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The opportunities and demand for EGNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) in the domain of aviation continue to grow, and their applications to meet new users needs were the subject of a workshop organised at the 2019 World ATM congress

GSA Operational Market Development Manager Carmen Aguilera opened the workshop by presenting EGNOS and Galileo services and new demand in aviation, as well as upcoming R&D calls and funding opportunities. “EGNOS is providing services in all EU countries, and with new demands for both EGNOS and Galileo services, both are evolving to meet modern aviation needs, including unmanned vehicles” Aguilera said.

Galileo improving search and rescue

The GSA is at the forefront of the development of these services with the funding it provides for users interested in developing solutions that utilise EGNOS and Galileo. “We are opening a new Space EGNSS 2020 call within Horizon 2020, that covers aviation and that will provide 70% of funding to develop applications for aviation that use EGNOS or Galileo,” Aguilera said.

Read this: Getting ready for the evolution of EGNOS

Advances in aviation are mostly driven by safety and the need for improved performance. During the session Christian Belleux, General Manager at Orolia explained the benefits of Galileo positioning and Galileo Search and Rescue service use for aircraft distress tracking, with focus on commercial flights. “Distress tracking mandates now require in-flight detection, not only once the plane has crashed,” said Belleux, explaining that newly improved Galileo-enabled distress beacons automatically send messages every five seconds based on flight diagnostics. This is essential for early rescue. Belleux also highlighted the benefits of activating remotely beacons from the ground, not just automatically during flight. Orolia is working with GSA and Eurocae to define operational concept for remote beacon activation, that could be enabled by Galileo services.

Galileo and EGNOS in drones

Drones offer significant opportunities for EGNSS in aviation, due to the growing demand for more accuracy, precision and manoeuvrability. “Drones operations require accuracy, availability and robust operations,” said Carmen Aguilera, and EGNOS/Galileo improve such operations, especially in urban areas and in operations Beyond Line of Sight. Increased drone operations mean a need for more and better measurements from different sensors and navigation integrity, which according to Pere Molina from Geonumerics, is “currently an underexploited EGNOS feature.” Molina went on to add that “drones cannot afford [integrity] errors and EGNOS is designed to cope with them. Galileo and GPS based integrity monitoring in the receiver also answer this need”

And this: GSA, SDM sign MoU on EGNSS support for Air Traffic Management

Closing the session, Hugo Luengo from ESSP, spoke of the “need to improve accessibility to smaller aerodromes for General Aviation. GSA, ESSP and EASA are working together to facilitate design of instrument flight procedures, with focus on approach, to non instrument runways or aerodromes with limited air traffic control”. This is also a priority of the EASA General Aviation roadmap.

EGNOS Awards

The workshop was followed by the EGNOS Awards which primarily recognised the signing of three EGNOS working agreements - by Islandic air navigation service provider ISAVIA, ORO NAVIGACIJA from Lithuania, and the Serbian and Montenegrin air traffic services provider SMATSA. In addition, the Spanish Civil Aviation Authority AESA was recognised with a special award, for pioneering effort making a reality the use of EGNOS and Galileo in drones. In particular, AESA recognises EGNOS as suitable means to ensure safety of drones navigation in demanding.

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 opportunities and demand for EGNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) in the domain of aviation continue to grow, and their applications to meet new users needs were the subject of a workshop organised at the 2019 World ATM congress

GSA Operational Market Development Manager Carmen Aguilera opened the workshop by presenting EGNOS and Galileo services and new demand in aviation, as well as upcoming R&D calls and funding opportunities. “EGNOS is providing services in all EU countries, and with new demands for both EGNOS and Galileo services, both are evolving to meet modern aviation needs, including unmanned vehicles” Aguilera said.

Galileo improving search and rescue

The GSA is at the forefront of the development of these services with the funding it provides for users interested in developing solutions that utilise EGNOS and Galileo. “We are opening a new Space EGNSS 2020 call within Horizon 2020, that covers aviation and that will provide 70% of funding to develop applications for aviation that use EGNOS or Galileo,” Aguilera said.

