service developers to focus on performance at user level.

Galileo Time Services Provider

An eye on the market

There is significant untapped potential on the market for timing services, with some users already requiring these services and others about to reach a maturity level at which they will require them in the near future. The project conducted a Timing Service User Needs Analysis to identify the timing needs of end-users in market sectors as diverse as agriculture, energy, finance, media, science, surveying, telecommunications and transport.

This analysis concluded that the finance, energy and telecommunications markets have the greatest short-term commercial potential for the delivery of timing services. Synchronisation monitoring, accuracy, certification and availability were found to be the key areas where timing services are required in these three markets.

Each market is already served by existing solutions, but these mainly concentrate on the delivery of accurate time and focus less on monitoring, certification of time sources and availability of time. To ensure that the needs of the market are met, specific business plans will be rolled out for each DEMETRA service. These will vary considerably based on the maturity of the service and the applicability of the service to each market.

For more information, click here.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until December 1 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until November 30 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until November 30 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until November 30 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until December 1 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until November 30 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until December 1 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until December 1 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

With the 2017 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) aims to gain a clearer picture of the requirements of EGNOS users so it can improve EGNOS service delivery.

The GSA, along with the European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), has launched the 2017 edition of its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. In conducting this survey, the GSA and ESSP aim to gain a better understanding of EGNOS’ value to users, with a view to providing better customer service.

The survey will be open to EGNOS users until December 1 and only takes a few moments to complete.

You can access the survey here.

The survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the ESSP’s management of EGNOS User Support Services. All EGNOS users are strongly encouraged to participate, regardless of the market segment in which they operate.

The 2016 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey showed a positive trend, with user satisfaction increased substantially compared with 2015. These results will be presented in full at the EGNOS Workshop, which is to be held in Athens, Greece, on 3-4 October, 2017.

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).

Galileo’s success will depend in a large part on its penetration of the LBS and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) markets. However, as the LBS market is already dominated by such heavy hitters as Google and Apple, the European GNSS industry is turning its focus to building a competitive M2M market founded on EU-based location enablers (i.e., EGNOS and Galileo). Machine-to-machine refers to the direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless.

“Having the knowledge of a device’s location is becoming increasing crucial in today’s high-tech world,” says ELAASTIC Project Coordinator Yves Capelle. “As smartphones, vehicles, mobile assets become location aware, a whole new world of opportunities opens up, from urban maintenance, to logistics and location-based marketing.”

Also read: Galileo set to power LBS applications in Europe

According to Capelle, this increased reliance on location has created a need for these devices to provide a consistent and reliable location experience. “Developing applications by themselves will fail to carve out EGNSS’ market share,” he says. “To succeed, we first needed to develop the proper location enablers by combining location technologies and integrating EGNSS’ added value.”

How it works

The GSA-funded H2020 ELAASTIC project delivers exactly this type of complete integration of Location as a Service (LaaS). Now, when a device equipped with ELAASTIC technology needs to compute its location, it sends a request to the ELAASTIC server in order to get GNSS assistance data. The server elaborates the set of assistance data corresponding to the request and then sends it back to the device.

Also read: European GNSS at the heart of Europe’s industrial agenda

Capelle adds that if the device also sends the identification of the Wi-Fi access points (APs), then the ELAASTIC server can send back the Wi-Fi AP’s position. “This allows the ELAASTIC software within the device to combine both GNSS and Wi-Fi measurements, thus enhancing the computation in terms of accuracy and availability,” he adds. As the LaaS server is connected to an EGNOS receiver, it also provides differential corrections for GPS.

Furthermore, ELAASTIC technology provides specific algorithms for Galileo-enabled chipsets, allowing them to get a better accuracy on location and better sensitivity on tracking. By taking advantage of Galileo signal modulations, these specific algorithms provide enhanced resilience to multi-path effects and better integrity.

Empowering high-performance applications  

With ELAASTIC, in at least 90% of cases, the position accuracy of a device is around 1.5 meters, and the position is available nearly everywhere in the urban environment (see graph below). “This opens the door to a number of user applications that require a very high level of performance,” says Capelle. These applications range from urban maintenance to guidance of visually impaired people and Advanced Driver Assistance Service for cars (ADAS) – to name only a few of the many benefits enabled by the ELAASTIC project. 

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).

Galileo’s success will depend in a large part on its penetration of the LBS and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) markets. However, as the LBS market is already dominated by such heavy hitters as Google and Apple, the European GNSS industry is turning its focus to building a competitive M2M market founded on EU-based location enablers (i.e., EGNOS and Galileo). Machine-to-machine refers to the direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless.

“Having the knowledge of a device’s location is becoming increasing crucial in today’s high-tech world,” says ELAASTIC Project Coordinator Yves Capelle. “As smartphones, vehicles, mobile assets become location aware, a whole new world of opportunities opens up, from urban maintenance, to logistics and location-based marketing.”

Also read: Galileo set to power LBS applications in Europe

According to Capelle, this increased reliance on location has created a need for these devices to provide a consistent and reliable location experience. “Developing applications by themselves will fail to carve out EGNSS’ market share,” he says. “To succeed, we first needed to develop the proper location enablers by combining location technologies and integrating EGNSS’ added value.”

How it works

The GSA-funded H2020 ELAASTIC project delivers exactly this type of complete integration of Location as a Service (LaaS). Now, when a device equipped with ELAASTIC technology needs to compute its location, it sends a request to the ELAASTIC server in order to get GNSS assistance data. The server elaborates the set of assistance data corresponding to the request and then sends it back to the device.

Also read: European GNSS at the heart of Europe’s industrial agenda

Capelle adds that if the device also sends the identification of the Wi-Fi access points (APs), then the ELAASTIC server can send back the Wi-Fi AP’s position. “This allows the ELAASTIC software within the device to combine both GNSS and Wi-Fi measurements, thus enhancing the computation in terms of accuracy and availability,” he adds. As the LaaS server is connected to an EGNOS receiver, it also provides differential corrections for GPS.

Furthermore, ELAASTIC technology provides specific algorithms for Galileo-enabled chipsets, allowing them to get a better accuracy on location and better sensitivity on tracking. By taking advantage of Galileo signal modulations, these specific algorithms provide enhanced resilience to multi-path effects and better integrity.

Empowering high-performance applications  

With ELAASTIC, in at least 90% of cases, the position accuracy of a device is around 1.5 meters, and the position is available nearly everywhere in the urban environment (see graph below). “This opens the door to a number of user applications that require a very high level of performance,” says Capelle. These applications range from urban maintenance to guidance of visually impaired people and Advanced Driver Assistance Service for cars (ADAS) – to name only a few of the many benefits enabled by the ELAASTIC project. 

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).

Galileo’s success will depend in a large part on its penetration of the LBS and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) markets. However, as the LBS market is already dominated by such heavy hitters as Google and Apple, the European GNSS industry is turning its focus to building a competitive M2M market founded on EU-based location enablers (i.e., EGNOS and Galileo). Machine-to-machine refers to the direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless.

“Having the knowledge of a device’s location is becoming increasing crucial in today’s high-tech world,” says ELAASTIC Project Coordinator Yves Capelle. “As smartphones, vehicles, mobile assets become location aware, a whole new world of opportunities opens up, from urban maintenance, to logistics and location-based marketing.”

Also read: Galileo set to power LBS applications in Europe

According to Capelle, this increased reliance on location has created a need for these devices to provide a consistent and reliable location experience. “Developing applications by themselves will fail to carve out EGNSS’ market share,” he says. “To succeed, we first needed to develop the proper location enablers by combining location technologies and integrating EGNSS’ added value.”

How it works

The GSA-funded H2020 ELAASTIC project delivers exactly this type of complete integration of Location as a Service (LaaS). Now, when a device equipped with ELAASTIC technology needs to compute its location, it sends a request to the ELAASTIC server in order to get GNSS assistance data. The server elaborates the set of assistance data corresponding to the request and then sends it back to the device.

Also read: European GNSS at the heart of Europe’s industrial agenda

Capelle adds that if the device also sends the identification of the Wi-Fi access points (APs), then the ELAASTIC server can send back the Wi-Fi AP’s position. “This allows the ELAASTIC software within the device to combine both GNSS and Wi-Fi measurements, thus enhancing the computation in terms of accuracy and availability,” he adds. As the LaaS server is connected to an EGNOS receiver, it also provides differential corrections for GPS.

Furthermore, ELAASTIC technology provides specific algorithms for Galileo-enabled chipsets, allowing them to get a better accuracy on location and better sensitivity on tracking. By taking advantage of Galileo signal modulations, these specific algorithms provide enhanced resilience to multi-path effects and better integrity.

Empowering high-performance applications  

With ELAASTIC, in at least 90% of cases, the position accuracy of a device is around 1.5 meters, and the position is available nearly everywhere in the urban environment (see graph below). “This opens the door to a number of user applications that require a very high level of performance,” says Capelle. These applications range from urban maintenance to guidance of visually impaired people and Advanced Driver Assistance Service for cars (ADAS) – to name only a few of the many benefits enabled by the ELAASTIC project. 

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).

Galileo’s success will depend in a large part on its penetration of the LBS and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) markets. However, as the LBS market is already dominated by such heavy hitters as Google and Apple, the European GNSS industry is turning its focus to building a competitive M2M market founded on EU-based location enablers (i.e., EGNOS and Galileo). Machine-to-machine refers to the direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless.

“Having the knowledge of a device’s location is becoming increasing crucial in today’s high-tech world,” says ELAASTIC Project Coordinator Yves Capelle. “As smartphones, vehicles, mobile assets become location aware, a whole new world of opportunities opens up, from urban maintenance, to logistics and location-based marketing.”

Also read: Galileo set to power LBS applications in Europe

According to Capelle, this increased reliance on location has created a need for these devices to provide a consistent and reliable location experience. “Developing applications by themselves will fail to carve out EGNSS’ market share,” he says. “To succeed, we first needed to develop the proper location enablers by combining location technologies and integrating EGNSS’ added value.”

How it works

The GSA-funded H2020 ELAASTIC project delivers exactly this type of complete integration of Location as a Service (LaaS). Now, when a device equipped with ELAASTIC technology needs to compute its location, it sends a request to the ELAASTIC server in order to get GNSS assistance data. The server elaborates the set of assistance data corresponding to the request and then sends it back to the device.

Also read: European GNSS at the heart of Europe’s industrial agenda

Capelle adds that if the device also sends the identification of the Wi-Fi access points (APs), then the ELAASTIC server can send back the Wi-Fi AP’s position. “This allows the ELAASTIC software within the device to combine both GNSS and Wi-Fi measurements, thus enhancing the computation in terms of accuracy and availability,” he adds. As the LaaS server is connected to an EGNOS receiver, it also provides differential corrections for GPS.

Furthermore, ELAASTIC technology provides specific algorithms for Galileo-enabled chipsets, allowing them to get a better accuracy on location and better sensitivity on tracking. By taking advantage of Galileo signal modulations, these specific algorithms provide enhanced resilience to multi-path effects and better integrity.

Empowering high-performance applications  

With ELAASTIC, in at least 90% of cases, the position accuracy of a device is around 1.5 meters, and the position is available nearly everywhere in the urban environment (see graph below). “This opens the door to a number of user applications that require a very high level of performance,” says Capelle. These applications range from urban maintenance to guidance of visually impaired people and Advanced Driver Assistance Service for cars (ADAS) – to name only a few of the many benefits enabled by the ELAASTIC project. 

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).

Galileo’s success will depend in a large part on its penetration of the LBS and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) markets. However, as the LBS market is already dominated by such heavy hitters as Google and Apple, the European GNSS industry is turning its focus to building a competitive M2M market founded on EU-based location enablers (i.e., EGNOS and Galileo). Machine-to-machine refers to the direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless.

“Having the knowledge of a device’s location is becoming increasing crucial in today’s high-tech world,” says ELAASTIC Project Coordinator Yves Capelle. “As smartphones, vehicles, mobile assets become location aware, a whole new world of opportunities opens up, from urban maintenance, to logistics and location-based marketing.”

Also read: Galileo set to power LBS applications in Europe

According to Capelle, this increased reliance on location has created a need for these devices to provide a consistent and reliable location experience. “Developing applications by themselves will fail to carve out EGNSS’ market share,” he says. “To succeed, we first needed to develop the proper location enablers by combining location technologies and integrating EGNSS’ added value.”

How it works

The GSA-funded H2020 ELAASTIC project delivers exactly this type of complete integration of Location as a Service (LaaS). Now, when a device equipped with ELAASTIC technology needs to compute its location, it sends a request to the ELAASTIC server in order to get GNSS assistance data. The server elaborates the set of assistance data corresponding to the request and then sends it back to the device.

Also read: European GNSS at the heart of Europe’s industrial agenda

Capelle adds that if the device also sends the identification of the Wi-Fi access points (APs), then the ELAASTIC server can send back the Wi-Fi AP’s position. “This allows the ELAASTIC software within the device to combine both GNSS and Wi-Fi measurements, thus enhancing the computation in terms of accuracy and availability,” he adds. As the LaaS server is connected to an EGNOS receiver, it also provides differential corrections for GPS.

Furthermore, ELAASTIC technology provides specific algorithms for Galileo-enabled chipsets, allowing them to get a better accuracy on location and better sensitivity on tracking. By taking advantage of Galileo signal modulations, these specific algorithms provide enhanced resilience to multi-path effects and better integrity.

Empowering high-performance applications  

With ELAASTIC, in at least 90% of cases, the position accuracy of a device is around 1.5 meters, and the position is available nearly everywhere in the urban environment (see graph below). “This opens the door to a number of user applications that require a very high level of performance,” says Capelle. These applications range from urban maintenance to guidance of visually impaired people and Advanced Driver Assistance Service for cars (ADAS) – to name only a few of the many benefits enabled by the ELAASTIC project. 

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).

Are GNSS raw measurements in consumer devices just a playground for scientists, or do they represent a real market opportunity? To find out, join the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and a panel of industry experts as they discuss the topic on 28 September at ION GNSS+ 2017.

With a smartphone featuring Android 7.0 (i.e., Nougat), users now have access to raw GNSS measurements. This feature opens the door to higher-accuracy and the development of algorithms once restricted to more advanced GNSS receivers. This new capability also allows users to fully benefit from the special features offered by Galileo, and to combine it with other constellations in the most efficient way.

Although Nougat makes accessing raw data easier, using it remains a challenge. In fact, its use remains largely limited to research centres, universities and GNSS experts – which raises the question: is there real market opportunity in GNSS raw measurements or is it simply a playground for scientists and experts?

White Paper on using GNSS raw measurements

To answer this question, the GSA launched the Raw Measurements Task Force. Comprised of GNSS experts, scientists and market players, the Task Force aims to foster a wider use of these raw measurements. Their White Paper, set to be published soon, will provide application developers with a range of tools, including practical tips and innovative ideas on how to take full advantage of GNSS raw measurements.

Join us at ION GNSS+ 2017

Join the GSA and Frank van Diggelen (Google), Mark Dumville (NSL), Moises Navarro (Astrium) and Lukasz Bonenberg (University of Nottingham) for a preview of the White Paper and an interactive discussion on such topics as: 

• Tips and innovative ideas on using GNSS raw measurements
• Results from tests using raw measurements conducted by different experts
• Advice on how to ensure the use of Galileo in smart¬phone applications
• Expert insights on the challenges and opportunities of GNSS raw measurements

Moderated by Fiammetta Diani, GSA Deputy Head of Market Development, the session will take place on Thursday September 28 from 2:00 – 2:45pm in Room C120-122 during ION GNSS+ 2017, held in Portland, Oregon (USA). To learn more about the session, click here and to register for the event click here.

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).

Are GNSS raw measurements in consumer devices just a playground for scientists, or do they represent a real market opportunity? To find out, join the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and a panel of industry experts as they discuss the topic on 28 September at ION GNSS+ 2017.

With a smartphone featuring Android 7.0 (i.e., Nougat), users now have access to raw GNSS measurements. This feature opens the door to higher-accuracy and the development of algorithms once restricted to more advanced GNSS receivers. This new capability also allows users to fully benefit from the special features offered by Galileo, and to combine it with other constellations in the most efficient way.

Although Nougat makes accessing raw data easier, using it remains a challenge. In fact, its use remains largely limited to research centres, universities and GNSS experts – which raises the question: is there real market opportunity in GNSS raw measurements or is it simply a playground for scientists and experts?

White Paper on using GNSS raw measurements

To answer this question, the GSA launched the Raw Measurements Task Force. Comprised of GNSS experts, scientists and market players, the Task Force aims to foster a wider use of these raw measurements. Their White Paper, set to be published soon, will provide applica¬tion developers with a range of tools, including practical tips and innovative ideas on how to take full advantage of GNSS raw measurements.

Join us at ION GNSS+ 2017

Join the GSA and Frank van Diggelen (Google), Mark Dumville (NSL), Moises Navarro (Astrium) and Lukasz Bonenberg (University of Nottingham) for a preview of the White Paper and an interactive discussion on such topics as: 

• Tips and innovative ideas on using GNSS raw measurements
• Results from tests using raw measurements conducted by different experts
• Advice on how to ensure the use of Galileo in smart¬phone applications
• Expert insights on the challenges and opportunities of GNSS raw measurements

Moderated by Fiammetta Diani, GSA Deputy Head of Market Development, the session will take place on Thursday September 28 from 2:00 – 2:45pm in Room C120-122 during ION GNSS+ 2017, held in Portland, Oregon (USA). You can register for the event here.

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).

Are GNSS raw measurements in consumer devices just a playground for scientists, or do they represent a real market opportunity? To find out, join the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and a panel of industry experts as they discuss the topic on 28 September at ION GNSS+ 2017.

With a smartphone featuring Android 7.0 (i.e., Nougat), users now have access to raw GNSS measurements. This feature opens the door to higher-accuracy and the development of algorithms once restricted to more advanced GNSS receivers. This new capability also allows users to fully benefit from the special features offered by Galileo, and to combine it with other constellations in the most efficient way.

Although Nougat makes accessing raw data easier, using it remains a challenge. In fact, its use remains largely limited to research centres, universities and GNSS experts – which raises the question: is there real market opportunity in GNSS raw measurements or is it simply a playground for scientists and experts?

White Paper on using GNSS raw measurements

To answer this question, the GSA launched the Raw Measurements Task Force. Comprised of GNSS experts, scientists and market players, the Task Force aims to foster a wider use of these raw measurements. Their White Paper, set to be published soon, will provide application developers with a range of tools, including practical tips and innovative ideas on how to take full advantage of GNSS raw measurements.

Join us at ION GNSS+ 2017

Join the GSA and Frank van Diggelen (Google), Mark Dumville (NSL), Moises Navarro (Astrium) and Lukasz Bonenberg (University of Nottingham) for a preview of the White Paper and an interactive discussion on such topics as: 

• Tips and innovative ideas on using GNSS raw measurements
• Results from tests using raw measurements conducted by different experts
• Advice on how to ensure the use of Galileo in smart¬phone applications
• Expert insights on the challenges and opportunities of GNSS raw measurements

Moderated by Fiammetta Diani, GSA Deputy Head of Market Development, the session will take place on Thursday September 28 from 2:00 – 2:45pm in Room C120-122 during ION GNSS+ 2017, held in Portland, Oregon (USA). To learn more about the session, click here and to register for the event click here.

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).

Are GNSS raw measurements in consumer devices just a playground for scientists, or do they represent a real market opportunity? To find out, join the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and a panel of industry experts as they discuss the topic on 28 September at ION GNSS+ 2017.

With a smartphone featuring Android 7.0 (i.e., Nougat), users now have access to raw GNSS measurements. This feature opens the door to higher-accuracy and the development of algorithms once restricted to more advanced GNSS receivers. This new capability also allows users to fully benefit from the special features offered by Galileo, and to combine it with other constellations in the most efficient way.

Although Nougat makes accessing raw data easier, using it remains a challenge. In fact, its use remains largely limited to research centres, universities and GNSS experts – which raises the question: is there real market opportunity in GNSS raw measurements or is it simply a playground for scientists and experts?

White Paper on using GNSS raw measurements

To answer this question, the GSA launched the Raw Measurements Task Force. Comprised of GNSS experts, scientists and market players, the Task Force aims to foster a wider use of these raw measurements. Their White Paper, set to be published soon, will provide applica¬tion developers with a range of tools, including practical tips and innovative ideas on how to take full advantage of GNSS raw measurements.

Join us at ION GNSS+ 2017

Join the GSA and Frank van Diggelen (Google), Mark Dumville (NSL), Moises Navarro (Astrium) and Lukasz Bonenberg (University of Nottingham) for a preview of the White Paper and an interactive discussion on such topics as: 

• Tips and innovative ideas on using GNSS raw measurements
• Results from tests using raw measurements conducted by different experts
• Advice on how to ensure the use of Galileo in smart¬phone applications
• Expert insights on the challenges and opportunities of GNSS raw measurements

Moderated by Fiammetta Diani, GSA Deputy Head of Market Development, the session will take place on Thursday September 28 from 2:00 – 2:45pm in Room C120-122 during ION GNSS+ 2017, held in Portland, Oregon (USA). To learn more about the session, click here and to register for the event click here.

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).

Are GNSS raw measurements in consumer devices just a playground for scientists, or do they represent a real market opportunity? To find out, join the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and a panel of industry experts as they discuss the topic on 28 September at ION GNSS+ 2017.

With a smartphone featuring Android 7.0 (i.e., Nougat), users now have access to raw GNSS measurements. This feature opens the door to higher-accuracy and the development of algorithms once restricted to more advanced GNSS receivers. This new capability also allows users to fully benefit from the special features offered by Galileo, and to combine it with other constellations in the most efficient way.

Although Nougat makes accessing raw data easier, using it remains a challenge. In fact, its use remains largely limited to research centres, universities and GNSS experts – which raises the question: is there real market opportunity in GNSS raw measurements or is it simply a playground for scientists and experts?

White Paper on using GNSS raw measurements

To answer this question, the GSA launched the Raw Measurements Task Force. Comprised of GNSS experts, scientists and market players, the Task Force aims to foster a wider use of these raw measurements. Their White Paper, set to be published soon, will provide application developers with a range of tools, including practical tips and innovative ideas on how to take full advantage of GNSS raw measurements.

Join us at ION GNSS+ 2017

Join the GSA and Frank van Diggelen (Google), Mark Dumville (NSL), Moises Navarro (Astrium) and Lukasz Bonenberg (University of Nottingham) for a preview of the White Paper and an interactive discussion on such topics as: 

• Tips and innovative ideas on using GNSS raw measurements
• Results from tests using raw measurements conducted by different experts
• Advice on how to ensure the use of Galileo in smart¬phone applications
• Expert insights on the challenges and opportunities of GNSS raw measurements

Moderated by Fiammetta Diani, GSA Deputy Head of Market Development, the session will take place on Thursday September 28 from 2:00 – 2:45pm in Room C120-122 during ION GNSS+ 2017, held in Portland, Oregon (USA). To learn more about the session, click here and to register for the event click here.

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).

Broadcom Limited, a leading developer of digital and analogue semiconductor connectivity solutions, recently announced the launch of the world’s first mass-market, dual frequency GNSS receiver device for smartphones, the BCM47755.

Equipped with the latest GNSS innovations, the new Broadcom BCM47755 receiver provides lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and footprint. As a result, it is set to enable an entirely new suite of high-precision LBS applications, including lane-level vehicle navigation and mobile augmented reality (AR).

