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In emergency situations, robotic systems play a key role in providing rescue teams with remote access to an emergency site. The ERL Emergency Local Tournament 2019 aims to foster advanced developments of autonomous capabilities and seamless navigation for emergency robotic systems.

The European Robotics League (ERL) is an innovative robot competition that stems from its predecessors - the euRathlon and RoCKIn competitions - and focuses on tasks that robots must execute in realistic emergency situations. The competition is composed of multiple local tournaments, held in different locations across Europe, in addition to a few major events.

The first of the challenges was announced in July 2018, and focused on land and sea robotic systems. The second, to be held in February 2019 at the premises of the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) in Seville, Spain, will include air and land robots working in an outdoor/indoor environment. You can find more information about the challenges here.

Read this: Integrating GNSS in UAVs for faster SAR

Teams participate in a minimum of two tournaments (local and/or major) per year and get scores based on their performances. Each team’s top two tournament scores are then added together and the teams are ranked based on their cumulative score. Prizes for the top teams are awarded at the following year’s European Robotics Forum (ERF).

GSA Special Prize

The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) will award a special prize at ERL Emergency 2019 focusing on robots that make use of solutions based on Galileo and EGNOS.

For air robots, this challenge will involve two types of tasks: horizontal accuracy in landings at a specific geographic coordinate; and vertical accuracy while hovering at a specific geographic coordinate. For land robots, there will be only one type of task - horizontal accuracy during waypoint-based navigation.

Visual markers will be used to support the assessment of both types of task. To be eligible for the award, a team must have executed valid trials of the tasks. The team deemed to have achieved the best results will be declared the winner. For information on Galileo capable receivers and navigation kits for robotic systems visit https://www.usegalileo.eu/EN/.

Register now!

If you are interested in participating in this ERL Emergency Local Tournament, you should register your team by filling in this form by the deadline of August 15. 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 four topics under the Horizon 2020 EGNSS MARKET UPTAKE 2019 call for proposals set to open on 16 October 2018, now is a good time to take a look at the many EU R&D funding opportunities that the GNSS community can take advantage of.

The EGNSS-related call that is set to open in October supports key EU priorities – leveraging innovation to energise economic growth and support environmental sustainability, particularly in Europe’s cities. The new call will foster the emergence of new innovative downstream applications based on either Galileo and/or EGNOS and support the EU GNSS industry, SMEs, universities, research organisations and public bodies.

The specific challenge of the first topic of the call is to address the EGNSS applications fostering green, safe and smart mobility, with the objective of developing innovative EGNSS-based applications that lead to low-emission, safer, more cost-effective and higher performance mobility and transport solutions, responding to the growing mobility needs of people and goods.

Mass market and the environment

The second topic of the call addresses EGNSS applications fostering digitisation, and its main challenge is to develop EGNSS applications contributing to digitisation of products and services that will, among its other goals, foster the adoption of EGNOS and Galileo in mass markets and provide benefits to users.

The third topic, on EGNSS applications fostering societal resilience and protecting the environment, aims to develop innovative EGNSS applications to support societal resilience, safeguard the wellbeing of EU citizens, improve emergency and disaster management as a response to climate-related natural and man-made disasters, and promote green growth.

Finally, the last topic of Awareness raising and capacity building, aims to build a mechanism to leverage EGNSS excellence, to provide opportunities for the creation of networks of industrial relationships in Europe and also globally , and facilitate EGNSS investments.

For more information on all of these calls, click here.

Other opportunities

Other upcoming H2020 calls in  different sectors but with specific reference to EGNSS are:

Transport

A number of calls in the transport sector make reference to EGNOS and Galileo-based applications – we will cover some of them here (a more comprehensive list is available below). The topic Integrated multimodal, low-emission freight transport systems and logistics aims to speed up the transition towards the Physical Internet paradigm, demonstrating how different technologies, business cases and standards come together in real-world applications.

The topic Moving freight by water: sustainable infrastructure and innovative vessels aims to make operations at inland waterways and/or port infrastructure more efficient through the use of smart systems and automation. Meanwhile, Innovative applications of drones for safety in transport aims to develop and test technologies and operational and business models for the application of drones to increase the safety, security, and overall efficiency of air, waterborne and surface transport.

Finally, proposals under the topic Developing and testing shared, connected and cooperative automated vehicle fleets in urban areas for the mobility of all should make best use of EGNOS and Galileo to allow communication and cooperation between vehicles and infrastructure and with other road users, and enable automated, smart mobility services, innovative fleet management concepts and higher performance of automated vehicle functions.

Energy

The call Research on advanced tools and technological development targets the development and testing of a number of tools and future technologies, including GNSS timing and synchronisation for smart grids, to cover gaps and to prepare for the energy system of 2030 and beyond.