Read this: Getting ready for the evolution of EGNOS

Advances in aviation are mostly driven by safety and the need for improved performance. During the session Christian Belleux, General Manager at Orolia explained the benefits of Galileo positioning and Galileo Search and Rescue service use for aircraft distress tracking, with focus on commercial flights. “Distress tracking mandates now require in-flight detection, not only once the plane has crashed,” said Belleux, explaining that newly improved Galileo-enabled distress beacons automatically send messages every five seconds based on flight diagnostics. This is essential for early rescue. Belleux also highlighted the benefits of activating remotely beacons from the ground, not just automatically during flight. Orolia is working with GSA and Eurocae to define operational concept for remote beacon activation, that could be enabled by Galileo services.

Galileo and EGNOS in drones

Drones offer significant opportunities for EGNSS in aviation, due to the growing demand for more accuracy, precision and manoeuvrability. “Drones operations require accuracy, availability and robust operations,” said Carmen Aguilera, and EGNOS/Galileo improve such operations, especially in urban areas and in operations Beyond Line of Sight. Increased drone operations mean a need for more and better measurements from different sensors and navigation integrity, which according to Pere Molina from Geonumerics, is “currently an underexploited EGNOS feature.” Molina went on to add that “drones cannot afford [integrity] errors and EGNOS is designed to cope with them. Galileo and GPS based integrity monitoring in the receiver also answer this need”

And this: GSA, SDM sign MoU on EGNSS support for Air Traffic Management

Closing the session, Hugo Luengo from ESSP, spoke of the “need to improve accessibility to smaller aerodromes for General Aviation. GSA, ESSP and EASA are working together to facilitate design of instrument flight procedures, with focus on approach, to non instrument runways or aerodromes with limited air traffic control”. This is also a priority of the EASA General Aviation roadmap.

EGNOS Awards

The workshop was followed by the EGNOS Awards which primarily recognised the signing of three EGNOS working agreements - by Islandic air navigation service provider ISAVIA, ORO NAVIGACIJA from Lithuania, and the Serbian and Montenegrin air traffic services provider SMATSA. In addition, the Spanish Civil Aviation Authority AESA was recognised with a special award, for pioneering effort making a reality the use of EGNOS and Galileo in drones. In particular, AESA recognises EGNOS as suitable means to ensure safety of drones navigation in demanding.

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).

Automated vehicles are on the way, and the European GNSS Agency (GSA) sees satellite navigation as a core technology that will help to ensure their safe operation. At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the GSA shared its space with the 'ESCAPE' project, an EU-funded initiative that has developed a unique positioning module for autonomous or semi-autonomous driving.

Autonomous vehicles will feature both sensor-based and connection-based solutions for a variety of vehicle services. Ultimately, the GSA sees a ‘converged solution’ as the best alternative, combining the strengths of both approaches. By integrating sensor data and connectivity-based information, operators can reduce the need for the most expensive sensors and at the same time save money on infrastructure.

The Fundamental Elements-funded ESCAPE project has designed and prototyped the ESCAPE GNSS Engine. It is a unique positioning module that combines precision GNSS and 4G connectivity, for the highly accurate and reliable positioning capabilities required to make automated driving a reality.

Read this: Satellite positioning is changing how we move

"This is an onboard unit for autonomous vehicles," said Jessica Garcia Soriano, R&D engineer of the Advanced Communications Business Unit at Ficosa. "It is equipped with a very good GNSS receiver made by STMicroelectronics. This was actually the first dual-frequency GNSS receiver made for the automotive market."

Dual-frequency is of course a real differentiator for Galileo, as the world's leading provider of dual-frequency GNSS signals. This means added precision and robustness and it helps enormously with multi-phase errors and other urban canyon issues in city-driving scenarios.

"We also have a very good positioning solution provided by GMV, another Spanish company. They are experts in these kinds of solutions. The outputs from this solution are very accurate. So we have GNSS of course, including Galileo, and apart from this you have a modem inside, a 4G modem that gets GNSS corrections from the internet, so this helps to provide better positioning. And apart from this you have inside the same module an inertial measurement unit [IMU]. This is a sensor, a device that senses acceleration and has a gyroscope, so this information also helps in providing good positioning."