Until now, mobile location based applications have been powered by single frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery power and footprint constraints. The expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies in satellite constellations, in particular thanks to Europe’s Galileo constellation, makes it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately in both urban and open area environments.

Galileo stands ready

Galileo, which offers both the E1 and E5 frequency as a standard feature, is well positioned to be a major differentiator in this potentially huge market. With E5/L5 capability added to the E1/L1, chipsets and receivers benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved code tracking pseudorange estimates, and faster transition from code tracking to phase tracking, among other benefits.

“We are glad to see the industry recognising the advantages of dual frequency GNSS receivers, including Galileo E1 and E5,” says GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “We believe Galileo’s contribution is instrumental to reaching mass market GNSS centimetre-level accuracy.”

The strength of the Galileo signal, together with advanced code modulations, makes Galileo better at mitigating multipath effects – especially in E5. The Broadcom receiver’s combination of the E1/L1 and E5/L5 frequencies significantly contributes to reducing errors in urban environments, thus allowing location-based applications to offer a better consumer experience. 

“With the launch of the dual-frequency GNSS sensor hub, Broadcom continues the tradition of raising the bar for mobile GNSS,” said Vijay Nagarajan, senior director of product marketing at the Broadcom Mobile Connectivity Products Division. “Location-based consumer applications can be disruptively enhanced with centimetre-level accuracy. On the other hand, lower power consumption and smaller footprint continue to be defining requirements for any mobile phone chip. The BCM47755 achieves these twin objectives for a richer consumer experience.”

For example, turn-by-turn navigation performance will improve thanks to the provision of lane-level knowledge of a vehicle's location, and ride hailing applications can be enhanced to more precisely pinpoint driver and client location. What’s more, even while enjoying this improved navigation experience, consumers will also benefit from the fact that batteries on mobile devices using the BCM47755 receiver will last longer as, according to the manufacturer, it consumes less than half the power of previous generation GNSS chips.

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).

Broadcom Limited, a leading developer of digital and analogue semiconductor connectivity solutions, recently announced the launch of the world’s first mass-market, dual frequency GNSS receiver device for smartphones, the BCM47755.

Equipped with the latest GNSS innovations, the new Broadcom BCM47755 receiver provides lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and footprint. As a result, it is set to enable an entirely new suite of high-precision LBS applications, including lane-level vehicle navigation and mobile augmented reality (AR).

Until now, mobile location based applications have been powered by single frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery power and footprint constraints. The expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies in satellite constellations, in particular thanks to Europe’s Galileo constellation, makes it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately in both urban and open area environments.

Galileo stands ready

Galileo, which offers both the E1 and E5 frequency as a standard feature, is well positioned to be a major differentiator in this potentially huge market. With E5/L5 capability added to the E1/L1, chipsets and receivers benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved code tracking pseudorange estimates, and faster transition from code tracking to phase tracking, among other benefits.

“We are glad to see the industry recognising the advantages of dual frequency GNSS receivers, including Galileo E1 and E5,” says GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “We believe Galileo’s contribution is instrumental to reaching mass market GNSS centimetre-level accuracy.”

The strength of the Galileo signal, together with advanced code modulations, makes Galileo better at mitigating multipath effects – especially in E5. The Broadcom receiver’s combination of the E1/L1 and E5/L5 frequencies significantly contributes to reducing errors in urban environments, thus allowing location-based applications to offer a better consumer experience. 

“With the launch of the dual-frequency GNSS sensor hub, Broadcom continues the tradition of raising the bar for mobile GNSS,” said Vijay Nagarajan, senior director of product marketing at the Broadcom Mobile Connectivity Products Division. “Location-based consumer applications can be disruptively enhanced with centimetre-level accuracy. On the other hand, lower power consumption and smaller footprint continue to be defining requirements for any mobile phone chip. The BCM47755 achieves these twin objectives for a richer consumer experience.”

For example, turn-by-turn navigation performance will improve thanks to the provision of lane-level knowledge of a vehicle's location, and ride hailing applications can be enhanced to more precisely pinpoint driver and client location. What’s more, even while enjoying this improved navigation experience, consumers will also benefit from the fact that batteries on mobile devices using the BCM47755 receiver will last longer as, according to the manufacturer, it consumes less than half the power of previous generation GNSS chips.

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).

Broadcom Limited, a leading developer of digital and analogue semiconductor connectivity solutions, recently announced the launch of the world’s first mass-market, dual frequency GNSS receiver device for smartphones, the BCM47755.

Equipped with the latest GNSS innovations, the new Broadcom BCM47755 receiver provides centimetre accuracy with minimal power consumption and footprint. As a result, it is set to enable an entirely new suite of high-precision LBS applications, including lane-level vehicle navigation and mobile augmented reality (AR).

Until now, mobile location based applications have been powered by single frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery power and footprint constraints. The expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies in satellite constellations, in particular thanks to Europe’s Galileo constellation, makes it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately in both urban and open area environments.

Galileo stands ready

Galileo, which offers both the E1 and E5 frequency as a standard feature, is well positioned to be a major differentiator in this potentially huge market. With E5/L5 capability added to the E1/L1, chipsets and receivers benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved code tracking pseudorange estimates, and faster transition from code tracking to phase tracking, among other benefits.

“We are glad to see the industry recognising the advantages of dual frequency GNSS receivers, including Galileo E1 and E5,” says GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “We believe Galileo’s contribution is instrumental to reaching mass market GNSS centimetre level accuracy.”

The strength of the Galileo signal, together with advanced code modulations, makes Galileo better at mitigating multipath effects – especially in E5. The Broadcom receiver’s combination of the E1/L1 and E5/L5 frequencies significantly contributes to reducing errors in urban environments, thus allowing location-based applications to offer a better consumer experience. 

“With the launch of the dual-frequency GNSS sensor hub, Broadcom continues the tradition of raising the bar for mobile GNSS,” said Vijay Nagarajan, senior director of product marketing at the Broadcom Mobile Connectivity Products Division. “Location-based consumer applications can be disruptively enhanced with centimetre-level accuracy. On the other hand, lower power consumption and smaller footprint continue to be defining requirements for any mobile phone chip. The BCM47755 achieves these twin objectives for a richer consumer experience.”

For example, turn-by-turn navigation performance will improve thanks to the provision of lane-level knowledge of a vehicle's location, and ride hailing applications can be enhanced to more precisely pinpoint driver and client location. What’s more, even while enjoying this improved navigation experience, consumers will also benefit from the fact that batteries on mobile devices using the BCM47755 receiver will last longer as, according to the manufacturer, it consumes less than half the power of previous generation GNSS chips.

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).

Broadcom Limited, a leading developer of digital and analogue semiconductor connectivity solutions, recently announced the launch of the world’s first mass-market, dual frequency GNSS receiver device for smartphones, the BCM47755.

Equipped with the latest GNSS innovations, the new Broadcom BCM47755 receiver provides centimetre accuracy with minimal power consumption and footprint. As a result, it is set to enable an entirely new suite of high-precision LBS applications, including lane-level vehicle navigation and mobile augmented reality (AR).

Until now, mobile location based applications have been powered by single frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery power and footprint constraints. The expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies in satellite constellations, in particular thanks to Europe’s Galileo constellation, makes it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately in both urban and open area environments.

Galileo stands ready

Galileo, which offers both the E1 and E5 frequency as a standard feature, is well positioned to be a major differentiator in this potentially huge market. With E5/L5 capability added to the E1/L1, chipsets and receivers benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved code tracking pseudorange estimates, and faster transition from code tracking to phase tracking, among other benefits.

“We are glad to see the industry recognising the advantages of dual frequency GNSS receivers, including Galileo E1 and E5,” says GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “We believe Galileo’s contribution is instrumental to reaching mass market GNSS centimetre level accuracy.”

The strength of the Galileo signal, together with advanced code modulations, makes Galileo better at mitigating multipath effects – especially in E5. The Broadcom receiver’s combination of the E1/L1 and E5/L5 frequencies significantly contributes to reducing errors in urban environments, thus allowing location-based applications to offer a better consumer experience. 

“With the launch of the dual-frequency GNSS sensor hub, Broadcom continues the tradition of raising the bar for mobile GNSS,” said Vijay Nagarajan, senior director of product marketing at the Broadcom Mobile Connectivity Products Division. “Location-based consumer applications can be disruptively enhanced with centimetre-level accuracy. On the other hand, lower power consumption and smaller footprint continue to be defining requirements for any mobile phone chip. The BCM47755 achieves these twin objectives for a richer consumer experience.”

For example, turn-by-turn navigation performance will improve thanks to the provision of lane-level knowledge of a vehicle's location, and ride hailing applications can be enhanced to more precisely pinpoint driver and client location. What’s more, even while enjoying this improved navigation experience, consumers will also benefit from the fact that batteries on mobile devices using the BCM47755 receiver will last longer as, according to the manufacturer, it consumes less than half the power of previous generation GNSS chips.

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).

Broadcom Limited, a leading developer of digital and analogue semiconductor connectivity solutions, recently announced the launch of the world’s first mass-market, dual frequency GNSS receiver device for smartphones, the BCM47755.

Equipped with the latest GNSS innovations, the new Broadcom BCM47755 receiver provides lane-level accuracy with minimal power consumption and footprint. As a result, it is set to enable an entirely new suite of high-precision LBS applications, including lane-level vehicle navigation and mobile augmented reality (AR).

Until now, mobile location based applications have been powered by single frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery power and footprint constraints. The expanded availability of L1/E1 and L5/E5 frequencies in satellite constellations, in particular thanks to Europe’s Galileo constellation, makes it possible to use both frequencies to compute position much more accurately in both urban and open area environments.

Galileo stands ready

Galileo, which offers both the E1 and E5 frequency as a standard feature, is well positioned to be a major differentiator in this potentially huge market. With E5/L5 capability added to the E1/L1, chipsets and receivers benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved code tracking pseudorange estimates, and faster transition from code tracking to phase tracking, among other benefits.

“We are glad to see the industry recognising the advantages of dual frequency GNSS receivers, including Galileo E1 and E5,” says GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “We believe Galileo’s contribution is instrumental to reaching mass market GNSS centimetre-level accuracy.”

The strength of the Galileo signal, together with advanced code modulations, makes Galileo better at mitigating multipath effects – especially in E5. The Broadcom receiver’s combination of the E1/L1 and E5/L5 frequencies significantly contributes to reducing errors in urban environments, thus allowing location-based applications to offer a better consumer experience. 

“With the launch of the dual-frequency GNSS sensor hub, Broadcom continues the tradition of raising the bar for mobile GNSS,” said Vijay Nagarajan, senior director of product marketing at the Broadcom Mobile Connectivity Products Division. “Location-based consumer applications can be disruptively enhanced with centimetre-level accuracy. On the other hand, lower power consumption and smaller footprint continue to be defining requirements for any mobile phone chip. The BCM47755 achieves these twin objectives for a richer consumer experience.”

For example, turn-by-turn navigation performance will improve thanks to the provision of lane-level knowledge of a vehicle's location, and ride hailing applications can be enhanced to more precisely pinpoint driver and client location. What’s more, even while enjoying this improved navigation experience, consumers will also benefit from the fact that batteries on mobile devices using the BCM47755 receiver will last longer as, according to the manufacturer, it consumes less than half the power of previous generation GNSS chips.

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).

Engineers, developers, designers, scientists, and other experts will come together at the SpaceTech Integrated Applications hackathon in Tartu, Estonia, on 3-5 November to brainstorm on possibilities for new applications that combine satellite navigation positioning systems, Earth observation data, hardware and social media.

The SpaceTech Integrated Applications hackathon is to take place as part of European Space Week in Tartu, Estonia. Organised by Garage48 together with the European GNSS Agency (GSA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and ESTCube, this year the hackathon will have four main streams:

• Satellite Positioning stream, powered by GSA;
• Earth Observation stream, powered by ESA;
• Hardware stream powered by ESTCube; and a
• Social Media stream / Open Data stream.

The goal of the hackathon is to give participants the opportunity of meeting with like-minded people and exploring the possibilities of space technology, to come up with exciting ideas on how to use different elements from the four streams to create integrated solutions that allow people to reap the greatest possible benefit from space.

GSA Market Development Officer Justyna Redelkiewicz noted that the GSA was extremely excited to join SpaceTech this year. “This is the third hackathon for Galileo, yet this opportunity is unique - participants will be able to integrate different space technologies and data to come up with some disruptive solutions that can improve our life on Earth. We are looking forward to empowering participants with the knowledge and support to take their app to the next level with GNSS positioning,” she said.

Paul Liias, a space expert at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, noted that the international hackathon aims to create the best possible conditions for new businesses in space technology to come into being. “We have organized free access to Copernicus data and a Galileo signal for all the participants - all to ensure the optimal outcome,” he said.

The hackathon will be held in the Physicum gallery at the University of Tartu. It starts at 17:30 on Friday 3 November with a pitching session and ends on the evening of Sunday 5 November with the announcement of the winners and a networking session. We will announce details about the prizes and the tech partners at a later date, so stay tuned!

If you are interested in attending the event, you can register here until 23 October. A pre-event webinar on 18 October will provide you with inspiration and help you prepare. If you are unable to attend the hackathon in person don’t worry – the event will be livestreamed. Details on the webinar and livestreaming will follow later.

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).

Engineers, developers, designers, scientists, and other experts will come together at the SpaceTech Integrated Applications hackathon in Tartu, Estonia, on 3-5 November to brainstorm on possibilities for new applications that combine satellite navigation positioning systems, Earth observation data, hardware and social media.

The SpaceTech Integrated Applications hackathon is to take place as part of European Space Week in Tartu, Estonia. Organised by Garage48 together with the European GNSS Agency (GSA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and ESTCube, this year the hackathon will have four main streams:

• Satellite Positioning stream, powered by GSA;
• Earth Observation stream, powered by ESA;
• Hardware stream powered by ESTCube; and a
• Social Media stream / Open Data stream.

The goal of the hackathon is to give participants the opportunity of meeting with like-minded people and exploring the possibilities of space technology, to come up with exciting ideas on how to use different elements from the four streams to create integrated solutions that allow people to reap the greatest possible benefit from space.

GSA Market Development Officer Justyna Redelkiewicz noted that the GSA was extremely excited to join SpaceTech this year. “This is the third hackathon for Galileo, yet this opportunity is unique - participants will be able to integrate different space technologies and data to come up with some disruptive solutions that can improve our life on Earth. We are looking forward to empowering participants with the knowledge and support to take their app to the next level with GNSS positioning,” she said.

Paul Liias, a space expert at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, noted that the international hackathon aims to create the best possible conditions for new businesses in space technology to come into being. “We have organized free access to Copernicus data and a Galileo signal for all the participants - all to ensure the optimal outcome,” he said.

The hackathon will be held in the Physicum gallery at the University of Tartu. It starts at 17:30 on Friday 3 November with a pitching session and ends on the evening of Sunday 5 November with the announcement of the winners and a networking session. We will announce details about the prizes and the tech partners at a later date, so stay tuned!

If you are interested in attending the event, you can register here until 23 October. A pre-event webinar on 18 October will provide you with inspiration and help you prepare. If you are unable to attend the hackathon in person don’t worry – the event will be livestreamed. Details on the webinar and livestreaming will follow later.

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).

Engineers, developers, designers, scientists, and other experts will come together at the SpaceTech Integrated Applications hackathon in Tartu, Estonia, on 3-5 November to brainstorm on possibilities for new applications that combine satellite navigation positioning systems, Earth observation data, hardware and social media.

The SpaceTech Integrated Applications hackathon is to take place as part of European Space Week in Tartu, Estonia. Organised by Garage48 together with the European GNSS Agency (GSA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and ESTCube, this year the hackathon will have four main streams:

• Satellite Positioning stream, powered by GSA;
• Earth Observation stream, powered by ESA;
• Hardware stream powered by ESTCube; and a
• Social Media stream / Open Data stream.

The goal of the hackathon is to give participants the opportunity of meeting with like-minded people and exploring the possibilities of space technology, to come up with exciting ideas on how to use different elements from the four streams to create integrated solutions that allow people to reap the greatest possible benefit from space.

GSA Market Development Officer Justyna Redelkiewicz noted that the GSA was extremely excited to join SpaceTech this year. “This is the third hackathon for Galileo, yet this opportunity is unique - participants will be able to integrate different space technologies and data to come up with some disruptive solutions that can improve our life on Earth. We are looking forward to empowering participants with the knowledge and support to take their app to the next level with GNSS positioning,” she said.

Paul Liias, a space expert at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, noted that the international hackathon aims to create the best possible conditions for new businesses in space technology to come into being. “We have organized free access to Copernicus data and a Galileo signal for all the participants - all to ensure the optimal outcome,” he said.

The hackathon will be held in the Physicum gallery at the University of Tartu. It starts at 17:30 on Friday 3 November with a pitching session and ends on the evening of Sunday 5 November with the announcement of the winners and a networking session. We will announce details about the prizes and the tech partners at a later date, so stay tuned!

If you are interested in attending the event, you can register here until 23 October. A pre-event webinar on 18 October will provide you with inspiration and help you prepare. If you are unable to attend the hackathon in person don’t worry – the event will be livestreamed. Details on the webinar and livestreaming will follow later.

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).

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Apple unveiled its iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, in addition to the iPhone X, at a much-anticipated event held at the Apple campus in Cupertino, California on September 13.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%¹ of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

¹ According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor

Apple unveiled its iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, in addition to the iPhone X, at a much-anticipated event held at the Apple campus in Cupertino, California on September 13.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%  of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.” 

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%1 of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

• 1. According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor.

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%1 of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

• 1. According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor.

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%1 of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

• 1. According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor.

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%1 of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

• 1. According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor.

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50% (According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor.) of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

The new features of the latest iPhone, launched on September 13, include built-in support for the European Galileo satellite system, among other GNSS. This multi-constellation support means that the new phones will offer more accurate positioning, making it harder for iPhone users to get lost, wherever they are.

Apple unveiled its iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, in addition to the iPhone X, at a much-anticipated event held at the Apple campus in Cupertino, California on September 13.

Among the new features of the latest Apple offerings is the fact that the newest versions of the iPhone are Galileo-enabled. The resulting ‘multi-constellation’ capability means that users of the new iPhones will be able to benefit from more precise positioning that combines GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals. The use of multi-constellation increases signal availability, especially in urban environments, where buildings obstruct the sky and limit the number of satellites visible. In terms of accuracy, Galileo’s modern signal structure has better resistance to multipath, which helps users maintain their position fix when navigating in cities.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, noted that the launch of Galileo Initial Services had provided an impetus to industry to adopt the technology. “Since we launched Galileo last year, more and more device manufacturers are starting to incorporate its signals, which is a demonstration of the excellence and added-value of European technology" she said, adding that “the success of Galileo lies in its use in everyday devices such as mobile phones and car navigation.”

Timely Galileo support

The iPhone has had built-in support for GPS for some time, and added support for the Russian GNSS system Glonass to the iPhone 4S model, which was launched in 2011. The iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are the first Apple phones to support Galileo. This new feature is well-timed, as Galileo Initial Services have been available since December 2016. 

“This latest development is proof of the value that Galileo brings to the market,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “The work started by the GSA years ago to engage with industry has started to deliver following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services. Now, companies accounting for around 50%¹ of the smartphone market offer Galileo-enabled navigation.”

By supporting Galileo, the new iPhones join the growing list of smartphones that support the European satellite system, including a range of phones from BQ, Huawei and Samsung, in addition to models from Meizu and Sony.

For up-to-date information on all Galileo-enabled products, check out: www.useGalileo.eu

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).

¹ According to IBC: www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor

With hurricanes battering the US, Europe just coming out of another hot summer, and all signs pointing to climate change – weather dominates both our headlines and our policy-making. But did you know that European GNSS plays an important and growing role in meteorology?

When it comes to meteorology, Galileo – and GNSS in general – can play both a direct and indirect role, especially as regards mitigating the effects of climate change. As the EU works to establish a resilient energy policy with a forward-looking climate change strategy, it is increasingly looking to space for answers. From providing the maps for finding the best locations for renewable energy infrastructure to outlining the most fuel-efficient flight paths, enabling precision farming, optimising road transportation routes and monitoring CO2 emissions, Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus (Europe’s Earth observation system) provide innovative solutions to many of today’s weather-related challenges.

Whereas Galileo determines a precise position anytime, anywhere on the globe, Copernicus provides information on the Earth’s surface, its atmosphere and marine systems. By putting the two together, one can unleash synergies that results in multiple benefits for users.

“One area where we are already seeing the benefits of combining these programmes is with creating sustainable solutions to climate change,” says GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “For example, both Galileo and Copernicus use satellite signals and data to help develop a better understanding of climate change and environmental issues via the accurate observation and measurement of, for instance, the state of the oceans or the chemical composition of the atmosphere.”

Also read: Galileo-Copernicus synergies explored at Prague Copernicus forum

In a more specific context, Galileo provides better weather forecasting by helping to estimate the water vapour in the atmosphere. Water vapour is routinely used for numerical weather prediction, along with very short weather prediction (i.e., now-casting). It is also helpful for monitoring the greenhouse effect and climate change. To accomplish this, GNSS meteorology uses a combination of GNSS signals and GNSS permanent reference stations. The lower part of the atmosphere (i.e., troposphere) introduces delays on GNSS signals, which are estimated during the positioning process. The raw data gained from GNSS permanent reference stations is then processed and analysed in order to estimate tropospheric products. With the knowledge of surface pressure and temperature, together with various mapping functions, one can more easily evaluate Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) and Integrated Water Vapour quantity.

Of growing importance

In the future, GNSS and Earth Observation will likely see a growing role in forecasting and fighting climate change. “If you look across the entire chain of weather service development over the course of the past five years, you will see satellite-based technologies becoming increasingly important for global observations, atmospheric modelling, and forecasting/delivering weather information to end users,” says des Dorides.

In general, multi-GNSS brings great opportunities for the real-time determination of tropospheric zenith total delays and integrated water vapour, thus improving numerical weather prediction, particularly for now-casting and severe weather monitoring. As a result, multi-GNSS processing will improve the accuracy of tropospheric products due to an increased number of observations and improved coverage of azimuth and elevation angles.

“GNSS is particularly well-positioned to provide more localised and instantaneous weather services, as weather observing networks that use GNSS are able to produce much more accurate weather data than what is available using conventional fixed network methods,” adds des Dorides.

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).

The Japanese government forecasts that 80% of the economic effects from QZSS will be in the car navigation, mobile terminal and value-added mobility application segments. The upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics will also give precise positioning and timing solutions an added boost. This instalment of our GNSS Asia series looks at Japan’s evolving QZSS system and the many benefits it is set to bring.

Japan’s own RNSS (Radio Navigation Satellite System) system, called QZSS, is set to become operational next year. Currently an SBAS system (like EGNOS), there are plans to extend it into an independent regional navigation system. As such, it is set to drive demand in submeter -class applications for receiver manufacturers, system integrators and application developers.

As QZSS is planned to enable better signal reception in urban areas, thanks to the availability of more satellites in general over Japan, the country will benefit from increased accuracy and continuity – essential for position-based applications. According to estimates provided by the Japanese government, 80% of the economic effects created by QZSS are forecasted to take place in the car navigation, mobile terminals and value-added mobility application segments. Furthermore, the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics will give precise positioning and timing solutions an added boost.