Health/ Climate Change

The use of advanced IT technologies such as high performance computing and geo-localisation data is anticipated in the topic Mining big data for early detection of infectious disease threats driven by climate change and other factors, to enable the rapid and personalised treatment of patients, and bolster the detection, tracking and control of infectious disease outbreaks.

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).

There is only one week left to enter for this year’s European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC). Register your idea for an innovative and marketable European GNSS (EGNSS) application by July 31 for a chance to win great prizes!

Also known as the ‘Galileo Masters’, the ESNC awards applications, services and new ideas that use Galileo GNSS data to respond to important challenges faced by business and society. In this year’s competition, various institutions and regional partners are set to award prizes worth a total of over EUR 1 million within more than 20 challenge categories. If this is not enough to tempt you, one Xiaomi Mi 8 will be raffled between all complete submissions received by the deadline.

Proud partner

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is proud once again to be a part of this year’s event – the 10th consecutive year that the GSA has been a main partner in the competition and awarded a Special Topic prize.

This year, the GSA will award three prizes addressing the topic 'When and Where? – Exact timing and positioning matters', with special consideration given to proposals that leverage EGNSS differentiators, such as:

• Multiple frequencies E1, E5 and E6
• Galileo-specific signal modulation, e.g. AltBOC
• Galileo Search and Rescue Service
• High-precision and authentication services that will be provided by Galileo, i.e. within the Commercial Service and within the Open Service authentication (OS NMA)

Cash prizes of €3000, €5000 and €7000 will be awarded to the top three proposals. In addition, the first prize winner will benefit from extensive promotion through GSA marketing channels and at relevant industry events and, if eligible, will receive tailored EGNSS Accelerator business support worth €62,000.

New evaluation procedure

The evaluation process has changed this year and the winners will have have to pitch their idea to a panel of experts, via live streaming, at an evaluation meeting on September 25-26. Every winner will get 5 minutes for their presentation and another 5-10 minutes for questions. At the end of the second day, the experts will select the overall winner in a closed ballot. The winner will be announced at an official Awards Ceremony at European Space Week, on 4 December in Marseille.

Together with cash prizes, challenge winners will receive access to an international network of leading GNSS organisations, a crowd investment platform, and business development support. In addition, the ESNC is complemented by the E-GNSS Accelerator, which helps transform great ideas into commercially viable solutions through a tailored business coaching service. All winners of the ESNC 2018 will gain access to the E-GNSS Accelerator, if eligible.

For more details on this year's challenges, prizes, and partners, please see www.esnc.eu. To participate, 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).

There is only one week left to enter for this year’s European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC). Register your idea for an innovative and marketable European GNSS (EGNSS) application by August 6 for a chance to win great prizes!

Also known as the ‘Galileo Masters’, the ESNC awards applications, services and new ideas that use Galileo GNSS data to respond to important challenges faced by business and society. In this year’s competition, various institutions and regional partners are set to award prizes worth a total of over EUR 1 million within more than 20 challenge categories. If this is not enough to tempt you, one Xiaomi Mi 8 will be raffled between all complete submissions received by the deadline.

Proud partner

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is proud once again to be a part of this year’s event – the 10th consecutive year that the GSA has been a main partner in the competition and awarded a Special Topic prize.

This year, the GSA will award three prizes addressing the topic 'When and Where? – Exact timing and positioning matters', with special consideration given to proposals that leverage EGNSS differentiators, such as:

• Multiple frequencies E1, E5 and E6
• Galileo-specific signal modulation, e.g. AltBOC
• Galileo Search and Rescue Service
• High-precision and authentication services that will be provided by Galileo, i.e. within the Commercial Service and within the Open Service authentication (OS NMA)

Cash prizes of €3000, €5000 and €7000 will be awarded to the top three proposals. In addition, the first prize winner will benefit from extensive promotion through GSA marketing channels and at relevant industry events and, if eligible, will receive tailored EGNSS Accelerator business support worth €62,000.

New evaluation procedure

The evaluation process has changed this year and the winners will have have to pitch their idea to a panel of experts, via live streaming, at an evaluation meeting on September 25-26. Every winner will get 5 minutes for their presentation and another 5-10 minutes for questions. At the end of the second day, the experts will select the overall winner in a closed ballot. The winner will be announced at an official Awards Ceremony at European Space Week, on 4 December in Marseille.

Together with cash prizes, challenge winners will receive access to an international network of leading GNSS organisations, a crowd investment platform, and business development support. In addition, the ESNC is complemented by the E-GNSS Accelerator, which helps transform great ideas into commercially viable solutions through a tailored business coaching service. All winners of the ESNC 2018 will gain access to the E-GNSS Accelerator, if eligible.

For more details on this year's challenges, prizes, and partners, please see www.esnc.eu. To participate, 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).