The ESCAPE unit also provides for the integration of other data from the vehicle. "That means vehicle odometry, for instance, you can have camera information, or information from maps that are stored in the vehicle, among others" Garcia said.

The market is ready

"One of our important goals is to provide a low-cost system," Garcia said. "There are other very good positioning systems that are being developed that can be based on some very advanced technologies, such as LiDAR for instance, but this is very expensive. So our target is to develop and build a prototype of a system that could be installed in all vehicles, for the whole market. And so we are combining GNSS, 4G, IMU and all of these other data sources from the vehicle in an intelligent way, in an affordable way."

Indeed, one of the things that make ESCAPE unique is the way it brings together high-end GNSS processing capabilities with an industrialisation process that targets high volumes and comparatively limited cost and size. It also encompasses hardware and software safety procedures required for certification for the automotive market.

And this: Integrity & reliability of digital maps – have your say!

Garcia explained, "At Ficosa, we are a top-tier global provider devoted to the research, development, manufacturing of vision, safety, connectivity and efficiency systems for the automotive sector.  We provide solutions directly to vehicle manufacturers. Based on our expertise and thanks to the work we have done on this project, we understand very well that GNSS is a central focus for a lot of applications. From the moment we started working on this project, at Ficosa we  realised that this is a new and very important market. Right now we are working on a positioning system for autonomous driving based on this unit. This is part of our roadmap at the moment. This is a positioning system that we are ready to offer to the customer."

The unit is ready now, but we have yet to see autonomous cars in large numbers on the road. Is this a problem for the ESCAPE system? Garcia answered, "From the very first moment that you have an autonomous car in the street, you will need high-accuracy positioning, because these vehicles will need this positioning to maintain themselves safely on the road. But we don't have to wait for autonomous cars. The vehicles on the road today can already benefit from this technology."

Garcia pointed to Europe's eCall system, where a call centre automatically receives location information from vehicles in distress, thanks to on-board GNSS. "You already have this emergency call technology in the vehicles," Garcia said, "and it provides a location, so the better the location is, the easier it is to locate the people in an emergency situation. No, we don't have to wait."

Location and more

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that autonomous vehicles will soon be appearing on European road networks, and most driving-related decisions will be based, one way or another, on the location of the vehicle and of other vehicles and objects in its vicinity. So vehicle location and positioning will be a critical component for the effective transportation of people and goods by self-driving road vehicles. That positioning will be enabled mainly by GNSS technologies, including Europe’s Galileo, which is expected to offer significant benefits in terms of accuracy and authentication compared to the other satellite-based navigation systems.

GNSS-based location will have to be complemented by other technologies in order to get to the integrity level needed in all driving situations, but the GSA also believes the combination of dual-frequency GNSS and 4G/5G connectivity can do more than just navigation, enabling as well a diverse range of in-vehicle location-based services (LBS), much like what we see emerging in smartphones. The EU-funded ESCAPE project, with its innovative GNSS engine, represents an important step forward in the pursuit of accurate, reliable and affordable positioning and connectivity for the emerging autonomous and connected cars markets.

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).

Automated vehicles are on the way, and the European GNSS Agency (GSA) sees satellite navigation as a core technology that will help to ensure their safe operation. At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the GSA shared its space with the 'ESCAPE' project, an EU-funded initiative that has developed a unique positioning module for autonomous or semi-autonomous driving.

Autonomous vehicles will feature both sensor-based and connection-based solutions for a variety of vehicle services. Ultimately, the GSA sees a ‘converged solution’ as the best alternative, combining the strengths of both approaches. By integrating sensor data and connectivity-based information, operators can reduce the need for the most expensive sensors and at the same time save money on infrastructure.

The EU Horizon 2020-funded ESCAPE project has designed and prototyped the ESCAPE GNSS Engine. It is a unique positioning module that combines precision GNSS and 4G connectivity, for the highly accurate and reliable positioning capabilities required to make automated driving a reality.