A dramatic advancement

As more and more services rely on satellite positioning, there is a greater need for additional satellites in the sky. In Japan, like elsewhere, car navigation systems and smartphones have utilised the position services of GPS satellites. However, due to the limited number of GPS satellites in the field of vision for Japanese users at any given time, services have not always been offered in a stable way. This is already improving as new constellations, such as Galileo, also cover Japanese territory.

For this reason, the Japanese government decided to launch their own RNSS service. QZSS, like EGNOS and Galileo, is interoperable with GPS and can be utilised with other GNSS in an integrated fashion. The result will be a dramatic advancement of satellite positioning services, not only in Japan, but across the Asia-Oceania regions with longitudes close to Japan.   

QZSS will launch as a four-satellite constellation as of 2018. When added together with GPS and Galileo the entire system will provide eight or more visible satellites covering most of Japan at all times – an ideal number for carrying out stable, high precision positioning. Knowing that even with eight visible satellites signals are often obstructed in urban areas and mountainous regions, QZSS plans to increase its number of satellites to seven in the near future.

Benefiting users

When providing navigation services to pedestrians, it is necessary that a service convey detailed information about roads, including which side they should walk on and which pedestrian crossings to use. Thanks to the stable, high precision positioning that will be provided by QZSS, users will soon benefit from the detailed information they need to select the route that best matches their navigation goals. This includes routes that help them reach their destination fastest, routes with many pedestrian arcades, routes with few stairs and even how to take ‘the scenic route’.

QZSS will also be capable of sending reports for disasters and crisis management, such as during an earthquake or tsunami. Disaster Crisis (DC) Report, the QZSS safety confirmation service, will send emails via satellite to close relatives if other means of communication are cut off during a disaster.

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).

The Japanese government forecasts that 80% of the economic effects from QZSS will be in the car navigation, mobile terminal and value-added mobility application segments. The upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics will also give precise positioning and timing solutions an added boost. This instalment of our GNSS Asia series looks at Japan’s evolving QZSS system and the many benefits it is set to bring.

Japan’s own RNSS (Radio Navigation Satellite System) system, called QZSS, is set to become operational next year. Currently an SBAS system (like EGNOS), there are plans to extend it into an independent regional navigation system. As such, it is set to drive demand in submeter -class applications for receiver manufacturers, system integrators and application developers.

As QZSS is planned to enable better signal reception in urban areas, thanks to the availability of more satellites in general over Japan, the country will benefit from increased accuracy and continuity – essential for position-based applications. According to estimates provided by the Japanese government, 80% of the economic effects created by QZSS are forecasted to take place in the car navigation, mobile terminals and value-added mobility application segments. Furthermore, the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics will give precise positioning and timing solutions an added boost.

A dramatic advancement

As more and more services rely on satellite positioning, there is a greater need for additional satellites in the sky. In Japan, like elsewhere, car navigation systems and smartphones have utilised the position services of GPS satellites. However, due to the limited number of GPS satellites in the field of vision for Japanese users at any given time, services have not always been offered in a stable way. This is already improving as new constellations, such as Galileo, also cover Japanese territory.

For this reason, the Japanese government decided to launch their own RNSS service. QZSS, like EGNOS and Galileo, is interoperable with GPS and can be utilised with other GNSS in an integrated fashion. The result will be a dramatic advancement of satellite positioning services, not only in Japan, but across the Asia-Oceania regions with longitudes close to Japan.   

QZSS will launch as a four-satellite constellation as of 2018. When added together with GPS and Galileo the entire system will provide eight or more visible satellites covering most of Japan at all times – an ideal number for carrying out stable, high precision positioning. Knowing that even with eight visible satellites signals are often obstructed in urban areas and mountainous regions, QZSS plans to increase its number of satellites to seven in the near future.

Benefiting users

When providing navigation services to pedestrians, it is necessary that a service convey detailed information about roads, including which side they should walk on and which pedestrian crossings to use. Thanks to the stable, high precision positioning that will be provided by QZSS, users will soon benefit from the detailed information they need to select the route that best matches their navigation goals. This includes routes that help them reach their destination fastest, routes with many pedestrian arcades, routes with few stairs and even how to take ‘the scenic route’.

QZSS will also be capable of sending reports for disasters and crisis management, such as during an earthquake or tsunami. Disaster Crisis (DC) Report, the QZSS safety confirmation service, will send emails via satellite to close relatives if other means of communication are cut off during a disaster.

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).

In recent years, Taiwan has emerged as a world-leading GNSS receiver and chipset manufacturer. In fact, Taiwan-based Mediatek is now positioned as one of the top 3 mobile chipset manufacturers and the country is also home to leading OEMs for LBS and automotive navigation equipment.

The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market and has been actively working with Taiwanese stakeholders, including Mediatek.

“GNSS.asia in Taiwan has built a good network with key Taiwanese counterparts from both the public and private sectors,” says European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan EU Programme & Technology Committee Assistant Director Angela Hsiao. “Our team has significant knowledge about the international and national policy frameworks relevant to industrial cooperation and high-tech businesses.” According to Hsiao, GNSS.asia is working closely with the governmental agencies under Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), as well as key industrial associations and research institutions operating in various GNSS fields. 

Multiple opportunities 

Unlike its neighbouring countries, Taiwan is not developing its own GNSS system. Instead, it has positioned itself as an ideal testbed for multi-GNSS applications and services. “The size of Taiwan’s population, the plethora of tall buildings in Taipei and the variety of geographical characteristics of the island provide diverse challenges for GNSS applications to innovate solutions to,” explains Hsiao. “Key technologies, including smart transportation, telematics, autonomous driving, disaster prevention and search and rescue, all of which require GNSS applications, are being developed here in Taiwan.” 

Clearly, multi-GNSS is an essential opportunity that Taiwan wants to pursue. “Taiwan, which has a limited domestic market, has done an excellent job at positioning itself in the global high-tech industry,” says Hsiao. “As a result, it is now home to some of the largest chip manufacturers and semiconductor board integrators.” 

Other areas of interest to both Taiwan and the EU are car communications, the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor fusion. “In Taiwan, the shift from a focus on computers to mobile devices has resulted in a steady decline in computer and related industries, such as display, power and memory,” says Hsiao. “However, the advance of digitisation is bringing new opportunities that are re-inventing the landscape of information technology.” 

Hsiao notes that although this transition will take time, progress is already being seen in the IoT, car communications and robotics sectors. “The evolution has in any case started and has been made possible by the availability of sensors in large volumes at low cost, by the continuous progress of Taiwan’s connectivity and by the power of computation that is brought about by faster and lower power micro-controllers,” she says. 

An ICT powerhouse

In just 30 years, Taiwan has become a strategic player in the design, testing and manufacturing of ICT products. This achievement was made possible because of a successful combination of public and private commitment to ensuring a high level of R&D spending, the strong entrepreneurial drive of Taiwanese businesspeople and an innovative business and industrial ecosystem. 

As a result, today ICT is another important field for R&D cooperation between European and Taiwanese entities, with many new areas of cooperation quickly emerging. For example, since the micro- and nano-electronics sectors were identified as major fields of joint interest in 2015, a series of novel and disruptive technologies aiming to address new applications and market segments (such as ICT for healthcare and robotics) have emerged. “Major trends such as IoT and Wearable Technologies are also driving innovation worldwide, and should be considered as major triggers to mobilise all players in Taiwan, both from the public and private sectors, to look for collaboration with Europe,” says Hsiao. 

Keeping the momentum going

Looking ahead, Hsiao sees car communications, IoT, autonomous driving, disaster prevention, search and rescue and healthcare services as the key future trends in the Taiwan market where GNSS applications can play an important role. “Future GNSS.asia activities in Taiwan will keep the momentum going, gathering key partners from the public and private sectors to share best practices on innovating GNSS applications,” she says. “As this happens, the GNSS.asia Taiwan team will continue to support industrial relations between the EU and Taiwan and facilitate EGNSS breakthroughs via effective and efficient communication.”

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).

Considering that Korea and the EU are amongst the largest car manufacturing regions in the world, there is immense potential for collaboration in the automotive telematics industry. The commercial vehicle telematics market experienced a growth rate of 5% over the last five years, as Hyundai and KIA increasingly turn to GNSS as an integral part of future Information Technology Services (ITS). 

Korea also has one of the world’s most advanced LBS portfolios, driven by the country’s superior IT infrastructure, commercial based services and favourable regulatory environment. 

Furthermore, the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement has eliminated duties for most industrial goods, further enhancing the business environment for European entities. 

Add all of this up and you get ample opportunities in Korea for European GNSS companies. 

Collaboration is key

In the road sector, many Korean automobile manufacturers and their IT/electronic partners are turning to European made chips and devices. The sector is also relying on EU experts for help with certification, testing and implementing – particularly as the country works towards adopting an eCall system of their own. And in the LBS sector, several Korean smartphone and electronic manufacturers are implementing Galileo capability into their devices.

To ensure European industry is able to take full advantage of opportunities like these, the GNSS.asia Korea team is on the ground working with companies and collaborating with organisations. The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market. The initiative is part of the EU-Korea GNSS Cooperation Agreement of 2006.  

For example, the team has a strong partnership with the Institute of Positioning, Navigation and Timing (IPNT) (formerly the Korean GNSS Society (KGS)), an organisation established to stimulate the GNSS field in academia and business. The two meet monthly to discuss national and international multi-GNSS activities and how they can better collaborate to address these issues.

One of the key outcomes of this partnership is an intensive match making programme between European companies and Korean customers and partners. Such companies as NavCert, Syntony F, 3M Systems, Thales, Catapult, Easymile and Enertopia have all benefited from this valuable initiative. GNSS.asia also helps European companies engage with Korean government officials and navigate the complex bureaucratic system. 

Thanks to this close collaboration, several business results have been achieved. For instance, as Korea looks to implement their own eCall system, modelled off the European system, the two partners have successfully positioned the multi-constellation, Galileo-enabled chipset as the standard. They have also actively supported Korea SBAS to adopt European structures and systems – including getting Korea SBAS to choose Thales as their system provider. 

Just getting started

The successes that EU companies are seeing in Korea are testament to the power of collaboration – and this is only the tip of the iceberg. “As the multi-GNSS initiatives in Korea continue to mature, we will see more and more opportunities for European businesses, particularly in the areas of Korea SBAS, eCall and eLoran,” says GNSS.asia Managing Director Hyemi Hwang. “And we’re just getting started.”

According to Hwang, in order to implement Korea SBAS, the Korean government and industry have a preference for European technology and applications. “This is why they ultimately chose to partner with Thales,” she says. “The Korean government is confident that this partnership will result in the introduction and implementation of massive, real-life applications in the area of autonomous driving, maritime security and safety, and LBS-based drones for security, agriculture, logistics, mapping, and media/entertainment.” Hwang adds that the Korean government is also leveraging EGNOS and European applications to help make their aviation sector more efficient. 

Likewise, as the country works towards implementing eCall, it regularly refers to the European system as the standard and is constantly on the lookout for chances to collaborate more closely. “European companies should look to Korean partners in order to take full advantage of this unique business opportunity,” adds Hwang. “To get started, all you have to do is contact your GNSS.asia team here in Korea.”

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).

EGNOS, Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), improves the accuracy and reliability of GPS positioning information, while also providing a crucial integrity message regarding the continuity and availability of a signal. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are currently working on the development of the next generation of EGNOS. When operational, the multi-frequency/multi-constellation EGNOS Version 3 will improve the accuracy and reliability of the positioning information provided not only by GPS, but also Galileo. 

With its dual-frequency capability, EGNOS V3 will provide Precise Point Positioning (PPP), or positioning at the centimetre to decimetre level. The availability of PPP techniques creates an opportunity for EGNOS to deliver high accuracy positioning to a range of application types, including agriculture, road, mapping/surveying, construction, offshore mining and maritime – among others. 

Invitation to Tender

An EGNOS High Accuracy (HA) service has the potential to provide users with centimetre level accuracy, a fast convergence time and timely warning of any compromise to the integrity of the positioning service. To better understand user needs for such a service, the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH), has published an Invitation to Tender (ITT). The objective of the ITT is to determine under what condition(s) it would be beneficial to implement an EGNOS HA service within the 2020-2035 timeframe.    

The analysis is to focus on identifying user requirements and on the EGNOS service provision, bearing in mind the foreseen availability of a Galileo Commercial Service. The ITT does not cover the technical implementation of the service at the system level. 

The study will be fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation, within the budget allocated to the evolution of the EGNOS mission. The European Commission has charged the GSA with the technical supervision of the project.

More information about the ITT can be found here.

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).

EGNOS has revolutionised the way Europe flies. As an alternative to ground-based Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), EGNOS utilises geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations to receive, analyse and augment GPS signals. The resulting EGNOS LPV 200 service provides vertical guidance that enables aircraft to reach a decision height as low as 200 feet – a capability similar to what is provided via ILS Cat-I but without the financial burden of installing, maintaining and calibrating ground equipment.

Although this accomplishment is impressive as is, EGNOS is just getting started. 

EGNOS Version 3, set to enter service in the near future, will augment both GPS and Galileo. As a result, it will be capable of delivering performance beyond Cat-I requirements. Not only will this capability increase performance and improve accuracy, resilience and safety, it will also enable the aviation sector to design new EGNOS-based services and applications.  

To help usher in this next generation of EGNOS, the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH) is set to publish a call for a new service contract. The scope of the contract includes:

• Analysing aviation needs and identifying opportunities for new services that go beyond Cat-I and are enabled by EGNOS’ dual frequency augmentation of GPS and Galileo;
• Identifying user needs, such as an evolution towards Cat-II approach procedures, or new services, all within the framework of a future integrated communication, navigation and surveillance (iCNS) system;
• Analysing  potential service improvements versus existing services;
• Assessing safety requirements and their potential impact on both EGNOS and aviation user receivers;
• Reviewing service provision constraints. 

The estimated date of publication for the contract notice is 15 August 2017. More information can be found in the Prior Information Notice (PIN). 

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).

EGNOS has revolutionised the way Europe flies. As an alternative to ground-based Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), EGNOS utilises geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations to receive, analyse and augment GPS signals. The resulting EGNOS LPV 200 service provides vertical guidance that enables aircraft to reach a decision height as low as 200 feet – a capability similar to what is provided via ILS Cat-I but without the financial burden of installing, maintaining and calibrating ground equipment.

Although this accomplishment is impressive as is, EGNOS is just getting started. 

EGNOS Version 3, set to enter service in the near future, will augment both GPS and Galileo. As a result, it will be capable of delivering performance beyond Cat-I requirements. Not only will this capability increase performance and improve accuracy, resilience and safety, it will also enable the aviation sector to design new EGNOS-based services and applications.  

To help user in this next generation of EGNOS, the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH) is set to publish a call for a new service contract. The scope of the contract includes:

• Analysing aviation needs and identifying opportunities for new services that go beyond Cat-I and are enabled by EGNOS’ dual frequency augmentation of GPS and Galileo;
• Identifying user needs, such as an evolution towards Cat-II approach procedures, or new services, all within the framework of a future integrated communication, navigation and surveillance (iCNS) system;
• Analysing  potential service improvements versus existing services;
• Assessing safety requirements and their potential impact on both EGNOS and aviation user receivers;
• Reviewing service provision constraints. 

The estimated date of publication for the contract notice is 15 August 2017. More information can be found in the Prior Information Notice (PIN). 

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).

EGNOS has revolutionised the way Europe flies. As an alternative to ground-based Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), EGNOS utilises geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations to receive, analyse and augment GPS signals. The resulting EGNOS LPV 200 service provides vertical guidance that enables aircraft to reach a decision height as low as 200 feet – a capability similar to what is provided via ILS Cat-I but without the financial burden of installing, maintaining and calibrating ground equipment.

Although this accomplishment is impressive as is, EGNOS is just getting started. 

EGNOS Version 3, set to enter service in the near future, will augment both GPS and Galileo. As a result, it will be capable of delivering performance beyond Cat-I requirements. Not only will this capability increase performance and improve accuracy, resilience and safety, it will also enable the aviation sector to design new EGNOS-based services and applications.  

To help user in this next generation of EGNOS, the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH) is set to publish a call for a new service contract. The scope of the contract includes:

• Analysing aviation needs and identifying opportunities for new services that go beyond Cat-I and are enabled by EGNOS’ dual frequency augmentation of GPS and Galileo;
• Identifying user needs, such as an evolution towards Cat-II approach procedures, or new services, all within the framework of a future integrated communication, navigation and surveillance (iCNS) system;
• Analysing  potential service improvements versus existing services;
• Assessing safety requirements and their potential impact on both EGNOS and aviation user receivers;
• Reviewing service provision constraints. 

The contract notice will be published in the near future. More information can be found in the Prior Information Notice (PIN). 

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).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA), along with the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), announce the commissioning of two additional satellites, bringing the total number of satellites available for the Galileo service provision to 18.

The GSA is pleased to announce the completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) of two new Galileo satellites, GSAT0212-SV ID 03- and GSAT0213-SV ID 04 -. Having passed all initial tests, the two satellites are now officially commissioned for operational use and are usable for the Galileo service provision (see NAGU 2017029 and NAGU 2017032).

The satellites join GSAT0207-SV ID 07- and GSAT02014-SV ID -5 -, which were previously commissioned on 30 May 2017, increasing the total number of satellites available for use with the Galileo service provision to 18. All four satellites were launched on 17 November 2016 from Kourou, French Guiana – the first launch using an Ariane-5 rocket.

Four additional satellites are expected to be launched in the coming months, further enlarging the Galileo constellation and improving its global performance. Launches will continue until the system reaches Full Operational Capability in 2020. The complete constellation will consist of 30 satellites in orbit (24 operational and six spares). 

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability.

Once fully operational, Galileo will offer four high-performance services worldwide:

• Open Service (OS): open and free of charge service set up for positioning and timing services.
• Commercial Service (CS): a service complementing the OS by providing an additional navigation signal and added-value services in a different frequency band. The CS signal can be encrypted in order to control access to the Galileo CS services.
• Public Regulated Service (PRS): service restricted to government-authorised users, for sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity.
• Search and Rescue Service (SAR): Europe’s contribution to COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alert detection system.

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).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA), along with the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), announce the commissioning of two additional satellites, bringing the total number of satellites available for the Galileo service provision to 18.

The GSA is pleased to announce the completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) of two new Galileo satellites, GSAT0212-SV ID 03- and GSAT0213-SV ID 04 -. Having passed all initial tests, the two satellites are now officially commissioned for operational use and are usable for the Galileo service provision (see NAGU 2017029 and NAGU 2017033).

The satellites join GSAT0207-SV ID 07- and GSAT02014-SV ID -5 -, which were previously commissioned on 30 May 2017, increasing the total number of satellites available for use with the Galileo service provision to 18. All four satellites were launched on 17 November 2016 from Kourou, French Guiana – the first launch using an Ariane-5 rocket.

Four additional satellites are expected to be launched in the coming months, further enlarging the Galileo constellation and improving its global performance. Launches will continue until the system reaches Full Operational Capability in 2020. The complete constellation will consist of 30 satellites in orbit (24 operational and six spares). 

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability.

Once fully operational, Galileo will offer four high-performance services worldwide:

• Open Service (OS): open and free of charge service set up for positioning and timing services.
• Commercial Service (CS): a service complementing the OS by providing an additional navigation signal and added-value services in a different frequency band. The CS signal can be encrypted in order to control access to the Galileo CS services.
• Public Regulated Service (PRS): service restricted to government-authorised users, for sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity.
• Search and Rescue Service (SAR): Europe’s contribution to COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alert detection system.

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).

In this instalment of our GNSS in Asia series, we look at how the close cooperation between the GNSS.asia China team and China’s LBS association is resulting in big opportunities for EU companies.

With an explosive annual growth rate forecast at 46% up to 2020, the Chinese Location-Based Services (LBS) market is a huge and relatively accessible market for European players. Although the gaming and marketing segments are the most promising for cooperating with Chinese partners, chipset manufacturers like ST and Bosch are also seeing success.

More so, since 2016 bike-sharing has boomed in China, which thrives on the use of GNSS-provided positioning and thus is positioned as a key opportunity for EU players. As reported by Forbes in a July 2017 article, Beijing-based bike-sharing start-up ofo, recently received $700 million in financing to expand its network of inexpensive and environmentally friendly bike shares that rely on mobile apps for renting and GPS for tracking. Likewise, Mobike, a close competitor, drew $600 million in financing in June, bringing its total for the year up to $1 billion.

Spearheading the development of China’s LBS market is the GNSS and LBS Association of China (GLAC). Founded in 1995, GLAC is a professional non-profit organisation focused on GNSS applications and LBS services at the national level. The association boasts more than 2,000 members, including universities, research institutes, enterprises, manufacturers and geospatial data providers – to name only a few.

GLAC works in close partnership with the GNSS.asia China team, looking for opportunities to bring LBS players from Europe and China together. Specifically, the partnership is responsible for organising a range of events targeting the GNSS community in China and Europe and working to raise awareness about Europe’s GNSS programmes (EGNOS and Galileo) throughout GLAC’s extensive industry network. The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market.

“Over the past several years, we have taken great strides to capitalise on GLAC’s extensive industry network as a means of facilitating cooperation agreements between Asian and European companies,” says Davof Xu, EU SME Advocacy and Working Group Coordinator at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

Spreading the word on E-GNSS

To promote E-GNSS and industrial cooperation to a broader extent across China, GNSS.asia, along with GLAC, have been ‘testing the waters’ for interest in China’s top GNSS cities. For example, last year they organised the International Forum on GNSS & LBS and the 11th China Satellite Navigation Operations Conference in Shenzhen, which welcomed over 50 participants. The two also partnered to host the International Forum on GNSS Applications – GNSS Connects the World at the 5th Annual GLAC Conference in Chengdu.

“These events were successful in that they allowed us to identify possible local partners and stakeholders that we need to facilitate concrete cooperation in the regions,” says Xu. “What’s very encouraging is that many of the attendees were open to the possibility of industrial cooperation between Europe and China, especially as it pertains to applications.”

GNSS.asia also attended the Beidou + Space-based Information Application Summit, which was organised by GLAC and held in Harbin.

Looking ahead

To continue to build on this momentum between China and the EU, the GNSS.asia China team plans to expand its cooperation with both GLAC and GCE. They are also helping to organise GLAC’s EU tour and facilitate the creation of concrete industrial partnerships. In April 2017, for example, a mutual meeting between GLAC and the GNSS Centre of Excellence (GCE) was held in Prague with around 20 participants. “Here, both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation and exchanges on creating new transportation-focused applications, especially for the ITS, Road and Aviation sectors,” says Xu.

The GNSS.asia China team is also busy coordinating opportunities for industrial exchanges and matchmaking through GLAC’s Action Plan of Hundreds of Cities, Hundreds of Applications. The Plan aims to promote GNSS technology and applications, as well as the development of satellite navigation and location services industries, through the integration of regional and industry location networks.

“The Plan promotes GNSS applications across multiple industries, field and cities,” explains Xu. “Of particular interest to European companies is the Plan’s focus on vehicle navigation and positioning related services, along with applications pertaining to the urban construction and management, mapping, and maritime sectors.”

Multi-constellation goes mainstream

With the launch Galileo Initial Services, GNSS.asia is closely following its adoption among GLAC’s networks. According to Xu, Chinese chipset companies like CEC Huada Electronical Design Co. Ltd, Unicore Communications Inc., and Mengxin Technology have all developed Galileo-enabled chipsets. Furthermore, some Chinese mobile phone manufactures, including Huawei, have started using Galileo-enabled chipsets within their devices.

“As multi-constellation is now the mainstream, Chinese companies are becoming increasingly interested in including Galileo into their applications and devices in order to provide better accuracy for their customers,” says Xu. He adds that this is especially true as Chinese companies become more internationalised and expand into overseas markets. “It is not difficult to find examples of Chinese GNSS companies acquiring international companies,” adds Xu. “For instance, Unistrong acquired Hemisphere in 2015, and the technology has been well promoted in the Chinese market since then.”

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).

In this instalment of our GNSS in Asia series, we look at how the close cooperation between the GNSS.asia China team and China’s LBS association is resulting in big opportunities for EU companies.

With an explosive annual growth rate forecast at 46% up to 2020, the Chinese Location-Based Services (LBS) market is a huge and relatively accessible market for European players. Although the gaming and marketing segments are the most promising for cooperating with Chinese partners, chipset manufacturers like ST and Bosch are also seeing success.

More so, since 2016 bike-sharing has boomed in China, which thrives on the use of GNSS-provided positioning and thus is positioned as a key opportunity for EU players. As reported by Forbes in a July 2017 article, Beijing-based bike-sharing start-up ofo, recently received $700 million in financing to expand its network of inexpensive and environmentally friendly bike shares that rely on mobile apps for renting and GPS for tracking. Likewise, Mobike, a close competitor, drew $600 million in financing in June, bringing its total for the year up to $1 billion.

Spearheading the development of China’s LBS market is the GNSS and LBS Association of China (GLAC). Founded in 1995, GLAC is a professional non-profit organisation focused on GNSS applications and LBS services at the national level. The association boasts more than 2,000 members, including universities, research institutes, enterprises, manufacturers and geospatial data providers – to name only a few.

GLAC works in close partnership with the GNSS.asia China team, looking for opportunities to bring LBS players from Europe and China together. Specifically, the partnership is responsible for organising a range of events targeting the GNSS community in China and Europe and working to raise awareness about Europe’s GNSS programmes (EGNOS and Galileo) throughout GLAC’s extensive industry network. The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market.

“Over the past several years, we have taken great strides to capitalise on GLAC’s extensive industry network as a means of facilitating cooperation agreements between Asian and European companies,” says Davof Xu, EU SME Advocacy and Working Group Coordinator at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

Spreading the word on E-GNSS

To promote E-GNSS and industrial cooperation to a broader extent across China, GNSS.asia, along with GLAC, have been ‘testing the waters’ for interest in China’s top GNSS cities. For example, last year they organised the International Forum on GNSS & LBS and the 11th China Satellite Navigation Operations Conference in Shenzhen, which welcomed over 50 participants. The two also partnered to host the International Forum on GNSS Applications – GNSS Connects the World at the 5th Annual GLAC Conference in Chengdu.

“These events were successful in that they allowed us to identify possible local partners and stakeholders that we need to facilitate concrete cooperation in the regions,” says Xu. “What’s very encouraging is that many of the attendees were open to the possibility of industrial cooperation between Europe and China, especially as it pertains to applications.”

GNSS.asia also attended the Beidou + Space-based Information Application Summit, which was organised by GLAC and held in Harbin.

Looking ahead

To continue to build on this momentum between China and the EU, the GNSS.asia China team plans to expand its cooperation with both GLAC and GCE. They are also helping to organise GLAC’s EU tour and facilitate the creation of concrete industrial partnerships. In April 2017, for example, a mutual meeting between GLAC and the GNSS Centre of Excellence (GCE) was held in Prague with around 20 participants. “Here, both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation and exchanges on creating new transportation-focused applications, especially for the ITS, Road and Aviation sectors,” says Xu.

The GNSS.asia China team is also busy coordinating opportunities for industrial exchanges and matchmaking through GLAC’s Action Plan of Hundreds of Cities, Hundreds of Applications. The Plan aims to promote GNSS technology and applications, as well as the development of satellite navigation and location services industries, through the integration of regional and industry location networks.

“The Plan promotes GNSS applications across multiple industries, field and cities,” explains Xu. “Of particular interest to European companies is the Plan’s focus on vehicle navigation and positioning related services, along with applications pertaining to the urban construction and management, mapping, and maritime sectors.”

Multi-constellation goes mainstream

With the launch Galileo Initial Services, GNSS.asia is closely following its adoption among GLAC’s networks. According to Xu, Chinese chipset companies like CEC Huada Electronical Design Co. Ltd, Unicore Communications Inc., and Mengxin Technology have all developed Galileo-enabled chipsets. Furthermore, some Chinese mobile phone manufactures, including Huawei, have started using Galileo-enabled chipsets within their devices.

“As multi-constellation is now the mainstream, Chinese companies are becoming increasingly interested in including Galileo into their applications and devices in order to provide better accuracy for their customers,” says Xu. He adds that this is especially true as Chinese companies become more internationalised and expand into overseas markets. “It is not difficult to find examples of Chinese GNSS companies acquiring international companies,” adds Xu. “For instance, Unistrong acquired Hemisphere in 2015, and the technology has been well promoted in the Chinese market since then.”

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).

Speaking at a dedicated session entitled ‘Applications: Earth Sciences and Geo-Information’, part of EUREF’s annual symposium, representatives of the mapping and surveying sector discussed the various synergies between GNSS and Earth Observation and their use for providing real-time information about the state of the Earth’s troposphere.

EUREF, the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe, is dedicated to the definition, realisation and maintenance of the European Geodetic Reference Systems. Included in this mission is the development and maintenance of the EUREF GNSS Permanent Network (EPN), which is a ground-based GNSS infrastructure for scientific and practical applications in positioning and navigation. EUREF provides standards and guidelines to European National Mapping Authorities in order to harmonise the definition and adoption of national coordinate reference systems.

“Geodetic techniques measure the situation on the earth’s surface, and modern space technologies extend these observations to orbiting satellites,” says Professor Alessandro Caporali of Italy’s University of Padova. “As a result, today the position of particular sites on the earth’s surface and its variation is known to the sub-millimetre level for the period of decades.” He also explains how these techniques are sensitive to many occurrences within the earth’s system, including changes in atmosphere, movement of tectonic plates and the state of solar radiation. 

Professor Caporali is working with EUREF in establishing a European system of latitude and longitude via GNSS-based techniques. Temporal changes of these coordinates, of the order of few mm per year, are used to understand the motions taking place on the earth’s surface. To do this, the organisation has established a range of GNSS ground stations to compute coordinates. Previously, these stations relied on GPS and GLONASS, but are now also incorporating Galileo signals – an effort that they are collaborating with the GSA on.

GNSS data integrates well

Areas where GNSS stations move towards each other are recognised by a decreasing relative distance and indicate a compression of the upper Earth crust. Likewise, areas of extensional or shear stress can be identified by analysing the relative displacements in time of GNSS stations at scales of some tens to one hundred km. This deformation measured at the surface is directly linked to deformation at depth, inferred from seismograms whenever an earthquake occurs, or by field surveys and geological mapping. For earthquakes of a magnitude greater than six, GNSS sites exhibit coordinate changes of several centimetres, depending on their distance from the hypocentre.

“The seismic displacement of GNSS sites is very helpful in constraining the coordinates of the hypocentre and other parameters of the causative fault,” says Professor Caporali. “GNSS data integrates very well with data provided by InSAR satellites, such as the recent Sentinel satellites, which are very sensitive to the vertical deformation.”

Important Galileo contribution

The propagation of microwaves from the GNSS satellites to an Earth-based receiver is affected by the electronic content in the ionosphere and by the pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere. Hence, an added value of the GNSS data is the direct measurement of the free electrons in the ionosphere, which is directly related to the solar activity and has profound impacts on everyday life (e.g. radio communications). “In the past, ionosphere sounding radars from a limited number of dedicated and expensive installations were used,” adds Caproali. “Now, low cost GNSS receivers with dual frequency capability make this research much cheaper and more detailed.”

“Galileo’s contribution is extremely important and fits well into our objectives, particularly as to the need for precise positioning” concludes Caporali. “I look forward to further close cooperation with the GSA.”

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).

Speaking at a dedicated session entitled ‘Applications: Earth Sciences and Geo-Information’, part of EUREF’s annual symposium, representatives of the mapping and surveying sector discussed the various synergies between GNSS and Earth Observation and their use for providing real-time information about the state of the Earth’s troposphere.

EUREF, the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe, is dedicated to the definition, realisation and maintenance of the European Geodetic Reference Systems. Included in this mission is the development and maintenance of the EUREF GNSS Permanent Network (EPN), which is a ground-based GNSS infrastructure for scientific and practical applications in positioning and navigation. EUREF provides standards and guidelines to European National Mapping Authorities in order to harmonise the definition and adoption of national coordinate reference systems.

“Geodetic techniques measure the situation on the earth’s surface, and modern space technologies extend these observations to orbiting satellites,” says Professor Alessandro Caporali of Italy’s University of Padova. “As a result, today the position of particular sites on the earth’s surface and its variation is known to the sub-millimetre level for the period of decades.” He also explains how these techniques are sensitive to many occurrences within the earth’s system, including changes in atmosphere, movement of tectonic plates and the state of solar radiation. 

Professor Caporali is working with EUREF in establishing a European system of latitude and longitude via GNSS-based techniques. Temporal changes of these coordinates, of the order of few mm per year, are used to understand the motions taking place on the earth’s surface. To do this, the organisation has established a range of GNSS ground stations to compute coordinates. Previously, these stations relied on GPS and GLONASS, but are now also incorporating Galileo signals – an effort that they are collaborating with the GSA on.

GNSS data integrates well

Areas where GNSS stations move towards each other are recognised by a decreasing relative distance and indicate a compression of the upper Earth crust. Likewise, areas of extensional or shear stress can be identified by analysing the relative displacements in time of GNSS stations at scales of some tens to one hundred km. This deformation measured at the surface is directly linked to deformation at depth, inferred from seismograms whenever an earthquake occurs, or by field surveys and geological mapping. For earthquakes of a magnitude greater than six, GNSS sites exhibit coordinate changes of several centimetres, depending on their distance from the hypocentre.

“The seismic displacement of GNSS sites is very helpful in constraining the coordinates of the hypocentre and other parameters of the causative fault,” says Professor Caporali. “GNSS data integrates very well with data provided by InSAR satellites, such as the recent Sentinel satellites, which are very sensitive to the vertical deformation.”

Important Galileo contribution

The propagation of microwaves from the GNSS satellites to an Earth-based receiver is affected by the electronic content in the ionosphere and by the pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere. Hence, an added value of the GNSS data is the direct measurement of the free electrons in the ionosphere, which is directly related to the solar activity and has profound impacts on everyday life (e.g. radio communications). “In the past, ionosphere sounding radars from a limited number of dedicated and expensive installations were used,” adds Caporali. “Now, low cost GNSS receivers with dual frequency capability make this research much cheaper and more detailed.”

“Galileo’s contribution is extremely important and fits well into our objectives, particularly as to the need for precise positioning” concludes Caporali. “I look forward to further close cooperation with the GSA.”

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The main objective of the Horizon 2020-funded MOBNET project is to locate victims during natural disasters and emergency situations such as earthquakes, hurricanes or large snowstorms using EGNSS (both Galileo and EGNOS) and DCT (Digital Cellular Technologies). Its system assumptions were presented at TRANSCOM 2017 in Slovakia at the start of June.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are playing an increasingly important role in Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) missions such as border surveillance and law enforcement. However, quickly locating isolated individuals in the event of a natural or man-made disaster still poses a significant challenge. Consequently, there is a need for an effective system for people location that can be used by PPDR services in difficult terrain.

Tailor-made solution

In response to this need, MOBNET is designing a technologically advanced Search and Rescue (SAR) system that will help to locate isolated victims in the event of an emergency. A concept for a UAV was created based on lessons learned from past experience and on the results of a survey conducted among targeted users. This will ensure that the project delivers a solution that is tailor-made to their needs. This survey is ongoing; to participate click here.

MOBNET is developing a solution to these challenges by leveraging:

• Mobile phones’ ubiquity in today’s society. In 2016, mobile phone penetration had reached 99.7% worldwide, rising to 126.9% in developed countries;
• The high-quality timing synchronisation capabilities that Galileo provides worldwide and EGNOS provides in European countries, which means that the UAVs will be positioned with high precision;
• The cost and performance gains of SAR operations using UAVs. With no pilot on board, UAVs can enter dangerous environments, can stay in the air for long periods with the same reliability, and can perform various types of analysis.

Taking advantage of these three features, MOBNET uses DCT to detect the presence of people (locating their mobiles) and help rescuers in their search. Moreover, the use of EGNOS and Galileo services allows the system to accurately position the UAVs and time tag the ranging estimates with high accuracy, so that MOBNET is able to quickly find the trapped person.

MOBNET combines observations from several drones, each equipped with an EGNSS module and a new DCT module. The drones, flying over the area of interest, use the MOBNET DCT module to detect the victims: i.e. the signals from their mobile phones are used to detect the position of a possible victim. The on-board EGNSS module provides accurate position and time information. MOBNET benefits from the high level of accuracy of the time reference that Galileo satellites provide.

Used in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), the EGNSS information makes accurate positioning possible in any kind of terrain, which makes the system very useful for first responders and other targeted users in situations in which it is difficult, dangerous or even impossible to access the affected areas. A great advantage of the system is that it can help save people’s lives without risking the integrity and security of the first responders’ services.

User-driven

Research is driven by the end-user and industrial partners to ensure that it addresses the needs of the PPDR services. A prototype will be developed to illustrate the potential for a fast and reliable SAR system that works at long distances. The developed system will leverage Galileo and EGNOS capabilities and will strengthen the position of European industry in the field of rescue services.

The solution does not intend to replace traditional methods used by search and rescue teams, such as rescue dogs, geophones and specialised cameras, but to support these activities and to maximise the probability of successfully locating victims. The system will be tested in field conditions in November 2017.

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).

In this part of our series on GNSS in Asia, we look at the opportunities for European companies within India’s Smart Cities Mission.

Launched in 2015 by the Indian government, the Smart Cities Mission for Urban Development aims to transform 100 Indian cities into sustainable, safe and citizen-friendly environments. With a budget of USD 15 billion, GNSS applications will play a pivotal role in realising this vision, providing solutions for improving energy efficiency, waste management and urban mobility.
GNSS in India

As home to the world’s 10th largest economy, India has long-term ambitions to develop its capacity as a GNSS provider. Led by the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the entity responsible for the country’s GNSS activities and systems, India currently has two national systems:

1. Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS): an autonomous regional satellite navigation system being developed by ISRO and under the control of the Indian government.
2. GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN): an initiative working to establish SBAS over India. This is a joint programme between the Airports Authority of India and ISRO. The system is already operational.

Even with these systems, India lacks the applications and interest that one sees in, for example, Europe with EGNOS. “In India, we simply don’t have this level of awareness or the applications, in fact hardly any applications exist,” says Indian Industrial Relations Association (IIRA) Managing Director Varadarajan Krish. “This is where the opportunities for European companies are.”

Opportunities in Smart Cities

Although there are opportunities across all sectors, there is a significant gap in GNSS applications relating to the Smart Cities Mission and, in particular, the road and rail sectors. The ambitious Smart Cities Mission is a nation-wide urban renewal and retrofitting programme that aims to develop 100 cities into citizen-friendly and sustainable models.

According to Krish, GNSS will play a major role in realising these goals. “GNSS.asia has already created awareness about the technologies and best practice models available in Europe so that these smart cities can plug into them as and when the need arises,” he says. The GSA-funded GNSS.asia project is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market.

One component of these smart cities that is of particular interest to European companies is rail. With the Indian government having authorised direct foreign investment in India’s railways in 2013, there is now a unique chance for European rail companies to leverage their one-of-a-kind know-how. In fact, thanks in large part to the efforts of GNSS.asia, companies like Thales, GMV, Telit, ABB and Siemens have already succeeded in executing projects in India.

An ideal partner

What companies like Thales and GMV, among others, are finding out is that with India’s strong technology background, it makes for an ideal partner. “Whereas European companies can bring the experience and GNSS know-how, India can meet them halfway with the technology that is needed to power these applications,” says Krish.

To facilitate this partnership, Krish and the GNSS.asia India team bring delegates from EU companies to New Delhi for organisational meetings. As one of the main challenges facing EU companies looking to get a foothold in India is the complexity of working with the Indian government, GNSS.asia – India helps guide them through the necessary steps.

“Thanks to the relationships we have with many government agencies, GNSS.asia was recently able to help several large European companies fix meetings with the national Railway Board,” says Krish. As a result of this work, they have since successfully landed contracts and projects.”

But it’s not only large multinationals that are benefiting – any European company can take advantage of GNSS.asia’s services in India. “Big or small, every EU GNSS company should consider investing in India as there are many opportunities for GNSS, both in infrastructure under the Digital India campaign and in manufacturing under the Make it in India initiative,” says Krish.

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).

Personal tracking devices will soon become the fastest growing market within the LBS sector and the solutions start to use Galileo for enhanced performances.

Within the lucrative Location Based Services (LBS) market, wearables are the ‘it’ thing. What makes the wearable market so unique is its diversity and the many opportunities for GNSS that this diversity creates. A market that was once dominated by smartwatches now includes everything from fitness trackers to healthcare monitors, smart clothes and even smart eyewear. This diversification, in combination with falling device prices, has been the catalyst behind the 15% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) that the wearable market saw between 2012 and 2016.

Driving this growth are personal tracking devices. With an expected CAGR of 17.9% between 2016 and 2025 and an expected 14.1 million units shipped in 2020, personal tracking devices will soon become the fastest growing market within the LBS sector.

Introducing the personal tracking device

So what exactly is a personal tracking device?

Personal tracking devices are small devices that use GNSS (Galileo, GPS, Glonass) to provide users with the location of an individual or object. The device, which is clipped on or given to the person or thing being tracked, sends the location information in real time to the user, most often via an installed smartphone app or on their computer. Many devices offer additional services, such as sending alerts when the tracked individual or item ventures out of a pre-established ‘geo-fenced’ zone.

Personal tracking devices will soon be the fastest growing LBS market segment

With a personal tracking device attached to a child, parents can have peace of mind knowing where their kid is at all times. Have a new teenage driver in the house? With a personal tracking device in the car you can keep an eye on their whereabouts – and even their driving speed. Personal tracking devices can also be used to locate a dog that’s wandered off, monitor elderly family members suffering from Alzheimer’s or Dementia, or even to track down a stolen bicycle. 

One company at the forefront of the personal tracking device market is Trax. The Stockholm-based company offers versatile tracking devices and related services that can be used for a host of applications. Weighing only 25g and smaller than a matchbox, Trax devices use an integrated uBlox chip to provide accurate GNSS tracking in 100+ countries. Using the company’s smartphone and desktop web apps, a user can easily see the position of each tracker in real-time.

Trax originally relied on the GPS and Glonass GNSS systems. However, following the launch of Galileo Initial Services, the company recently announced its decision to add Galileo to the mix. “Multi-constellation capability improves positioning reliability, which is essential when it comes to any tracking device,” says Trax Business Chief Executive Officer Michel Bracké. “Additionally, Galileo is more accurate, particularly in urban environments, which can limit the usefulness of other devices that don’t support it.”

The heightened performance of Galileo also supports Trax’s augmented reality fast-find and further enhances its’ security features, which include geo-fences and proximity alerts. “By activating Galileo capability, Trax has further enhanced its real-time GNSS – making locating loved-ones even easier,” adds Bracké.

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).

Personal tracking devices will soon become the fastest growing market within the LBS sector and the solutions start to use Galileo for enhanced performances.

Within the lucrative Location Based Services (LBS) market, wearables are the ‘it’ thing. What makes the wearable market so unique is its diversity and the many opportunities for GNSS that this diversity creates. A market that was once dominated by smartwatches now includes everything from fitness trackers to healthcare monitors, smart clothes and even smart eyewear. This diversification, in combination with falling device prices, has been the catalyst behind the 15% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) that the wearable market saw between 2012 and 2016.

Driving this growth are personal tracking devices. With an expected CAGR of 17.9% between 2016 and 2025 and an expected 14.1 million units shipped in 2020, personal tracking devices will soon become the fastest growing market within the LBS sector.

Introducing the personal tracking device

So what exactly is a personal tracking device?

Personal tracking devices are small devices that use GNSS (Galileo, GPS, Glonass) to provide users with the location of an individual or object. The device, which is clipped on or given to the person or thing being tracked, sends the location information in real time to the user, most often via an installed smartphone app or on their computer. Many devices offer additional services, such as sending alerts when the tracked individual or item ventures out of a pre-established ‘geo-fenced’ zone.

Trax offers versatile, Galileo-enabled tracking devices and related services that can be used for a host of applications.

With a personal tracking device attached to a child, parents can have peace of mind knowing where their kid is at all times. Have a new teenage driver in the house? With a personal tracking device in the car you can keep an eye on their whereabouts – and even their driving speed. Personal tracking devices can also be used to locate a dog that’s wandered off, monitor elderly family members suffering from Alzheimer’s or Dementia, or even to track down a stolen bicycle. 

One company at the forefront of the personal tracking device market is Trax. The Stockholm-based company offers versatile tracking devices and related services that can be used for a host of applications. Weighing only 25g and smaller than a matchbox, Trax devices use an integrated uBlox chip to provide accurate GNSS tracking in 100+ countries. Using the company’s smartphone and desktop web apps, a user can easily see the position of each tracker in real-time.

Trax originally relied on the GPS and Glonass GNSS systems. However, following the launch of Galileo Initial Services, the company recently announced its decision to add Galileo to the mix. “Multi-constellation capability improves positioning reliability, which is essential when it comes to any tracking device,” says Trax Business Chief Executive Officer Michel Bracké. “Additionally, Galileo is more accurate, particularly in urban environments, which can limit the usefulness of other devices that don’t support it.”

The heightened performance of Galileo also supports Trax’s augmented reality fast-find and further enhances its’ security features, which include geo-fences and proximity alerts. “By activating Galileo capability, Trax has further enhanced its real-time GNSS – making locating loved-ones even easier,” adds Bracké.

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).

The GSA discussed the many benefits that European GNSS, and in particular Galileo, bring to the mapping and surveying sector during the EUREF 2017 Symposium in Wroclaw, Poland.

The mapping and surveying sector has been benefiting from the innovative opportunities created by European GNSS and, in particular, the precise positioning offered by Galileo. “With Galileo satellites working together with GPS, there are more satellites in the sky, meaning more accurate positioning – of particular importance to surveyors operating in challenging environments like cities or tree canopies,” explained GSA Head of Market Development Gian Gherardo Calini, speaking at the recent EUREF 2017 Symposium in Wroclaw, Poland.

As an efficient tool for mapping and surveying, GNSS is often used by solutions requiring centimetre-level accuracy, while for some GIS and mapping applications metre-level is sufficient. “Specifically, as to the GSA’s contribution to this market segment, for several years now EGNOS has been contributing to the growing use of GNSS in real time mapping solutions by providing free metre-level accuracy that is widely available,” said Calini. “In a nutshell, EGNOS eliminates the need for complex and costly equipment and software solutions and the need to invest in additional ground infrastructure.”