Read this: Satellite positioning is changing how we move

"This is an onboard unit for autonomous vehicles," said Jessica Garcia Soriano, R&D engineer of the Advanced Communications Business Unit at Ficosa. "It is equipped with a very good GNSS receiver made by STMicroelectronics. This was actually the first dual-frequency GNSS receiver made for the automotive market."

Dual-frequency is of course a real differentiator for Galileo, as the world's leading provider of dual-frequency GNSS signals. This means added precision and robustness and it helps enormously with multi-phase errors and other urban canyon issues in city-driving scenarios.

"We also have a very good positioning solution provided by GMV, another Spanish company. They are experts in these kinds of solutions. The outputs from this solution are very accurate. So we have GNSS of course, including Galileo, and apart from this you have a modem inside, a 4G modem that gets GNSS corrections from the internet, so this helps to provide better positioning. And apart from this you have inside the same module an inertial measurement unit [IMU]. This is a sensor, a device that senses acceleration and has a gyroscope, so this information also helps in providing good positioning."

The ESCAPE unit also provides for the integration of other data from the vehicle. "That means vehicle odometry, for instance, you can have camera information, or information from maps that are stored in the vehicle, among others" Garcia said.

The market is ready

"One of our important goals is to provide a low-cost system," Garcia said. "There are other very good positioning systems that are being developed that can be based on some very advanced technologies, such as LiDAR for instance, but this is very expensive. So our target is to develop and build a prototype of a system that could be installed in all vehicles, for the whole market. And so we are combining GNSS, 4G, IMU and all of these other data sources from the vehicle in an intelligent way, in an affordable way."

Indeed, one of the things that make ESCAPE unique is the way it brings together high-end GNSS processing capabilities with an industrialisation process that targets high volumes and comparatively limited cost and size. It also encompasses hardware and software safety procedures required for certification for the automotive market.

And this: Integrity & reliability of digital maps – have your say!

Garcia explained, "At Ficosa, we are a top-tier global provider devoted to the research, development, manufacturing of vision, safety, connectivity and efficiency systems for the automotive sector.  We provide solutions directly to vehicle manufacturers. Based on our expertise and thanks to the work we have done on this project, we understand very well that GNSS is a central focus for a lot of applications. From the moment we started working on this project, at Ficosa we  realised that this is a new and very important market. Right now we are working on a positioning system for autonomous driving based on this unit. This is part of our roadmap at the moment. This is a positioning system that we are ready to offer to the customer."

The unit is ready now, but we have yet to see autonomous cars in large numbers on the road. Is this a problem for the ESCAPE system? Garcia answered, "From the very first moment that you have an autonomous car in the street, you will need high-accuracy positioning, because these vehicles will need this positioning to maintain themselves safely on the road. But we don't have to wait for autonomous cars. The vehicles on the road today can already benefit from this technology."

Garcia pointed to Europe's eCall system, where a call centre automatically receives location information from vehicles in distress, thanks to on-board GNSS. "You already have this emergency call technology in the vehicles," Garcia said, "and it provides a location, so the better the location is, the easier it is to locate the people in an emergency situation. No, we don't have to wait."

Location and more

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that autonomous vehicles will soon be appearing on European road networks, and most driving-related decisions will be based, one way or another, on the location of the vehicle and of other vehicles and objects in its vicinity. So vehicle location and positioning will be a critical component for the effective transportation of people and goods by self-driving road vehicles. That positioning will be enabled mainly by GNSS technologies, including Europe’s Galileo, which is expected to offer significant benefits in terms of accuracy and authentication compared to the other satellite-based navigation systems.

GNSS-based location will have to be complemented by other technologies in order to get to the integrity level needed in all driving situations, but the GSA also believes the combination of dual-frequency GNSS and 4G/5G connectivity can do more than just navigation, enabling as well a diverse range of in-vehicle location-based services (LBS), much like what we see emerging in smartphones. The EU-funded ESCAPE project, with its innovative GNSS engine, represents an important step forward in the pursuit of accurate, reliable and affordable positioning and connectivity for the emerging autonomous and connected cars markets.

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).