Typical examples include GIS and thematic mapping for small and medium-sized municipalities, forestry and park management, as well as surveying utility infrastructures. Most GNSS receivers used for mapping are EGNOS ready.

Galileo for high-precision

For high-precision users demanding positioning services with sub-decimetre level accuracy, which can only be achieved using augmentation services (e.g. real-time kinematic (RTK), precise point positioning (PPP)), the Galileo Open Service comes into play. This free-of-charge service offers either single (E1) or dual frequency (E1/E5), which further improves such augmentation services as RTK/differential global navigation satellite system (DGNSS) or PPP solutions.

The resulting benefits to surveyors, especially in multi-constellation environments, are many. For example, surveyors enjoy easier mitigation of multipath errors, higher signal-to-noise ratio, increased availability, continuity and reliability, and better operation in harsh environments. Thanks to the planned Navigation Message Authentication, the Galileo Open Service also provides enhanced protection against spoofing attacks.

In addition, there is the Galileo Commercial Service, which is dedicated to an even higher level of authentication, as well as a High Accuracy (CS-HA) service. As for CS-HA, a PPP-based service, it is planned to directly deliver corrections around the world via Galileo satellites and without the need for an additional communication channel. This will support many high-accuracy applications across all segments.

Along this line, CS-HA offers triple frequency with faster convergence time for surveying applications and with an accuracy comparable to RTK. On top of this, users can also benefit from Galileo’s authentication service – the first-ever Signal in Space-based method for assuring that the positioning is based on real Galileo signals and not another source.

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).

Precise timing and synchronization (T&S) is crucial for many applications. It plays a vital role in the protection of critical infrastructure, ranging from energy to telecommunications. Galileo provides a unique service to the T&S user community by delivering a free, stable and very accurate time-and-frequency source that is available worldwide.

The 30 nanosecond timing provided by E-GNSS means that Europe can offer highly accurate time, phase and frequency network synchronization with clear benefits to critical infrastructure operators, thanks to its increased robustness against spoofing and jamming and improved timing service availability. Reinhard Blasi, market development officer at GSA, the European GNSS Agency, presented some of the latest market developments at the Paris International Air Show. He outlined the main uses for T&S in the fields of telecommunications, energy and finance.

Accuracy and compliance important for confidence

The GNSS T&S segment is driven by the telecommunications sector, which represents around 90% of overall GNSS device shipments. By 2020, 5G is expected to be a new paradigm in the telecom industry, providing higher data rates and requiring further synchronisation accuracy. EGNSS should be able to contribute to meeting these more demanding accuracy requirements.

In the field of energy, for example, GNSS is used to provide a precise timing marker at nodal points of networks to ensure proper monitoring and protection against failure – GNSS can also improve the efficiency of the electricity supply network, detecting and reacting to local changes in usage, thereby helping to make energy grids ‘smarter’.

In financial trading, GNSS is used in trade timestamping in line with upcoming new regulatory frameworks that will require financial operators to trace and synchronise trades with financial computer systems. Accuracy and compliance with regulations are particularly important for the confidence of those using trading platforms.

Valeria Catalano, market development officer at GSA, presented the GSA and EC Timing and Synchronisation funded project: DEMETRA and ROBUST EGNSS TIMING SERVICES.

DEMETRA aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of delivering early EGNSS timing services to end users by utilising an operational demonstrator and conducting tests with pilot applications. The project developed a prototype of a European time disseminator, based on EGNSS, validating the concept of “time as a service” and adding new or improved features like time certification, redundancy, resilience, integrity, and improved accuracy.

The Robust Timing project is aimed at defining and validating the concept of a robust stand-alone timing service for Galileo as well as for EGNOS. The project will also design a synchronisation service using the precise time generated by Galileo (GST), but without using the Signal in Space for exchange of synchronisation information.

Read this: GNSS Market Report

David Comby, French inter-ministerial coordinator for GNSS programmes, said: “The issue is time; time is used for many applications and many of them are very critical. The question is how to use Galileo and EGNOS to benefit from their added value to the users, be it in the area of energy, high-frequency trading or telecommunications.”

GSA finds solutions

The issue of resilience has come under the spotlight in recent years with ‘jamming’ and ‘spoofing' attacks. GSA has found solutions in the shape of Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OS NMA) and Commercial Service Authentication services. These services are able to detect and ward off spoofing attacks.

Galileo now offers more robust Commercial Service Authentication on the E6 signal; its public regulated service offers an encrypted and robust navigation service specifically designed to be more resistant to jamming interference and spoofing, to ensure continuity of service to authorised users, even in times of crisis.

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).

The GSA discussed how Galileo helps the mapping and surveying sector harmonise geospatial data during the EUREF 2017 Symposium in Wroclaw, Poland.

EUREF, the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe, is dedicated to the definition, realisation and maintenance of the European Geodetic Reference Systems. Included in this mission is the development and maintenance of the EUREF GNSS Permanent Network (EPN), which is a ground-based GNSS infrastructure for scientific and practical applications in positioning and navigation.

“Through the INSPIRE Directive, the European Union requires that geospatial data be harmonised across Europe via a common coordinate system,” says Professor Alessandro Caporali of Italy’s University of Padova. “GNSS based satellite positioning is, to date, the most efficient and accurate technique for consistently defining coordinates on a regional and global scale.”

EUREF provides standards and guidelines to European National Mapping Authorities in order to harmonise the definition and adoption of national coordinate reference systems.

Galileo readiness

But of course all of these benefits can only be used if the geodetic community is ‘Galileo ready’. According to the GSA’s GNSS User Technology Report, surveying, mapping and construction (both person-based and machine controlled) together accounted for 95% of all GNSS device shipments in 2016. “In the coming decade, the total amount of shipments is expected to reach 815,000 units worldwide, representing almost a four-fold increase over 2015,” said GSA Head of Market Development Gian Gherardo Calini, speaking at the recent EUREF 2017 Symposium in Wroclaw, Poland.

According to Calini, multi-constellation and multi-frequency are widely adopted to fulfil the sector’s stringent accuracy requirements. A recent GSA survey of the sector showed that 77% of responding reference networks indicated that they had enough information to integrate Galileo into their systems, while 41% say they are already fully prepared to use Galileo signals. In total, 78% of reference networks have plans to upgrade to Galileo this year.

Currently, most Galileo-enabled chipsets and receivers are found in the automotive, consumer, agriculture and surveying sectors. For example, in the high-precision market, all the leading receiver developers have integrated Galileo into their products, including Trimble, Leica- Geosystems, Javad, TopCon, Septentrio and NovAtel.

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).

As home to over 600 million inhabitants, many technically skilled experts in the area of satellite technology, and a fast-growing economy, South East Asia is a hotspot for global business – and GNSS is no exception. In fact, thanks to its unique geographic position, where it is able to receive all GNSS signals (and even some EGNOS signals), South East Asia is developing into a regional ‘GNSS Valley’.  

To help ensure European GNSS’ spot at this table, the Horizon 2020-funded BELS project conducts a range of coordinated activities to raise awareness and build capacities for the exploitation of E-GNSS technologies in South East Asia. The BELS consortium brings together 12 European, Asian and Australian partners, including European companies with a presence in the region, as well as leading universities. Together, these partners concentrate on three core objectives:

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

One of the project’s core focuses is to promote Galileo and how it can benefit the region. This work is particularly important as the region lacks its own satellite navigation capabilities and is thus dependent on other national or regional systems. “There’s a lot of competition coming from Russia, China and Japan – each looking to tie South East Asia to their GNSS system,” says Matteo Vannucchi from the BELS coordination team. “However, the majority of these systems are military-based or controlled, which of course raises concerns for users in the region.”

According to Vannucchi, because Galileo is the only civil-operated GNSS programme, it has a unique advantage in the region. “The potential here is substantial,” he says. For example, the Vietnamese government has issued a regulation that requires all vehicles used for transporting passengers or goods to be equipped with ‘black boxes’ capable of relaying data – which will come from GNSS technology. “Many of these local technology companies are looking for suitable providers, but tend to look towards the US, Japan and China instead of European ones,” adds Vannucchi.

A dedicated GNSS R&D centre

Core to this job is the NAVIS Centre, a dedicated GNSS R&D centre located in Hanoi, Vietnam. The centre’s mission is to act as a linking entity between Europe and South East Asia within the GNSS sector. Specifically, it aims to promote cooperation between EU and South East Asian actors, promote European GNSS technology, and reinforce international collaboration among players. To achieve this, the centre conducts research, training and awareness initiatives in collaboration with a growing network of international institutions from Asia-Pacific and Europe. NAVIS also provides support to regional policy makers on GNSS technical issues relating to the development of regulations and standards.

“Our core function is to develop satellite navigation in South East Asia,” says Vannucchi. “Together, we are conducting ongoing research and coordinating workshops and conferences that give these actors an opportunity to come together and share their findings.”

The NAVIS facility is also available for both testing and research activities and serves as a hub for establishing new links with regional GNSS stakeholders. NAVIS is particularly well suited for testing a receiver’s multi-constellation function, and several EU receiver manufacturers have taken up the opportunity to co-locate their receivers at the centre.

Test your receivers here

To encourage more companies to take advantage of this opportunity, the NAVIS centre has issued calls for expression of interest, where European GNSS companies can receive vouchers to visit the NAVIS Centre. “NAVIS is the perfect place to test receivers and devices, not only because of how one can receive all GNSS signals here, but also because of the unique phenomena of ionosphere found here,” says Vannucchi. “In general, if it works at NAVIS, it will work anywhere in the world.”

The purpose of these visits is to provide a company with a chance to experience the centre and all that it has to offer in terms of serving as a testbed for their GNSS equipment and solutions prior to making a commitment to relocate some of their activities here. Whereas the first call was to invite companies to come and see if NAVIS was a good fit for them, a subsequent second call gives these companies an opportunity to apply to receive vouchers to conduct their testing at the centre and network with stakeholders in Southeast Asia.

Last year, seven European companies visited NAVIS and started planning their test campaigns. One such company was UK-based NSL, who has developed a GNSS interference and jammer detection system. Originally developed within the GSA-funded DETECTOR project, the company is now looking to commercialise the system. “Thanks to the partnership between NSL and the BELS project, NSL has been able to trial their technology in the South East Asian region and to disseminate results with key regional stakeholders,” says Vannucchi. “The company is also looking forward to closer cooperation with the BELS partners to develop solutions that ensure safe, secure and reliable use of GNSS in support of a range of governmental applications within the region.”

These calls are open to any EU-based company working with E-GNSS equipment and solutions and with commercial interest in the region. Successful applicants receive financial support via a voucher worth up to EUR 2 500. Applicants can apply at any time during the year, with applications being evaluated every three months. The call will be closed once the available budget has been fully allocated. In order to be considered, companies should provide a short company profile, proof of activity in the field of E-GNSS, a letter of motivation, CV and suggested timeframe for the visit.

More information can be found here.

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The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) presented two exciting Galileo ‘search and rescue’ (SAR) projects - GRICAS and HELIOS - at the Paris International Air Show in June.

On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a passenger flight, disappeared between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and its destination, Beijing Airport in China. The disappearance triggered one of the largest and most expensive multinational searches for a missing aircraft in history. The flight recorder could not be located and so it was not possible immediately to carry out an analysis of what went wrong and what could be done to ensure it never happened again.

Before MH370 vanished it did not send out a distress signal, there was no indication of poor weather and there was no warning of a technical problem; it was a mystery. MH370 came four years after the loss of Air France flight AF477 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris – again, there was no warning signal.

Watch this: Galileo Search and Rescue

Following the incident, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) realised that they needed to do something to improve the distress signalling and adopted new recommendations for a Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS). The European Union adopted an initiative in 2015 to improve the location of distressed aircraft for the swift rescue of passengers and rapid analysis to determine what went wrong and to identify safety improvements.

GSA steps in

ICAO recommendations outlined the end to be achieved, while leaving the technological solutions to industry. Autonomous distress tracking means that an aircraft can transmit a signal automatically without the intervention of crew – who are focussed on recovery in an emergency. The device must also be autonomous of the aircraft’s electricity or other aircraft systems. There must also be a way for the device to alert SAR (Search and Rescue) control centres.

Through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Development programme, the GSA funded projects proposing technical solutions based on satellite support through the Galileo SAR service.

At the air show, Orolia, a lead partner in the HELIOS project, presented its GADSS compliant ‘Distress Tracking - Emergency Locator Transmitter’ (ELT-DT), which allows a beacon to automatically send a distress signal providing an accurate position when it detects unusual activity, such as a precipitous drop in altitude. Oralio CEO Jean-Yves Courtois said: “The ability to autonomously track aircraft in distress with continuous location data is an industry breakthrough that will deliver long-lasting benefits for the travelling public.”

Also watch: How the Galileo SAR service works

The GRICAS (Galileo Search-And-Rescue Return-Link Implementation for a better Civil Aviation Safety) system, like HELIOS, makes use of medium-altitude earth orbiting search and rescue systems (Cospas-Sarsat) which are supported by global navigation satellite systems, such as Galileo.

“GRICAS has developed two main products - firstly the ground station, MEOLUT, localising the distress signals; the second is next generation beacons that will equip the aircrafts to meet the ICAO requirements, allowing the aircraft to be localised and rescued in distress situations,” said Michel Monnerat, manager of the Location Infrastructure and Security Department at Thales Alenia Space.

All new commercial aircraft will have to meet ICAO requirements by 2021.

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Message from Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA)

The GSA takes up its responsibilities for Galileo

July 1, 2017 is an important date for both the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and for the Galileo programme. Following a six-month handover phase that began on January 1st, as of July 1st the GSA officially takes responsibility for overseeing the operations and service provision for Galileo – a responsibility that includes ensuring a return on investment from Galileo in the form of across-the-board services and applications.

Our journey began three years ago when the European Commission issued Regulation 1285, stating that the Galileo exploitation phase was to start in 2016 and delegating the responsibility for overseeing this key phase to the GSA. Last year’s Declaration of Initial Services and the awarding of the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) contract marked the official transition of Galileo from a testing phase to a system in service – and were the first concrete steps taken by the GSA in our new role.

Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA)

Many hats

Overseeing the Galileo service provision is no simple task, and one that requires the GSA to wear multiple hats. For example, our responsibilities include overseeing the operation of such key service facilities as the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) in France and the UK, the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) in Spain and the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) in the Netherlands. We are also charged with maximising Galileo adoption across user market segments, including positioning Galileo as the leading constellation in search and rescue beacons and making the Public Regulated Service (PRS) the service of choice for all authorised users.

In parallel with the development of the service provision, additional satellites will continue to be added to the Galileo constellation, allowing new services to become available. And here lies one of the key challenges we face, namely, the need to balance the development of the Galileo service provision with the need for continued programme deployment.

The end goal of all this work is to ensure that Galileo is positioned as the second GNSS constellation of choice (after GPS) by the time the system reaches full operational capability from 2020. The GSA is well positioned to oversee the ongoing investment in the research, technology and applications needed to achieve this goal.

Showtime!

In preparing for our new role, the GSA has leaned heavily on our strong track record and experience from our work with EGNOS, where we have been responsible for the programme’s service provision for the since 2014. We have also undergone a thorough internal assessment and a ramp up of our competence level, all in preparation for July 1, 2017 – the day we begin to put into practice everything that we have been working towards and usher in a new era for the Galileo programme. The time for rehearsal is done, now it’s showtime.

Message from Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA)

The GSA takes up its responsibilities for Galileo

July 1, 2017 is an important date for both the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and for the Galileo programme. Following a six-month handover phase that began on January 1st, as of July 1st the GSA officially takes responsibility for overseeing the operations and service provision for Galileo – a responsibility that includes ensuring a return on investment from Galileo in the form of across-the-board services and applications.

Our journey began three years ago when the European Commission issued Regulation 1285, stating that the Galileo exploitation phase was to start in 2016 and delegating the responsibility for overseeing this key phase to the GSA. Last year’s Declaration of Initial Services and the awarding of the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) contract marked the official transition of Galileo from a testing phase to a system in service – and were the first concrete steps taken by the GSA in our new role.

Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA)

Many hats

Overseeing the Galileo service provision is no simple task, and one that requires the GSA to wear multiple hats. For example, our responsibilities include overseeing the operation of such key service facilities as the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) in France and the UK, the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) in Spain and the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) in the Netherlands. We are also charged with maximising Galileo adoption across user market segments, including positioning Galileo as the leading constellation in search and rescue beacons and making the Public Regulated Service (PRS) the service of choice for all authorised users.

In parallel with the development of the service provision, additional satellites will continue to be added to the Galileo constellation, allowing new services to become available. And here lies one of the key challenges we face, namely, the need to balance the development of the Galileo service provision with the need for continued programme deployment.

The end goal of all this work is to ensure that Galileo is positioned as the second GNSS constellation of choice (after GPS) by the time the system reaches full operational capability from 2020. The GSA is well positioned to oversee the ongoing investment in the research, technology and applications needed to achieve this goal.

Showtime!

In preparing for our new role, the GSA has leaned heavily on our strong track record and experience from our work with EGNOS, where we have been responsible for the programme’s service provision for the since 2014. We have also undergone a thorough internal assessment and a ramp up of our competence level, all in preparation for July 1, 2017 – the day we begin to put into practice everything that we have been working towards and usher in a new era for the Galileo programme.

Of course, this was accomplished with the help and support of our colleagues at the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA will remain in charge of the system activities and the deployment of the ground and space segments, while working closely with us for service provision. GSA is also integrating senior ESA expertise, bringing in their knowledge of the system and operations, to ensure that we can deliver high quality services to users.

Message from Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA)

The GSA takes up its responsibilities for Galileo

July 1, 2017 is an important date for both the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and for the Galileo programme. Following a six-month handover phase that began on January 1st, as of July 1st the GSA officially takes responsibility for overseeing the operations and service provision for Galileo – a responsibility that includes ensuring a return on investment from Galileo in the form of across-the-board services and applications.

Our journey began three years ago when the European Commission issued Regulation 1285, stating that the Galileo exploitation phase was to start in 2016 and delegating the responsibility for overseeing this key phase to the GSA. Last year’s Declaration of Initial Services and the awarding of the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) contract marked the official transition of Galileo from a testing phase to a system in service – and were the first concrete steps taken by the GSA in our new role.

Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA)

Many hats

Overseeing the Galileo service provision is no simple task, and one that requires the GSA to wear multiple hats. For example, our responsibilities include overseeing the operation of such key service facilities as the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) in France and the UK, the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) in Spain and the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) in the Netherlands. We are also charged with maximising Galileo adoption across user market segments, including positioning Galileo as the leading constellation in search and rescue beacons and making the Public Regulated Service (PRS) the service of choice for all authorised users.

In parallel with the development of the service provision, additional satellites will continue to be added to the Galileo constellation, allowing new services to become available. And here lies one of the key challenges we face, namely, the need to balance the development of the Galileo service provision with the need for continued programme deployment.

The end goal of all this work is to ensure that Galileo is positioned as the second GNSS constellation of choice (after GPS) by the time the system reaches full operational capability from 2020. The GSA is well positioned to oversee the ongoing investment in the research, technology and applications needed to achieve this goal.

Showtime!

In preparing for our new role, the GSA has leaned heavily on our strong track record and experience from our work with EGNOS, where we have been responsible for the programme’s service provision since 2014. We have also undergone a thorough internal assessment and a ramp up of our competence level, all in preparation for July 1, 2017 – the day we begin to put into practice everything that we have been working towards and usher in a new era for the Galileo programme.

Of course, this was accomplished with the help and support of our colleagues at the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA will remain in charge of the system activities and the deployment of the ground and space segments, while working closely with us for service provision. GSA is also integrating senior ESA expertise, bringing in their knowledge of the system and operations, to ensure that we can deliver high quality services to users.

Paris International Air Show, held in Le Bourget, is the largest air show in the world and the favoured exhibition site of the aviation industry’s top players. The biennial event attracts more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the world, nearly 300 official delegations and 150,000 trade visitors. Even in sweltering temperatures, Bourget was buzzing, with thousands queuing to see the latest aircraft and innovations.

At the Paris Air Show, GSA presented projects that make use of Galileo and EGNOS. Chair of the European GNSS Agency’s (GSA) Administrative Board and President of the CNES (the French Space Agency) and France’s Inter-Ministerial Co-ordinator for European satellite navigation programmes Jean-Yves Le Gall said: “The GSA is the flagship of the European Union in space with its Galileo and EGNOS projects. GSA has a key place here because space issues are very prominent at this show.” He added: “We are entering into a new era with new facilities to operate Galileo.”

“Now, we are responsible for the exploitation of EGNOS and Galileo,” confirmed GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “Our mission is to link with users’ needs and the Aviation stakeholders are largely using our European space technology; we have permanent interactions with them.”

Read this: EGNOS for aviation in acceleration mode

Patrice Roquette from Airbus spoke about how the Airbus A350-900 had adopted EGNOS for the European Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) technology: “We are moving more and more towards SBAS. With our latest aircraft models, we use EGNOS technology. This is more and more important for our clients.”

Pilots adapt quickly to EGNOS

The LPV-200 service developed under EGNOS enables aircraft-approach procedures of the highest standard, without requiring visual contact with the ground before they are as low as 200 feet. Increasingly, airports are adopting LPV-200. Roquette said: “Airbus would like to see more and more airports adopt the LPV-200. It would be great if the airports could develop more LPV approaches, since the aircrafts now have this capability.”

Roquette said that EGNOS-based technology was not difficult to introduce in the cockpit, because it is very close in terms of use and principles. Pilots have found it straightforward to use and adapt to it very quickly.

Also read: AERO 2017 show EGNOS benefits

GSA also presented two exciting projects on Galileo search-and-rescue that also receive financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Development programme: GRICAS and Helios. These projects were developed in response to recent accidents, including Malaysian Airways flight MH370 where it proved almost impossible to locate the downed aircraft. Both projects have developed solutions for in-flight distress tracking and signalling.

MISTRALE, a project funded by GSA under Horizon 2020, exhibited their project that uses Galileo to assess moisture content in soil for farmers and water managers. MISTRALE makes a soil-moisture content map using a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) with a GNSS measurement device. Besides soil-moisture maps, MISTRALE can also produce maps of water logging, flooding extent and other soil-moisture related information products.

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).

Paris International Air Show, held in Le Bourget, is the largest air show in the world and the favoured exhibition site of the aviation industry’s top players. The biennial event attracts more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the world, nearly 300 official delegations and 150,000 trade visitors. Even in sweltering temperatures, Bourget was buzzing, with thousands queuing to see the latest aircraft and innovations.

At the Paris Air Show, GSA presented projects that make use of Galileo and EGNOS. Chair of the European GNSS Agency’s (GSA) Administrative Board and President of the CNES (the French Space Agency) and France’s Inter-Ministerial Co-ordinator for European satellite navigation programmes Jean-Yves Le Gall said: “The GSA is the flagship of the European Union in space with its Galileo and EGNOS projects. GSA has a key place here because space issues are very prominent at this show.” He added: “We are entering into a new era with new facilities to operate Galileo.”

“Now, we are responsible for the exploitation of EGNOS and Galileo,” confirmed GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides. “Our mission is to link with users’ needs and the Aviation stakeholders are largely using our European space technology; we have permanent interactions with them.”

Read this: EGNOS for aviation in acceleration mode

Patrice Roquette from Airbus spoke about how the Airbus A350-900 had adopted EGNOS for the European Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) technology: “We are moving more and more towards SBAS. With our latest aircraft models, we use EGNOS technology. This is more and more important for our clients.”

Pilots adapt quickly to EGNOS

The LPV-200 service developed under EGNOS enables aircraft-approach procedures of the highest standard, without requiring visual contact with the ground before they are as low as 200 feet. Increasingly, airports are adopting LPV-200. Roquette said: “Airbus would like to see more and more airports adopt the LPV-200. It would be great if the airports could develop more LPV approaches, since the aircrafts now have this capability.”

Roquette said that EGNOS-based technology was not difficult to introduce in the cockpit, because it is very close in terms of use and principles. Pilots have found it straightforward to use and adapt to it very quickly.

Also read: AERO 2017 show EGNOS benefits

GSA also presented two exciting projects on Galileo search-and-rescue that also receive financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Development programme: GRICAS and Helios. These projects were developed in response to recent accidents, including Malaysian Airways flight MH370 where it proved almost impossible to locate the downed aircraft. Both projects have developed solutions for in-flight distress tracking and signalling.

MISTRALE, a project funded by GSA under Horizon 2020, exhibited their project that uses Galileo to assess moisture content in soil for farmers and water managers. MISTRALE makes a soil-moisture content map using a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) with a GNSS measurement device. Besides soil-moisture maps, MISTRALE can also produce maps of water logging, flooding extent and other soil-moisture related information products.

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).

TechXLR8 is a major ‘festival’ of technology that celebrates networks, technology and consumer services. As part of London Tech Week 2017 TechXLR8 brought together a portfolio of eight converging technology themes. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) was there to showcase its leading technology enabling role in two of TechXLR8’s strands: connected cars and the internet of things (IoT).

The Connected Cars and Autonomous Vehicles segment of the event was billed as Europe's leading automotive technology event and the exhibition area was filled with some fine vehicles. The GSA stand was fortunate to be adjacent to the Thales / Williams Engineering stand with a very impressive sports car and the Tesla demonstration area with the highly desirable Tesla Model X on show.

Connected cars

The related conference session on 14 June covered all aspects of connected vehicles from the pros and cons of car sharing and shared mobility services to the issues around car hacking.

How regulation and legal issues were trying to keep pace with the fast pace of technology was another aspect discussed in a dedicated session on Law and Policy. Lucy McCormick a barrister at Henderson Chambers, Lucy Yu from the UK’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – a government funded policy unit established at Cambridge University – and David Wong from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in the UK were confident that although legislation was a “work in progress” this would not significantly hold back deployment of the technologies.

Further optimism was displayed by Laura Merling, Vice President for Autonomous Vehicle Solutions with the Ford Motor Company, who thought that autonomous vehicles would not remove jobs, but would shift human tasks. There will still be a need for a “human touch point,” she said. The concept of a car as a “software stack” could be key to getting value out of the data flows generated by connected cars. Examples include preventing warranty issues by catching problems in performance data trends and moving from predictive to prescriptive service models.

High Quality Positioning is key

Of course all this relies on a set of fundamental enabling technologies and one of these is location services especially the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as Galileo. GNSS is becoming a core component of autonomous vehicles and an essential element in the mix of sensors that will drive their adoption, argued Fiammetta Diani, Deputy Head of Market Development at the GSA, who presented at the conference.

Companies are “assessing a growing need for precise and reliable positioning information at contained costs for safety-critical application,” stated Diani. “With the aim of attaining 100% positioning reliability at the decimetre level everywhere.” No single positioning technology can currently deliver this, so fusing data from multiple sensors would be required, however GNSS is the only technology providing an absolute location while the other technologies provide relative positioning.

“Many of the requirements for autonomous vehicle operation are already met by GNSS in the short term,” claimed Diani. “This includes lane level accuracy and high signal integrity. High quality GNSS can reduce the final cost of positioning solutions for autonomous vehicles.”

Diani also showcased recent research projects demonstrating the capabilities of GNSS technology. The inLane project has successfully fused computer vision with GNSS and crowd-sourced high definition mapping for lane level positioning. The TAXISAT project developed autonomous ‘wePod’ vehicles for use on public roads and the positioning engine produced during the project was now on the market. Her final example was the EscaPe project that developed a high level integrity positioning system for use in Renault’s experimental autonomous vehicles.

Understanding Galileo’s added value is important for the sector, said Diani. Compared to existing systems the European GNSS has better resistance to signal interference, multi-path issues and spoofing attacks: all trends of concern in GNSS.

The future for GNSS is multi constellation and multi frequency operation – an area where Galileo is leading the way. “Multi constellation GNSS provides improved signal availability and better accuracy and multi frequency will help eliminate errors and enable much more robust positioning solutions,” concluded Diani.

GNSS and IoT

Location data is also essential for the Internet of Things (IoT) and GNSS, including Galileo, are playing a key role here too, as Justyna Redelkiewicz, Head of Sector LBS and IoT at GSA explained to delegates at the IoT Connect session of the IoT Europe conference at TechXLR8.

Information on positioning, velocity and timing is key data for a growing portfolio of context-aware applications. “For the Internet of Things location matters” Redelkiewicz said, highlighting that the need to know where the “things” are is one of the main requirements of each IoT application.

As with the connected vehicle developments, GNSS and Galileo offer enabling solutions for IoT that are an essential element in a fusion of sensor data that can provide seamless overall positioning solutions wherever the IoT device is located.

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).

TechXLR8 is a major ‘festival’ of technology that celebrates networks, technology and consumer services. As part of London Tech Week 2017 TechXLR8 brought together a portfolio of eight converging technology themes. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) was there to showcase its leading technology enabling role in two of TechXLR8’s strands: connected cars and the internet of things (IoT).

The Connected Cars and Autonomous Vehicles segment of the event was billed as Europe's leading automotive technology event and the exhibition area was filled with some fine vehicles. The GSA stand was fortunate to be adjacent to the Thales / Williams Engineering stand with a very impressive sports car and the Tesla demonstration area with the highly desirable Tesla Model X on show.

Connected cars

The related conference session on 14 June covered all aspects of connected vehicles from the pros and cons of car sharing and shared mobility services to the issues around car hacking.

How regulation and legal issues were trying to keep pace with the fast pace of technology was another aspect discussed in a dedicated session on Law and Policy. Lucy McCormick a barrister at Henderson Chambers, Lucy Yu from the UK’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – a government funded policy unit established at Cambridge University – and David Wong from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in the UK were confident that although legislation was a “work in progress” this would not significantly hold back deployment of the technologies.

Further optimism was displayed by Laura Merling, Vice President for Autonomous Vehicle Solutions with the Ford Motor Company, who thought that autonomous vehicles would not remove jobs, but would shift human tasks. There will still be a need for a “human touch point,” she said. The concept of a car as a “software stack” could be key to getting value out of the data flows generated by connected cars. Examples include preventing warranty issues by catching problems in performance data trends and moving from predictive to prescriptive service models.

High Quality Positioning is key

Of course all this relies on a set of fundamental enabling technologies and one of these is location services especially the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as Galileo. GNSS is becoming a core component of autonomous vehicles and an essential element in the mix of sensors that will drive their adoption, argued Fiammetta Diani, Deputy Head of Market Development at the GSA, who presented at the conference.

Companies are “assessing a growing need for precise and reliable positioning information at contained costs for safety-critical application,” stated Diani. “With the aim of attaining 100% positioning reliability at the decimetre level everywhere.” No single positioning technology can currently deliver this, so fusing data from multiple sensors would be required, however GNSS is the only technology providing an absolute location while the other technologies provide relative positioning.

“Many of the requirements for autonomous vehicle operation are already met by GNSS in the short term,” claimed Diani. “This includes lane level accuracy and high signal integrity. High quality GNSS can reduce the final cost of positioning solutions for autonomous vehicles.”

Diani also showcased recent research projects demonstrating the capabilities of GNSS technology. The inLane project has successfully fused computer vision with GNSS and crowd-sourced high definition mapping for lane level positioning. The TAXISAT project developed autonomous ‘wePod’ vehicles for use on public roads and the positioning engine produced during the project was now on the market. Her final example was the EscaPe project that developed a high level integrity positioning system for use in Renault’s experimental autonomous vehicles.

Understanding Galileo’s added value is important for the sector, said Diani. Compared to existing systems the European GNSS has better resistance to signal interference, multi-path issues and spoofing attacks: all trends of concern in GNSS.

The future for GNSS is multi constellation and multi frequency operation – an area where Galileo is leading the way. “Multi constellation GNSS provides improved signal availability and better accuracy and multi frequency will help eliminate errors and enable much more robust positioning solutions,” concluded Diani.

GNSS and IoT

Location data is also essential for the Internet of Things (IoT) and GNSS, including Galileo, are playing a key role here too, as Justyna Redelkiewicz, Head of Sector LBS and IoT at GSA explained to delegates at the IoT Connect session of the IoT Europe conference at TechXLR8.

Information on positioning, velocity and timing is key data for a growing portfolio of context-aware applications. “For the Internet of Things location matters” Redelkiewicz said, highlighting that the need to know where the “things” are is one of the main requirements of each IoT application.

As with the connected vehicle developments, GNSS and Galileo offer enabling solutions for IoT that are an essential element in a fusion of sensor data that can provide seamless overall positioning solutions wherever the IoT device is located.

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).

GSA support aimed at fostering the adoption of EGNOS and Galileo in aviation was presented at a European Helicopter Association (EHA) info day on EU funding opportunities for the helicopter sector, in Brussels on June 6.

EGNOS based operations for rotorcraft are increasingly being implemented and the GSA is committed to continuing its work with the European Helicopter Association to support this user community in reaping the safety and economic benefits from European GNSS programmes.

Three of the European GNSS Agency’s (GSA) funding tools aimed at fostering the adoption of EGNOS and Galileo in aviation – the Aviation Grant Programme, the relevant Horizon 2020 calls and Fundamental Elements – were presented at the EHA event in the European Parliament.

Speaking at the forum, GSA Market Development Officer and Horizon 2020 Coordinator Carmen Aguilera highlighted that EGNOS leads to a substantial reduction in the decision height, making helipads accessible in poor weather conditions, thereby enhancing safety, which is of particular importance for medical and emergency operations. She reminded that the Aviation Grant Programme was designed by the GSA to support projects that enable users to equip and use their aircraft or rotorcraft fleet with EGNOS-enabled avionics and to allow air navigation service providers and aerodromes/heliports to implement EGNOS-based operations. A first call in 2014 saw 12 projects funded with a total of EUR 6 million and a further 14 projects received the same amount of funding under a second call in 2015. A third call will be published in October 2017; with proposals to be submitted by March 2018 (more details can be found here).

Read this: EGNOS for aviation in acceleration mode

In addition to this specific grant programme, the GSA is also implementing the GNSS application calls in Horizon 2020 under delegation from the European Commission, within the Space work programme. Three calls in 2014 and 2015 saw 40 projects, including 10 aviation projects, receive funding totalling EUR 65 million. The 2017 call, worth EUR 33 million, is currently under evaluation and the next calls are being developed.

Fundamental Elements is the third grant programme being implemented by the GSA. This programme is aimed at supporting the development of EGNSS-enabled chipsets, receivers and antennas. A project has already been funded to develop a DFMC SBAS dual frequency multi-constellation receiver for the future version of EGNOS. This project kicked off last month. In addition, the GSA is about to start evaluating projects in other calls relevant for the aviation community – one to develop an Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM) system and another to develop a MEOSAR beacon.

EHA Executive Director Elisabetta Dalla Benetta said that the EHA was very proud to have been able to offer to the rotorcraft community an opportunity to have a useful insight into the EU funding system. “Lack of knowledge and complexity has often prevented our sector from fully exploiting the possibilities available for them to use EU funds to modernise their operations. But examples of success stories presented by AB Corporation, PRISM and the GSA, have demonstrated that use of EU grants is more within reach than expected,” she said.

Success stories

GSA triggered the very first helicopter PinS LPV in Europe to Insel Hospital in Bern in June 2014, which is now used by Swiss Air Ambulance (REGA) in its daily operations. A number of operators have already received support in acquiring EGNOS-enabled avionics, with 23 Points in Space (PinS) LPV, 14 low level routes (RNP 0.3) and 29 rotorcraft retrofits ongoing. Citing some success stories, Ms Aguilera gave the example of Caproni Airport in Italy, which is developing performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures for Trento region. This project involves both the upgrade of rotorcraft for EGNOS operations and the development of PinS procedures and low level routes connecting several hospitals in the area.

Watch this: EGNOS for Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS)

Another example of a success story are the PIONEERS I and II projects, which also combine the upgrade of helicopters and the implementation of low-level routes – this time in Norway, Austria and the UK. As part of this project, a first helicopter LPV approach has been approved for Trondheim Hospital in Norway, allowing air ambulances to land in all weather conditions. Also, NorksLuftambulance recently obtained operational approval for RNP 0.3 operations within a GSA funded project, preparing to fly PinS LPV.

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).

Geo IoT World (Geo-location – Internet of Things) announces four award winners for innovation in geolocation technologies. GeoIoT is leading the way in showcasing the latest cutting-edge developments in this growth sector. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) sponsored one of the awards for ‘IoT Solutions Empowered by GNSS’.

The Internet of Things enables manufacturers and service providers to exchange data and improve customer services, business performance and much, much more. In some ways we have only scratched the surface of what can be offered.

Constant improvements in the available technology, sharp reductions in cost reaping high returns on investment and better performance mean that you can manage a road haulage company from a smartphone, improve the lives of people who suffer from disabilities or drive-down costs in a company by reducing waste. The possibilities are almost limitless and as the technology reaches a wider audience new innovations and ideas are emerging.

Read this: Superlatives abound for Galileo Hackathon 2017

To raise awareness of the integral role that GNSS plays in IoT and to celebrate the launch of Galileo Initial Services available since December 2016, GSA sponsored the award for ‘IoT Solutions empowered by GNSS’.

And the winner is…

The prize went to the CROWDLOC Platform. CROWDLOC is a business-to-business software-as-a-service provider, offering affordable, low-power location tracking services for consumers and enterprises. CROWDLOC could bring an end to loss and theft. Their mission is to solve this global problem. The disruptive service is based on a low-power mobile software development kit embedded in the apps of an alliance of Bluetooth devices manufacturers. This mutualised network (the crowd) can geo-locate the asset 24/7.

The start-up was founded in 2016 by a duo of French and German entrepreneurs. The company is supported by European business angels, seasoned executives with past and present experience in the location technology, navigation and Telecom industries.

The runner-up in this category was Polymorph. Polymorph has developed a technology to enable those working in logistics to track and trace goods. CEO Richard Barry described his technology as ‘Uber for trucks’.

Other categories

Three other categories looked at different aspects of geolocation.

The Geo IoT award for Location & Proximity Services was presented to TRACKO by Onyx Beacon. TRACKO allows companies to track and trace assets on the go using beacons and mobile technology. The solution links beacons attached to each asset to other beacons placed around a premises to create a high-precision indoor and outdoor tracking grid.

Also read: Happy Beacon Awareness Day!

The Geo IoT Award for Location Intelligence was presented to Stockholm-based Wittra. Wittra overcomes the limitations of existing technologies in addressing the Internet of Moving Things. The technology has already been adopted by shipping companies and is also used in the management of homes for the elderly.

The Geo IoT Award for IoT Networks was awarded to Sewio Networks. Sewio developed a market-proved Ultra-Wideband Real-Time Location Platform. Using highly precise indoor tracking and rich data analytics, the platform brings a new level of understanding of work-flow processes across a broad array of disciplines, allowing companies to optimise the flow of intra-logistics, reduce staff injuries and observe the behaviour of customers.

The three-day conference demonstrated that the Internet of Things geolocation is becoming an ever evolving area. More and more public and private organisations are turning to these technologies to improve services and reduce costs.

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).

A multinational European team, fronted by France’s Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), is among the winners at this year’s European Inventor Awards. Their project, which ensures that satellite signals do not interfere with each other, allows users and developers alike to benefit from the next-generation positioning technology that Galileo offers.

The project Radio signals for better satellite navigation was declared the winner in the Research category at the European Patent Office’s European Inventor Awards, Europe’s most prestigious prize for innovation. The results of the awards were announced at a 15 June ceremony held in Venice, Italy. The project created modulation and spread-spectrum signal technologies that strengthen some of Galileo's core components: enhanced accuracy and ensured interoperability with GLONASS and GPS (including possible upgrades), along with saving on satellite power.

Watch this: Radio signals for better satellite navigation

The team was led by French engineer Laurent Lestarquit and his Spanish colleague José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez and included France’s Jean-Luc Issler, German Günter Hein and Belgian Lionel Ries. Quoted on the EPO website, Lestarquit said he was proud of the teamwork and of what the team had achieved. Co-inventor José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez also noted that the project was something that Europeans could feel proud of. "When the nations of Europe work together, the whole world benefits," he said.

How it works

Lestarquit developed a patented modulation technique called Alternative Binary Offset Carrier modulation (AltBOC), which effectively packs four signals into one large one: two highly accurate signals from Galileo's Open Service and two signals from its Safety-of-Life service.

The result is that AltBOC not only offers extremely high accuracy for specialised receivers, it also helps save satellite power.

In addition, the team developed an innovative spread-spectrum technique that creates a new single waveform via what is called Composite Binary Offset Carrier (CBOC) modulation. Not only will this signal allow high-end receivers to accurately calculate positions, it is also compatible with older, lower-end devices and other GNSS signals. The CBOC patent includes a novel concept allowing for the combination of open CBOC and secured Public Regulated Service (PRS) signals in a single frequency. PRS signals are designed to be used by civil authorities, such as police, coastguards and customs agencies. PRS is encrypted and includes anti-jamming mechanisms.

European Inventor Award

Now in its 12th year, the European Inventor Award is presented annually by the European Patent Office (EPO) to recognise outstanding inventors from Europe and around the world who have made exceptional contributions to social development, technological progress and economic growth.

Also watch: European Inventor Award 2017 - News

The finalists and winners in five categories (Industry, Research, Non-EPO countries, Small and medium-sized enterprises and Popular Prize) are selected by an independent jury consisting of international authorities in the fields of business, science, academia and research, who examine the proposals in terms of their contribution towards technical progress, social development, and wealth and job creation in Europe.

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).

The GSA-funded mapKITE project has created an advanced surveying tool by combining terrestrial mobile mapping systems with Unmanned Aerial System mapping capabilities.

Geo-information is fundamental in any modern society, with many infrastructures and services depending on it. However, it is also expensive to create and update. As a result, European, national and local government agencies must balance a growing demand for high-resolution, up-to-date geo-information against decreasing budgets.

The Horizon 2020 mapKITE project responds to this market need by combining terrestrial mobile mapping systems (TMMS) with Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) mapping capabilities. The resulting tool is a tandem terrestrial vehicle (TV) and unmanned aircraft (UA) equipped with remote sensing instruments that cooperate in collecting geo-data. The system integrates E-GNSS capabilities into drones and proposes a novel geo-data post-processing concept to provide surveyors and mappers with an end-to-end solution for 3-D high-resolution corridor mapping.

Also read: Network providers enthusiastic about Galileo at CLGE General Assembly

The GSA-funded project has now concluded after two years of development and validation, executed by a consortium of 10 companies from six different countries and coordinated by GeoNumerics. Recently, the project gathered over 40 industry specialists from world-leading mobile mapping integrators, European mapping service companies and cartographic and infrastructure management agencies to officially introduce – and demonstrate – the mapKITE system.

Introducing mapKITE

“While terrestrial mobile mapping systems are becoming a standard surveying tool, their use is restricted due to their limited and insufficient view from the ground,” said Project Coordinator Pere Molina during the event. “On the technology side, mapping of small areas via small unmanned aircraft has become a reality, with many of the big geomatic technology companies already including UAS systems in their product portfolios.”
mapKITE combines the best of both worlds by incorporating aerial and terrestrial components. The aerial component consists of a UA equipped with remote sensing instruments and a navigation guidance and control system. The terrestrial component consists of a human-operated TV that is equipped with remote sensing instruments and a TMMS.

This tandem system operates with the TV, computing a real-time trajectory by means of its real-time navigation system. By doing so, a set of waypoints are generated as route inputs for the UA by converting terrestrial navigation (time, position, velocity and attitude parameters) into UA time and space commands. This process produces a virtual tether by which the UA always follows the vehicle.

Watch this: mapKITE for total 3D mapping

As the UA follows the vehicle at a constant flying height, both can simultaneously collect geo-data. This is then post-processed via an orientation-calibration concept, resulting in the delivery of high-resolution, oriented-calibrated and integrated 3D images of corridors and their surrounding environment.

One of the system’s main benefits is that it lowers surveying budgets. “The mapKITE system does this by means of its Kinematic Ground Control Points (KGCPs), which are obtained directly from the TMMS navigation solution, entailing the elimination of expensive traditional Ground Control Points (GCPs),” explained Molina. “What this means for the user is the longer the corridor mapping mission, the higher the savings are while also keeping similarly accurate results.”

Benefiting from EGNOS and Galileo

The mapKITE system’s combination of both ground and aerial based surveying systems provides users with an integrated and powerful solution. To accomplish this, the project fully exploits such GNSS technology as EGNOS and Galileo. “As an enabling component of mapKITE, EGNOS provides the desired level of accuracy for the terrestrial navigation solution and for the UA guidance,” said GSA Market Development Officer Alina Hriscu, who spoke at the launch event and demonstration, providing the latest insights about European GNSS and its uses for mapping and surveying applications. Hriscu also noted that the Galileo E5 AltBOC signals, which are superior to existing and planned GPS signals, are of particular interest to the mapKITE system because of the robustness they provide against multipath errors at the ground level. This makes them essential for accurate mapping in natural or man-made corridors, something that was confirmed during tests of mapKITE.

“This is a brand new way of acquiring geo-data and processing it in order to derive geo-information that would not make sense without E-GNSS,” added Molina. “We also must highlight the critical role of GNSS timing, due to the need to synchronise the TV’s trajectory solution to the central time of exposure of the UA remote sensing instruments.” 

A game changer

Due to its operational simplicity and cost savings, mapKITE is positioned to be a game changer – a fact clearly on display at the launch event. Here, surveyors saw first-hand how they can cut costs by eliminating the need to independently operate terrestrial and aerial systems. “What we witnessed today was the launch of a new era of drone information technology that will prove to be a game changer in the development of our digital society,” said Jan Skaloud of the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne. “The mapKITE system has answered the challenge of linking mobile mapping technology with the airborne mapping technology that is now accessible to users via drones.”

Watch this: Presenting a new mapping paradigm to the world

“If we think about the Internet of Things and Smart Cities, it’s really geospatial data that will become the heartbeat of a city, allowing one to measure and assess what’s going,” added Trimble’s Christian Hoffmann. “Systems like mapKITE, which offers specific vertical applications for corridor mapping or asset management, for example, is the answer to getting this data.”

Engemap, a Brazilian road mapping company and early-adapter of mapKITE, presented a case study of its success using the system. Antonio Lira, project and business manager in Engemap, presented the key features of the Brazilian corridor mapping requirements and market and highlighted how mapKITE absolutely fits as an all-in-one solution. During the two trials, Engemap used a mapKITE prototype to successfully map several kilometres of road, achieving satisfactory levels of efficiency.

“Simply put, the mapKITE idea of combining a mobile system with a classic system of aerial image acquisition is quite brilliant,” concluded Senior Mapping Expert Josep Lluis Colomer.

As mapKITE now turns its focus towards marketization, it has been patented by GeoNumerics in Spain and the US, with patent applications in Europe and Brazil pending.

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).

This year, Europe celebrated the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome - 25 March 1957 was a seminal moment in European integration. Since then, Europe has developed in many unforeseen ways.

The founding fathers may have dreamed of a single European currency and borderless travel – it is less clear if they were thinking of smartphones and earth observation satellites to monitor the environment.

“Maybe they weren’t thinking of a space strategy in 1957; Yuri Gagarin completed the first orbit in 1961,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides at a high-level conference in Rome on June 15. “But now – 60 years later – we can say that space has a very good story to tell about European co-operation. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are benefitting from space. People may not know, but Galileo is entering more and more into their daily lives.”

GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides speaking at the Rome event

Watch this: Galileo goes live

Roberto Battiston, president of the Italian Space Agency, spoke at the conference on how the EU’s space programmes foster and support industry and research: “Europe has always been the opportunity to achieve together what we could not achieve alone. This was true of the European Space Agency and it is true of the investment in space infrastructure including Galileo and Copernicus.”

Italian Education Minister Valeria Fedeli opened the event, noting that space is a “critically important driver for our economy”. Italy is a good example of how one country is drawing on Europe’s shared infrastructure. Over the coming years, Italy will invest €1 billion in this field; half of this investment will come from private sources.

‘Europe is now the second space power in the world’

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska reflected on the milestones of European Space Policy and programmes. The European Space Strategy adopted at the end of March will build on work done so far to ensure that Europe’s talents, expertise and investments enable Europe to anticipate the opportunities of tomorrow. Bieńkowska said: “Europe is now the second space power in the world”.

Coming back down to Earth, DG GROW’s Deputy Director General for Space Pierre Delsaux reminded us that though we were celebrating the end of roaming charges, many Europeans don’t travel outside their own countries. However, most people use smartphones dependent on satellite navigation or at the very least follow the weather forecast. So whether you are at home or away, Europe’s space policy is making a difference to your life.

Copernicus

Images from Copernicus, the world’s most ambitious earth observation and monitoring programme, were presented at the conference. European Space Agency Director General Jan Woerner referred to the Sentinel satellites as the backbone of the Copernicus programme.

Insights from satellites will play a critical role in many societal challenges, including monitoring the state of the environment to better understand climate change.

Italian Civil Protection Director Fabrizio Curcio, showed how Copernicus data and information supported emergency management activities. Etna eruptions, earthquakes, landslides and floods, but also extraordinary events such as the Costa Concordia wreckage or the Xylella Fastidiosa phytosanitary crisis put Copernicus to the test in real-life and real-time stress tests – the data provided proved invaluable.

ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Forecast) Director General Florence Rabier spoke at the conference on how space policy serves citizens. When created 40 years ago, the aim was to forecast the weather two to ten days ahead – ECMWF can now predict up to a month or several months ahead. Rabier is happy to say: “We can be proud in Europe. Our forecasts are routinely the best – as judged by the World Meteorological Organisation. We can help other countries too – we were the first to detect that Hurricane Sandy would turn and hit the east coast of America.”

The event, while reflective on achievements to date, also looked to the future. The EU’s continued investment in space gives the private sector the confidence to invest. Giovanni Sylos Labini, the CEO of Planetek and Vice Chairman of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) spoke about space as a motor for economic growth. Labini said that the market is growing rapidly year on year by around 10%, “public investment is crucial, but increasingly private equity and finance is coming in, making investment sustainable.”

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).

Following the recent release of GNSS raw measurements on Android Nougat, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is engaging with the smartest brains in navigation and positioning to innovate around this new feature.

Galileo is now successfully delivering initial positioning services, while device manufacturers have unveiled the first generation of Galileo-ready consumer devices. Therefore, the GSA is now focusing more on its work with application developers to allow EU citizens to benefit from this enhanced Galileo performance.

An interesting development that may enable higher accuracy for mass market devices is the new availability of raw measurements at the Operating System level. Indeed, all new smartphones that feature Android 7.0 (i.e. Nougat) give application developers direct access to raw GNSS measurements. This unique feature allows users to get pseudoranges and Doppler and carrier phase measurements, and opens up the possibility of using alternative strategies for position, velocity and time (PVT) computation, for example by applying corrections to improve accuracy.

Read this: GNSS mobile apps: using Nougat to access raw GNSS measurements

This innovation was eagerly anticipated by the GNSS community. Raw measurements were already accessible on high end professional equipment but never on smartphones. Research centres and universities have immediately started testing the new possibilities that the availability of raw measurements may bring. Just a few months after the Nougat launch, several applications appeared on the market proposing precise point positioning (PPP) solutions for smartphones.

Prague workshop

However, the use of raw measurements is currently still limited to testing and users are mostly GNSS experts that are trying to better understand the real potential of this new feature. Therefore, the GSA has decided to launch a Raw Measurements Task Force to facilitate exchanges, share experience and knowledge around this topic, and promote the use of raw measurements to application developers. The Task Force plans to release a White Paper explaining how GNSS raw measurements can be used to optimise the calculation of position (building on test results), how they can be best corrected, and how they can create opportunities for innovative applications. It will also provide an outlook on the future use of raw measurements, assuming that dual band chipsets become available in smartphones.

The GSA is inviting all interested GNSS experts in academia and research to join a dedicated workshop in Prague on July 20th on the preparation of the GNSS community’s position on raw measurement use in consumer devices.

To register for the one day workshop, or to get more information about the Task Force, please contact Justyna Redelkiewicz at market@gsa.europa.eu.

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).

Following the recent release of GNSS raw measurements on Android Nougat, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is engaging with the smartest brains in navigation and positioning to innovate around this new feature.

Galileo is now successfully delivering initial positioning services, while device manufacturers have unveiled the first generation of Galileo-ready consumer devices. Therefore, the GSA is now focusing more on its work with application developers to allow EU citizens to benefit from this enhanced Galileo performance.

An interesting development that may enable higher accuracy for mass market devices is the new availability of raw measurements at the Operating System level. Indeed, all new smartphones that feature Android 7.0 (i.e. Nougat) give application developers direct access to raw GNSS measurements. This unique feature allows users to get pseudoranges and Doppler and carrier phase measurements, and opens up the possibility of using alternative strategies for position, velocity and time (PVT) computation, for example by applying corrections to improve accuracy.

Read this: GNSS mobile apps: using Nougat to access raw GNSS measurements

This innovation was eagerly anticipated by the GNSS community. Raw measurements were already accessible on high end professional equipment but never on smartphones. Research centres and universities have immediately started testing the new possibilities that the availability of raw measurements may bring. Just a few months after the Nougat launch, several applications appeared on the market proposing precise point positioning (PPP) solutions for smartphones.

Prague workshop

However, the use of raw measurements is currently still limited to testing and users are mostly GNSS experts that are trying to better understand the real potential of this new feature. Therefore, the GSA has decided to launch a Raw Measurements Task Force to facilitate exchanges, share experience and knowledge around this topic, and promote the use of raw measurements to application developers. The Task Force plans to release a White Paper explaining how GNSS raw measurements can be used to optimise the calculation of position (building on test results), how they can be best corrected, and how they can create opportunities for innovative applications. It will also provide an outlook on the future use of raw measurements, assuming that dual band chipsets become available in smartphones.

The GSA is inviting all interested GNSS experts in academia and research to join a dedicated workshop in Prague on July 20th on the preparation of the GNSS community’s position on raw measurement use in consumer devices.

To register for the one day workshop, or to get more information about the Task Force, please contact Justyna Redelkiewicz at market@gsa.europa.eu.

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).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) formally received the keys to the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) from the Dutch government at a handover ceremony in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 12 June.

As part of the ceremony, a key declaration document was signed by GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides and Bart van Bolhuis, Director of International Affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. The signing ceremony was followed by a presentation on Galileo and the role of the GRC in the Galileo architecture.

This largely ceremonial event means that the GSA now formally has access to the GRC building to install equipment and prepare the facilities for operations. The full right of use of the GRC will be granted to the GSA upon final acceptance of the building by the European Commission and the GSA.

Speaking at the ceremony, des Dorides said that the GSA appreciates the efforts made by the Netherlands to ensure that the GRC building will be of high quality, well prepared to handle the tasks entrusted to it now and in the future.

Watch This: GSA ready for Initial Services

“With the GRC in Noordwijk, the GSA will have a state of the art facility next to the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), stimulating both agencies to work more closely together, which is exactly the reason why this location for the GRC was selected,” des Dorides said.

With the GRC, the GSA will have a state of the art facility next to ESTEC

In his speech at the event, van Bolhuis highlighted the effectiveness of cooperation so far. “Thanks to excellent cooperation by all parties we are able to stand here only eight months after the first brick to hand over the key for this future center of excellence of the GSA,” he said.

Pivotal role

Following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services in December, the GRC will play a pivotal role in the provision of Galileo services, providing the GSA with independent monitoring of and reporting on Galileo’s performance. In doing so, it will help ensure the provision of high-quality satellite data so users can better rely on and benefit from Galileo.

The GRC in Brief

• The Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) is one of the Galileo Service Facilities: a facility to support the provision of services to the Galileo Core System and Galileo users.
• The GRC is operated by the GSA: it provides the GSA with an independent means of evaluating the quality of the signals in space and the performance of the Galileo Service Operator.
• The GRC is fully independent of the system and the Galileo Service Operator with respect to both the technical solution and operations.
• The GRC is comprised of both a core facility and contributions from EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland.
• The core facility, located in Noordwijk, is charged with generating performance evaluation products and reports, performing analyses to support investigations of service performance and degradations, and making use of the GRC’s own data, products and expertise.

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).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) formally received the keys to the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) from the Dutch government at a handover ceremony in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 12 June.

As part of the ceremony, a key declaration document was signed by GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides and Bart van Bolhuis, Director of International Affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. The signing ceremony was followed by a presentation on Galileo and the role of the GRC in the Galileo architecture.

This largely ceremonial event means that the GSA now formally has access to the GRC building to install equipment and prepare the facilities for operations. The full right of use of the GRC will be granted to the GSA upon final acceptance of the building by the European Commission and the GSA.

Speaking at the ceremony, des Dorides said that the GSA appreciates the efforts made by the Netherlands to ensure that the GRC building will be of high quality, well prepared to handle the tasks entrusted to it now and in the future.

Watch This: GSA ready for Initial Services

“With the GRC in Noordwijk, the GSA will have a state of the art facility next to the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), stimulating both agencies to work more closely together, which is exactly the reason why this location for the GRC was selected,” des Dorides said.

With the GRC, the GSA will have a state of the art facility next to ESTEC

In his speech at the event, van Bolhuis highlighted the effectiveness of cooperation so far. “Thanks to excellent cooperation by all parties we are able to stand here only eight months after the first brick to hand over the key for this future center of excellence of the GSA,” he said.

Pivotal role

Following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services in December, the GRC will play a pivotal role in the provision of Galileo services, providing the GSA with independent monitoring of and reporting on Galileo’s performance. In doing so, it will help ensure the provision of high-quality satellite data so users can better rely on and benefit from Galileo.

The GRC in Brief

• The Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) is one of the Galileo Service Facilities: a facility to support the provision of services to the Galileo Core System and Galileo users.
• The GRC is operated by the GSA: it provides the GSA with an independent means of evaluating the quality of the signals in space and the performance of the Galileo Service Operator.
• The GRC is fully independent of the system and the Galileo Service Operator with respect to both the technical solution and operations.
• The GRC is comprised of both a core facility and contributions from EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland.
• The core facility, located in Noordwijk, is charged with generating performance evaluation products and reports, performing analyses to support investigations of service performance and degradations, and making use of the GRC’s own data, products and expertise.

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).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) formally received the keys to the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) from the Dutch government at a handover ceremony in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 12 June.

As part of the ceremony, a key declaration document was signed by GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides and Bart van Bolhuis, Director of International Affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. The signing ceremony was followed by a presentation on Galileo and the role of the GRC in the Galileo architecture.

This largely ceremonial event means that the GSA now formally has access to the GRC building to install equipment and prepare the facilities for operations. The full right of use of the GRC will be granted to the GSA upon final acceptance of the building by the European Commission and the GSA.

Speaking at the ceremony, des Dorides said that the GSA appreciates the efforts made by the Netherlands to ensure that the GRC building will be of high quality, well prepared to handle the tasks entrusted to it now and in the future.

Watch This: GSA ready for Initial Services

“With the GRC in Noordwijk, the GSA will have a state of the art facility next to the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), stimulating both agencies to work more closely together, which is exactly the reason why this location for the GRC was selected,” des Dorides said.

With the GRC, the GSA will have a state of the art facility next to ESTEC

In his speech at the event, van Bolhuis highlighted the effectiveness of cooperation so far. “Thanks to excellent cooperation by all parties we are able to stand here only eight months after the first brick to hand over the key for this future center of excellence of the GSA,” he said.

Pivotal role

Following the declaration of Galileo Initial Services in December, the GRC will play a pivotal role in the provision of Galileo services, providing the GSA with independent monitoring of and reporting on Galileo’s performance. In doing so, it will help ensure the provision of high-quality satellite data so users can better rely on and benefit from Galileo.

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).

European GNSS Agency (GSA) Executive Director Carlo des Dorides is recognised, along with Member of the European Parliament Marian-Jean Marinescu, at the 2017 European Business Aviation Awards in Geneva.

The 2017 European Business Aviation Awards were presented to GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides and Member of the European Parliament Marian-Jean Marinescu, at a ceremony held on the first day of this year’s European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2017) on May 22. The prestigious awards were handed out by the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

Marian-Jean Marinescu, Member of the European Parliament

MEP Marinescu said that he was pleased about the EBAA award. “This is a recognition of the work which is done by the European Parliament to support the European business aviation communities. As the MEP representative within the GSA Administration Board, I am pleased to see that our satellite navigation technology EGNOS, managed by the GSA, is embedded by the aviation business community to support its development.”

Priority airports targeted for LPV

EBAA CEO Brandon Mitchener said in a statement that, as executive director of the GSA, des Dorides set the vision of the agency, and ensured Europe’s satellite navigation systems were effectively operated, well maintained and secure. “GSA and EBAA signed an agreement to promote EGNOS deployment in the aviation sector across Europe, and specifically LPV approaches, and together we identified a series of European airports where LPV is of key interest to business aviation,” Mitchener said.

Read this: 14 projects selected for funding and aimed at developing EGNOS at regional airports

Under this agreement the GSA and EBAA have set up a specific working group to enable new routes that serve the specific needs of business aviation operators. A list of priority airports to be targeted for LPV publication has been drawn up based on operator interest. The GSA and EBAA are working closely together on this list to ensure quick LPV publication at airports of interest. “The collaboration between GSA and EBAA has been very good, and GSA hopes to continue working in the same way for many years to come, to keep serving specific business aviation needs,” des Dorides said.

Creating European jobs

Commenting on the award GSA Head of Market Development Gian Gherardo Calini said that the GSA was happy to receive recognition from the EBAA. “The EBAA is the most important user community for us in aviation. Our cooperation is an example, as business users need access to regional airports and EGNOS provides this without high investment and approaches with a CAT I decision height of 200 feet,” he said.

Gian-Gherardo Calini receives the award for the GSA on behalf of Carlo des Dorides

Highlighting the results for business aviation, Calini noted that this sector was the most advanced user community for EGNOS with 25% penetration of aircraft equipage, and more than 440 procedures currently in place. “This is contributing to the creation of European jobs and generating business for European citizens,” he said.

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).

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), including Galileo, play a key role in the Internet of Things. Information on positioning, velocity and timing is driving growth in a wide array of context-aware applications, from drones and driverless cars, to asset tracking.

Geo IoT World (Geo-location – Internet of Things) held its second conference to explore the latest developments in geo-location and analytics systems in Brussels on June 6-8. The three day conference brought together inventors, companies and users.

Justyna Redelkiewicz, Head of Sector for location-based services and IoT for the GSA outlined the three main directions of change for positioning technologies in IoT. The first is the development towards ubiquitous positioning, aiming at locating people and objects at any time, everywhere.

A good example of this trend is the development of tracking for school buses and children inside these buses developed by ITCRAFT Navigation Solution: the system allows, among other functionalities, “real-time tracking of bus movements,” “viewing routes with bus stops and school location,” and “detection of students by scanning [their] iBeacons.”

Read this: GSA, mobile industry leaders explore the future of location at infoShare 2017

The second development is automation of the positioning systems. To achieve fully autonomous vehicles (cars, vessels, buses) the vehicle's positioning system has to be able to sense the environment and react to it in real time. This feature, called ambient intelligence, is the subject of a lot of research activity in both industry and academia.

Privacy and security are also critical issues. Positioning systems must be secure so that they are not hackable, this is particularly important in the field of transport. In other areas, privacy can be an issue; many of the devices will need to anonymise the data they use.

Industry trends

Uptake of these technologies is beginning to boom, technology analyst Bruce Krulwich of Grizzly Analytics said that the technology is on the cusp of hitting the world in a very big way. Up until now the technology wasn’t quite there in terms of accuracy, cost and ease of use; geolocation has now turned the corner and wide adoption is expected.

On trends in the industry, Redelkiewicz said that the main focus now is to bring to the market multiple-frequencies to achieve greater accuracy. We may expect the first dual band mass market chipsets to be launched in the coming two years.

There is a trend as well to combine GNSS with other solutions better suited for indoor tracking and navigation (e.g. Bluetooth beacons) so that users can have an integrated navigation and tracking experience, like office-to-office navigation, that allows a smooth transition from outdoors, where GNSS stays the preferred solution for location, to the interior of buildings and vice-versa.

Another trend is the mutualisation of location services, which makes it possible to reduce the power consumption and cost of devices. In this trend, the CROWDLOC platform was awarded with the “IOT Solutions empowered by GNSS” prize by the GSA for their innovative solution for tracking items that habitually get lost, such as pieces of baggage, cars, bicycles and even pets. The main goal of their solution is “[lowering] the cost of location tracking by five to eight times compared to existing solutions on the market.”

Also read: Digging Deeper: An Inside Look at GNSS Market Trends

“One of the problems is that end users are almost dazzled by the different options,” says Steve Statler, an expert on geolocation “We saw a huge wave of early adopters but some are waiting to see which technologies work best. We have a huge ecosystem and people are starting to see value added solutions.”

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).

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), including Galileo, play a key role in the Internet of Things. Information on positioning, velocity and timing is driving growth in a wide array of context-aware applications, from drones and driverless cars, to asset tracking.

Geo IoT World (Geo-location – Internet of Things) held its second conference to explore the latest developments in geo-location and analytics systems in Brussels on June 6-8. The three day conference brought together inventors, companies and users.

Justyna Redelkiewicz, Head of Sector for location-based services and IoT for the GSA outlined the three main directions of change for positioning technologies in IoT. The first is the development towards ubiquitous positioning, aiming at locating people and objects at any time, everywhere.

A good example of this trend is the development of tracking for school buses and children inside these buses developed by ITCRAFT Navigation Solution: the system allows, among other functionalities, “real-time tracking of bus movements,” “viewing routes with bus stops and school location,” and “detection of students by scanning [their] iBeacons.”

Read this: GSA, mobile industry leaders explore the future of location at infoShare 2017

The second development is automation of the positioning systems. To achieve fully autonomous vehicles (cars, vessels, buses) the vehicle's positioning system has to be able to sense the environment and react to it in real time. This feature, called ambient intelligence, is the subject of a lot of research activity in both industry and academia.

Privacy and security are also critical issues. Positioning systems must be secure so that they are not hackable, this is particularly important in the field of transport. In other areas, privacy can be an issue; many of the devices will need to anonymise the data they use.

Industry trends

Uptake of these technologies is beginning to boom, technology analyst Bruce Krulwich of Grizzly Analytics said that the technology is on the cusp of hitting the world in a very big way. Up until now the technology wasn’t quite there in terms of accuracy, cost and ease of use; geolocation has now turned the corner and wide adoption is expected.

On trends in the industry, Redelkiewicz said that the main focus now is to bring to the market multiple-frequencies to achieve greater accuracy. We may expect the first dual band mass market chipsets to be launched in the coming two years.

There is a trend as well to combine GNSS with other solutions better suited for indoor tracking and navigation (e.g. Bluetooth beacons) so that users can have an integrated navigation and tracking experience, like office-to-office navigation, that allows a smooth transition from outdoors, where GNSS stays the preferred solution for location, to the interior of buildings and vice-versa.

Another trend is the mutualisation of location services, which makes it possible to reduce the power consumption and cost of devices. In this trend, the CROWDLOC platform was awarded with the “IOT Solutions empowered by GNSS” prize by the GSA for their innovative solution for tracking items that habitually get lost, such as pieces of baggage, cars, bicycles and even pets. The main goal of their solution is “[lowering] the cost of location tracking by five to eight times compared to existing solutions on the market.”

Also read: Digging Deeper: An Inside Look at GNSS Market Trends

“One of the problems is that end users are almost dazzled by the different options,” says Steve Statler, an expert on geolocation “We saw a huge wave of early adopters but some are waiting to see which technologies work best. We have a huge ecosystem and people are starting to see value added solutions.”

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).

The potential for synergies between the Copernicus and E-GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) programmes was explored at a Copernicus Training and Information Session, hosted by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) at its Prague headquarters on 24 May.

Synergies generated by the joint use of E-GNSS and Copernicus exist in most market segments, with potential applications ranging from biomass monitoring and environmental management, to border surveillance and maritime safety. These synergies were the subject of a presentation at the Copernicus Training and Information Session, which the GSA hosted at its headquarters in Prague.

“Copernicus is analysing and providing the characteristics of an area while Galileo is providing the navigation, the support for the high accuracy positioning and tracking of specific targets within this area. Obviously, this creates numerous opportunities for applications, for business development but also for the protection of the environment,” GSA Head of Market Development Gian-Gherardo Calini said at the conference.

Read this: Better together

During the forum, a particular focus was made on combined use of this Copernicus and E-GNSS data in support of agriculture applications and mapping and surveying. One example from the agricultural segment showed how differentiated crop maps supplied by Copernicus, highlighting soil moisture, crop health and the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), could be combined with highly accurate E-GNSS machinery positioning in order to apply fertilisers and pesticides where and when they are most needed, thereby ensuring a more efficient use of manpower and a lower environmental footprint for agricultural activities.

In the mapping and surveying sector, for example, Copernicus could be engaged to monitor urban growth, urban green areas and land use and its evolution, while E-GNSS could be used to determine items such as utilities and infrastructures and to understand the mobility habits of citizens. The combination of information from these two sources would enable public authorities and spatial planners to design smart cities and define new urban corridors, while monitoring infrastructure and utilities and tracking compliance with environmental legislation.

Speaking at the forum Petra Hesslerova from ENKI o.p.s. said that land, food, energy, water and climate were interconnected, comprising a coherent system - a ‘Nexus’. “The integrated management of this Nexus is critical to secure the efficient and sustainable use of resources. Copernicus Open Data combined with E-GNSS are key to understanding the Nexus clearly and building a coherent model,” she said.

In the 3rd Horizon 2020 call for Galileo, which recently closed for submissions, a particular emphasis was put on projects that utilise a combination of the two European satellite systems.

Also read: 2017 European Satellite Navigation Competition kicks off in Brussels

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability. Once complete, the Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites and the necessary ground infrastructure to enable the provision of positioning, navigation and timing services.

The Galileo programme is funded and owned by the European Union. The European Commission has the overall responsibility for the Galileo programme, managing and overseeing the implementation of all programme activities.

Galileo's deployment, the design and development of the new generation of systems and the technical development of infrastructure are entrusted to the European Space Agency (ESA). The definition, development and in-orbit validation phases of the Galileo programme were carried out by ESA, and co-funded by ESA and the European Commission.

The GSA is charged with ensuring the uptake and security of Galileo. As of 2017, the GSA is responsible for all Galileo operations and the provision of Galileo services.

About Copernicus

Copernicus, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation. Through satellite and in-situ observations, the services deliver near-real-time data on a global level which can also be used for local and regional needs, to help us better understand our planet and sustainably manage the environment we live in.

Copernicus is served by a set of dedicated satellites (the Sentinel families) and contributing missions (existing commercial and public satellites). The Sentinel satellites are specifically designed to meet the needs of the Copernicus services and their users. With the launch of Sentinel-1A in 2014, the European Union set in motion a process to place a constellation of almost 20 more satellites in orbit before 2030.

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).

The potential for synergies between the Copernicus and E-GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) programmes was explored at a Copernicus Training and Information Session, hosted by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) at its Prague headquarters on 24 May.

Synergies generated by the joint use of E-GNSS and Copernicus exist in most market segments, with potential applications ranging from biomass monitoring and environmental management, to border surveillance and maritime safety. These synergies were the subject of a presentation at the Copernicus Training and Information Session, which the GSA hosted at its headquarters in Prague.

“Copernicus is analysing and providing the characteristics of an area while Galileo is providing the navigation, the support for the high accuracy positioning and tracking of specific targets within this area. Obviously, this creates numerous opportunities for applications, for business development but also for the protection of the environment,” GSA Head of Market Development Gian-Gherardo Calini said at the conference.

Read this: Better together

During the forum, a particular focus was made on combined use of this Copernicus and E-GNSS data in support of agriculture applications and mapping and surveying. One example from the agricultural segment showed how differentiated crop maps supplied by Copernicus, highlighting soil moisture, crop health and the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), could be combined with highly accurate E-GNSS machinery positioning in order to apply fertilisers and pesticides where and when they are most needed, thereby ensuring a more efficient use of manpower and a lower environmental footprint for agricultural activities.

In the mapping and surveying sector, for example, Copernicus could be engaged to monitor urban growth, urban green areas and land use and its evolution, while E-GNSS could be used to determine items such as utilities and infrastructures and to understand the mobility habits of citizens. The combination of information from these two sources would enable public authorities and spatial planners to design smart cities and define new urban corridors, while monitoring infrastructure and utilities and tracking compliance with environmental legislation.

Speaking at the forum Petra Hesslerova from ENKI o.p.s. said that land, food, energy, water and climate were interconnected, comprising a coherent system - a ‘Nexus’. “The integrated management of this Nexus is critical to secure the efficient and sustainable use of resources. Copernicus Open Data combined with E-GNSS are key to understanding the Nexus clearly and building a coherent model,” she said.

In the 3rd Horizon 2020 call for Galileo, which recently closed for submissions, a particular emphasis was put on projects that utilise a combination of the two European satellite systems.

Also read: 2017 European Satellite Navigation Competition kicks off in Brussels

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability. Once complete, the Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites and the necessary ground infrastructure to enable the provision of positioning, navigation and timing services.

The Galileo programme is funded and owned by the European Union. The European Commission has the overall responsibility for the Galileo programme, managing and overseeing the implementation of all programme activities.

Galileo's deployment, the design and development of the new generation of systems and the technical development of infrastructure are entrusted to the European Space Agency (ESA). The definition, development and in-orbit validation phases of the Galileo programme were carried out by ESA, and co-funded by ESA and the European Commission.

The GSA is charged with ensuring the uptake and security of Galileo. As of 2017, the GSA is responsible for all Galileo operations and the provision of Galileo services.

About Copernicus

Copernicus, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation. Through satellite and in-situ observations, the services deliver near-real-time data on a global level which can also be used for local and regional needs, to help us better understand our planet and sustainably manage the environment we live in.

Copernicus is served by a set of dedicated satellites (the Sentinel families) and contributing missions (existing commercial and public satellites). The Sentinel satellites are specifically designed to meet the needs of the Copernicus services and their users. With the launch of Sentinel-1A in 2014, the European Union set in motion a process to place a constellation of almost 20 more satellites in orbit before 2030.

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).

The Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) has launched the sixth edition of its Young Surveyors Prize, in which the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is again sponsoring a special prize dedicated to Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus.

The 2017 edition of the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors’ (CLGE) Young Surveyors prize is now open for submissions. The competition offers cash prizes of EUR 1 000 and, for the third year in succession, the GSA is sponsoring a special prize for entries that show a dedicated use of Galileo, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) or Copernicus.

There are four prize categories in total:

• Geodesy, Topography;
• Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus (or a combination of two or all three);
• GIS, Mapping and Cadastre;
• Engagement of students and young people.

The contest is open to all Bachelor and Masters students in the surveying sector or a related field. PhD students are not currently eligible to participate, but CLGE is considering creating a new category aimed at this group. Eligible participants should submit their papers no later than 23:00 CET on 7 August 2017.

Last year’s winner

Last year’s winning entry came from Cecile Deprez from the University of Liege in Belgium. Cecile’s idea stems from Google’s decision to give Android users access to GNSS raw measurements, a move that could bring much greater precision to mass-market applications.

Furthermore, use of the Galileo E5 signal could, in theory, bring decimetre positioning precision into Android user applications. According to Cecile’s research, in general, Galileo signals are more precise than GPS alone.

GSA Prize details

Participants interested in the GSA special prize should submit proposals that include an academic paper describing the project and how it benefits from Galileo, EGNOS or Copernicus (or a combination on two or all three of these). Although papers may be an abridged version of a more complete thesis, the paper should describe the project in full, including its financial and logistical aspects. Papers should not exceed 4 000 words, including an abstract of 300 words, and must be written in English.

Submissions will be judged by a panel of CLGE delegates representing professional, academic and related sectors. The winning entry will receive an award worth EUR 1 000 as well as a CLGE certificate during a special ceremony to be held on 27 September 2017 during the INTERGEO event in Berlin, Germany.

For more information on how to apply please click here.

Sign up to GSA Today to receive updates on the next contest.

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).

The Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) has launched the sixth edition of its Young Surveyors Prize, in which the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is again sponsoring a special prize dedicated to Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus.

The 2017 edition of the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors’ (CLGE) Young Surveyors prize is now open for submissions. The competition offers cash prizes of EUR 1 000 and, for the third year in succession, the GSA is sponsoring a special prize for entries that show a dedicated use of Galileo, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) or Copernicus.

There are four prize categories in total:

• Geodesy, Topography;
• Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus (or a combination of two or all three);
• GIS, Mapping and Cadastre;
• Engagement of students and young people.

The contest is open to all Bachelor and Masters students in the surveying sector or a related field. PhD students are not currently eligible to participate, but CLGE is considering creating a new category aimed at this group. Eligible participants should submit their papers no later than 23:00 CET on 7 August 2017.

Last year’s winner

Last year’s winning entry came from Cecile Deprez from the University of Liege in Belgium. Cecile’s idea stems from Google’s decision to give Android users access to GNSS raw measurements, a move that could bring much greater precision to mass-market applications.

Furthermore, use of the Galileo E5 signal could, in theory, bring decimetre positioning precision into Android user applications. According to Cecile’s research, in general, Galileo signals are more precise than GPS alone.

GSA Prize details

Participants interested in the GSA special prize should submit proposals that include an academic paper describing the project and how it benefits from Galileo, EGNOS or Copernicus (or a combination on two or all three of these). Although papers may be an abridged version of a more complete thesis, the paper should describe the project in full, including its financial and logistical aspects. Papers should not exceed 4 000 words, including an abstract of 300 words, and must be written in English.

Submissions will be judged by a panel of CLGE delegates representing professional, academic and related sectors. The winning entry will receive an award worth EUR 1 000 as well as a CLGE certificate during a special ceremony to be held on 27 September 2017 during the INTERGEO event in Berlin, Germany.

For more information on how to apply please click here.

Sign up to GSA Today to receive updates on the next contest.

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).

The GSA chaired a unique session at this year's infoShare in Gdansk, focusing on the importance of accurate and verifiable positioning for tomorrow's smartphone apps, and getting the views of some key industry leaders.

The infoShare 2017 session on 'Why Accuracy Matters' began with the GSA's Justyna Redelkiewicz asking conference attendees to consider how they choose their smartphones. "For the majority of consumers," she said, "the key features are: design, size of display, and camera quality. We are here to convince mobile developers and users that the GNSS capabilities of consumer devices should be equally important."

GNSS is currently considered a commodity inside a smartphone, a technology that is a few decades old with little room for innovation. Although 50% of applications available in app stores use location information, for most of them (check-in on Facebook, car navigation, search for nearby restaurant, ordering a taxi) the location accuracy of around ten meters that is currently offered is good enough.

However, it is not good enough for the applications of the future: the Internet of Things, autonomous cars, drones, personal robots, etc. The technology providers know this and there is already a silent revolution happening inside smartphones: super powerful chipsets that can process data from several GNSS systems at the same time for better accuracy, and location data from various technologies (GNSS, wi-fi, sensors) integrated seamlessly into one device. Operating system providers are making the necessary changes to make these innovations available to application developers and users.

“Now it is time for mobile developers to get inspired and make business around these innovations”, Redelkiewicz said, “we have invited representatives from the global chipset industry (Broadcom), handset providers (Samsung) and OS providers (Android) to confirm that they are ready to empower their IT apps with a new level of location accuracy.”

Read this: The shift towards a multi-constellation environment

The view from industry

Broadcom is a leader in GNSS chipset technologies, present in the latest top-of-the-line phones. It was one of the first to introduce a multi-constellation chipset and now it is the first to bring dual frequency to the market.

Broadcom's Associate Director for GNSS Marketing Manuel del Castillo told the infoShare audience, "We initially supported GPS and then eventually supported all of the GNSS constellations – Glonass, Beidou and Galileo." The company is now working with a number of handset vendors, and Samsung in particular, to bring its new multi-constellational and multi-frequency chipset to your next smartphone.

"We are also supporting another innovation of Google, that is the hosting of specific location applications in our chip," del Castillo said. "Take one example: activity recognition is a Google application that makes use of sensors and lets the application know what the user is doing, if you're walking, biking, driving, whatever. Now, that application can run either in the applications processor of the phone, which uses generally quite a bit of power, or it can be pushed down to a low-power processor in the GNSS chip."

Broadcom is also very interested in a new authentication feature being introduced by Galileo, which will allow users to check and verify that a navigation signal is really coming from a satellite and not from someone trying to 'spoof' their location. "We are absolutely convinced of the need to authenticate your location," del Castillo said, "especially when this is related to applications that involve payments, like road user charging or parking fees based on your location."

Direct to developers

Last year, Google revolutionised the GNSS world by bringing not only final location coordinates but also raw satellite data directly to application developers through the latest Android operating system.

Speaking at infoShare, Google Geospatial Technologist Ed Parsons asked, "Why shouldn't people have access to this, in many ways more complex, signal? In so many applications, a much more precise location is going to be very valuable."

Parsons argued that while you won't necessarily need all that accuracy to find the nearest café, there are many location-related applications out there that traditionally have had to rely on very expensive technologies: "In terms of surveying, construction, precision-agriculture, they've had to use very complex, very expensive instruments. There is now this emerging capability, by using the raw GNSS signal to give you that same centimetre-precise location on a smartphone. "I think there are many opportunities, if there are investors in the audience looking towards investing in a developing space, this would be it."

Speaking on behalf of device manufacturers, Samsung Senior Solution Architect Kamil Grondys talked about the new possibilities opened up by very accurate positioning: "There are so many scenarios, especially for application developers, and the smartphone is just the beginning."

Indeed, Grondys witnessed for himself some rapid and on-the-spot application development at the Galileo Hackathon in nearby Gydnia, where he served as an expert advisor/coach and member of the jury.

"The energy at the Hackathon was very high," Grondys said, "there was excitement about using the new raw Galileo signals, the participants were really keen to get their hands on and try to work with this new resource. The ideas were not only from the business perspective but also about how to help people, how to make use of a new technology to make the world a better place."

Also read: Hackathon 2017 expands Galileo community

One thing everyone at the special GSA session agreed on is that location is being used in an ever-increasing range of applications, and as the devices become more precise, more reliable and more secure, we will continue to see new markets emerging in areas that we probably haven't even thought about.

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).

The GSA chaired a unique session at this year's infoShare in Gdansk, focusing on the importance of accurate and verifiable positioning for tomorrow's smartphone apps, and getting the views of some key industry leaders.

The infoShare 2017 session on 'Why Accuracy Matters' began with the GSA's Justyna Redelkiewicz asking conference attendees to consider how they choose their smartphones. "For the majority of consumers," she said, "the key features are: design, size of display, and camera quality. We are here to convince mobile developers and users that the GNSS capabilities of consumer devices should be equally important."

GNSS is currently considered a commodity inside a smartphone, a technology that is a few decades old with little room for innovation. Although 50% of applications available in app stores use location information, for most of them (check-in on Facebook, car navigation, search for nearby restaurant, ordering a taxi) the location accuracy of around ten meters that is currently offered is good enough.

However, it is not good enough for the applications of the future: the Internet of Things, autonomous cars, drones, personal robots, etc. The technology providers know this and there is already a silent revolution happening inside smartphones: super powerful chipsets that can process data from several GNSS systems at the same time for better accuracy, and location data from various technologies (GNSS, wi-fi, sensors) integrated seamlessly into one device. Operating system providers are making the necessary changes to make these innovations available to application developers and users.

“Now it is time for mobile developers to get inspired and make business around these innovations”, Redelkiewicz said, “we have invited representatives from the global chipset industry (Broadcom), handset providers (Samsung) and OS providers (Android) to confirm that they are ready to empower their IT apps with a new level of location accuracy.”

Read this: The shift towards a multi-constellation environment

The view from industry

Broadcom is a leader in GNSS chipset technologies, present in the latest top-of-the-line phones. It was one of the first to introduce a multi-constellation chipset and now it is the first to bring dual frequency to the market.

Broadcom's Associate Director for GNSS Marketing Manuel del Castillo told the infoShare audience, "We initially supported GPS and then eventually supported all of the GNSS constellations – Glonass, Beidou and Galileo." The company is now working with a number of handset vendors, and Samsung in particular, to bring its new multi-constellational and multi-frequency chipset to your next smartphone.

"We are also supporting another innovation of Google, that is the hosting of specific location applications in our chip," del Castillo said. "Take one example: activity recognition is a Google application that makes use of sensors and lets the application know what the user is doing, if you're walking, biking, driving, whatever. Now, that application can run either in the applications processor of the phone, which uses generally quite a bit of power, or it can be pushed down to a low-power processor in the GNSS chip."

Broadcom is also very interested in a new authentication feature being introduced by Galileo, which will allow users to check and verify that a navigation signal is really coming from a satellite and not from someone trying to 'spoof' their location. "We are absolutely convinced of the need to authenticate your location," del Castillo said, "especially when this is related to applications that involve payments, like road user charging or parking fees based on your location."

Direct to developers

Last year, Google revolutionised the GNSS world by bringing not only final location coordinates but also raw satellite data directly to application developers through the latest Android operating system.

Speaking at infoShare, Google Geospatial Technologist Ed Parsons asked, "Why shouldn't people have access to this, in many ways more complex, signal? In so many applications, a much more precise location is going to be very valuable."

Parsons argued that while you won't necessarily need all that accuracy to find the nearest café, there are many location-related applications out there that traditionally have had to rely on very expensive technologies: "In terms of surveying, construction, precision-agriculture, they've had to use very complex, very expensive instruments. There is now this emerging capability, by using the raw GNSS signal to give you that same centimetre-precise location on a smartphone. "I think there are many opportunities, if there are investors in the audience looking towards investing in a developing space, this would be it."

Speaking on behalf of device manufacturers, Samsung Senior Solution Architect Kamil Grondys talked about the new possibilities opened up by very accurate positioning: "There are so many scenarios, especially for application developers, and the smartphone is just the beginning."

Indeed, Grondys witnessed for himself some rapid and on-the-spot application development at the Galileo Hackathon in nearby Gydnia, where he served as an expert advisor/coach and member of the jury.

"The energy at the Hackathon was very high," Grondys said, "there was excitement about using the new raw Galileo signals, the participants were really keen to get their hands on and try to work with this new resource. The ideas were not only from the business perspective but also about how to help people, how to make use of a new technology to make the world a better place."

Also read: Hackathon 2017 expands Galileo community

One thing everyone at the special GSA session agreed on is that location is being used in an ever-increasing range of applications, and as the devices become more precise, more reliable and more secure, we will continue to see new markets emerging in areas that we probably haven't even thought about.

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).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) welcomes the 30 May Competitiveness Council conclusions on a Space Strategy for Europe, which recognise the importance of the work that the GSA is delivering concerning Galileo and EGNOS service provision. This is a timely acknowledgement of the readiness of the GSA as we continue our thorough preparations for the transition of the Galileo service provision to the GSA on 1 July 2017. It also represents the culmination of years of work in many key areas, most recently on the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) procurement which the GSA concluded in December 2016 for €1.5 billion.

The GSA further welcomes the confidence expressed through the Council conclusions in the unique capabilities the GSA has developed in the critical domains of market uptake and security for Galileo and EGNOS. We look forward to working with the European Commission, with the support in particular of the GSA Administrative Board, to identify whether these capabilities could be used to the benefit of the EU space activities more widely, within the framework set by the EU Space Strategy.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) welcomes the 30 May EU Competitiveness Council conclusions on a Space Strategy for Europe, which recognise the importance of the work that the GSA is delivering concerning Galileo and EGNOS service provision. This is a timely acknowledgement of the readiness of the GSA as we continue our thorough preparations for the transition of the Galileo service provision to the GSA on 1 July 2017. It also represents the culmination of years of work in many key areas, most recently on the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) procurement which the GSA concluded in December 2016 for €1.5 billion.

The GSA further welcomes the confidence expressed through the Council conclusions in the unique capabilities the GSA has developed in the critical domains of market uptake and security for Galileo and EGNOS. We look forward to working with the European Commission, with the support in particular of the GSA Administrative Board, to identify whether these capabilities could be used to the benefit of the EU space activities more widely, within the framework set by the EU Space Strategy.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA), along with the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), announce the commissioning of two additional Galileo satellites, increasing the total number of satellites available for service provision to 16.

The GSA announced the completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) of two new Galileo satellites, GSAT0207–SV ID 07- and GSAT0214–SV ID 05-, which were launched in November last year. Having passed all initial tests, the two satellites are now officially commissioned for operational use and are usable for service provision, as stated in the most recent NAGUs published on the GSC web portal (NAGU 2017017 and NAGU 2017018).

The satellites were launched along with two others (GSAT0212 –SV ID 03- and GSAT0213 –SV ID 04-) from Kourou in French Guiana on November 17, 2016. They were the first to be launched using an Ariane-5 rocket.

Watch This: GSA ready for Initial Services

The two new satellites reinforce the provision of Galileo Initial Services, which were declared on December 15th, 2016. This will be further strengthened after the other two satellites launched in November also become commissioned. Additional satellites will be launched over the course of the coming years, enlarging the Galileo constellation and gradually improving Galileo’s global performance. The constellation is set to reach full operational capability in 2020.

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability. Once complete, the Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites and the necessary ground infrastructure to enable the provision of positioning, navigation and timing services.

The Galileo programme is funded and owned by the European Union. The European Commission has the overall responsibility for the Galileo programme, managing and overseeing the implementation of all programme activities.

Galileo's deployment, the design and development of the new generation of systems and the technical development of infrastructure are entrusted to the European Space Agency (ESA). The definition, development and in-orbit validation phases of the Galileo programme were carried out by ESA, and co-funded by ESA and the European Commission.

The GSA is charged with ensuring the uptake and security of Galileo. As of 2017, the GSA is responsible for all Galileo operations and the provision of Galileo services.

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).

GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides provides an update on the status of E-GNSS at the 2017 European Navigation Conference (ENC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 10 May.

European GNSS Agency (GSA) Executive Director Carlo des Dorides provided ENC 2017 attendees with a status update on both Galileo and EGNOS. Speaking as part of an expert panel on multi-constellation operation and services, des Dorides noted that the number of Galileo-compatible receivers had increased significantly since 2010, and that all the major world players were now implementing Galileo-compatible solutions. “We are starting to see remarkable results with the first new smartphones, which account for the largest GNSS market share. These results bear testimony to how much Galileo has achieved,” he said.

To keep users up-to-date with detailed information on all available Galileo-compatible products, the GSA has launched www.useGalileo.eu. From this dedicated tool available in 24 languages, users can easily browse the list of currently available Galileo-enabled products and devices and search for devices based on user segment. 

Read this: Use Galileo today!

Des Dorides said that 2016 was a milestone year for Galileo, with the Declaration of Galileo Initial Services in December, adding that over the next two years work will be conducted to gradually ramp up and complete the system. “We are expecting to have four more satellites launched this year and to have the complete constellation of 30 satellites fully deployed by 2020,” he said. Des Dorides stressed that the results from the past few years were very encouraging and that performance parameters, such as ranging accuracy and UTC time dissemination accuracy, have been excellent.

Building trust in GNSS

Asked about innovations or designs that improve the trustworthiness of GNSS systems, des Dorides highlighted a three-fold approach comprising of a multi-constellation system, double frequencies and authentication. “From the E-GNSS perspective, we believe in the multi-constellation concept, which means more satellites and better availability and accuracy,” he said.

Read this: The shift towards a multi-constellation environment

Furthermore, the introduction of a second frequency will also improve accuracy as it allows better ionospheric correction and improves the reliability of positioning, velocity and timing (PVT) data. “Adding two frequencies makes the system less vulnerable to jamming and spoofing,” des Dorides said. Finally, he noted that Galileo will provide authentication across a range of services – open, commercial and public regulated (PRS) – adding that the combination of these three elements will increase the trustworthiness of the system.

Imtiaz Ali Khan, from the Indian Space Research Organisation, also highlighted the benefits that a second frequency brings. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) uses multiple frequencies, which, according to Khan, reduces the risk of intentional or unintentional interference. “This is underpinned by a failure message alert system that allows users to switch to an alternate system in the event of failure,” he said.

Read this: Dual Frequency: The Next Mass Market Revolution for GNSS?

GLONASS delegate Igor Silvestrov, from the VNIIFTRI research institute in the Russian Federation, stressed the need for cooperation with receiver manufacturers. According to him, Russian receiver manufacturers are closely involved in discussions about what properties new GLONASS signals need to have to allow users to receive additional information. “The new Interface Control Documents (ICDs) were developed in close cooperation with the receiver manufacturers,” he said.

Lieutenant David Besson from the US Airforce GPS Directorate talked about the ongoing work being done to improve the trustworthiness of GNSS in the US. He noted that the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) was very involved in Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM), which is essentially an algorithm that allows an aircraft to assess whether it can trust the GPS signals it receives. “ARAIM is the way of the future, a way to get more information to the receiver about the integrity of the information it is receiving,” he said, adding that the technology could also be used in other areas of application, such as autonomous cars.

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).