zprávy

Less than one year on from the launch of Galileo Initial Services (IS) in December 2016, the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) near Madrid was the venue for the very first Galileo User Assembly jointly organised by the European Commission and the European GNSS Agency (GSA). During this highly successful gathering of the Galileo community, the European GNSS User Consultation Platform (UCP) was officially launched to provide an open forum for users to discuss their needs, share experiences and provide feedback on the performance of European GNSS (EGNSS).

The First Galileo User Assembly was held on 28 and 29 November at the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC). Established within the secure site of Spain’s INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial) close to Madrid, the GSC welcomed more than 200 of Galileo users and stakeholders from all market segments and involved institutions.

In his opening speech Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the GSA, said the Assembly and the inauguration of the UCP marked a very special milestone for the Galileo programme: “The User Consultation Platform demonstrates the maturity of the programme,” he said before adding “Galileo is here and performing well.”

The UCP was introduced by Gian-Gherardo Calini, Head of Market Development at the GSA. “The UCP will have very high value and importance for all users and the Galileo community as a whole – creating concrete benefits for all,” he said. “Galileo and EGNOS must work in a user driven environment and interaction with users is imperative for the success of the programmes.”

The key concept of the UCP is to bring together as wide a range of users as possible in order to ensure that the community defines the strongest possible set of Position, Navigation, and Time (PNT) user requirements in their specific market segments. The UCP also allows users to share information on needs and market trends, and builds a strong and sustainable platform to exchange user perspectives.

More information and material available here.

Linking space to user needs

“This will ensure that the GSA is truly fulfilling its mission to link space to user needs,” Calini concluded.

Fiammetta Diani of the GSA introduced the main working sessions of the UCP. She described how the Galileo User Requirements documentation is intended to serve as a reference for E-GNSS developments, emphasising that these were “living, dynamic documents”.

The main work of the UCP took place through nine parallel workshop sessions grouping users by market segment. The transport sector was split into four segments: Rail, Road, Maritime and Aviation. Professional and High Precision users were divided in three sessions: Agriculture, Surveying and Timing. In addition, one large group was convened for Mass Market and consumer applications and a specific session discussed issues around Research and Development.

Each session was given a set of tasks to complete and nominated a chairperson or spokesperson to report back to a final plenary session.

The topics tackled by each group included discussing and validating the user requirements for their market area or thematic topic, providing inputs to enhance EGNSS services both in general and specifically in their area, providing feedback on GSC user support, and identifying specific R&D priorities by market segment.

User input

On the afternoon of 29 November, the nominated chairs reported back on the conclusions from the nine thematic sessions providing a substantial amount of ideas and input for the GSA team to work with.

Three panellists - Gian Gherardo Calini and Aitor Alvarez Rodriguez, GSC Coordinator, for GSA and María de las Flores Diaz Pulido for the European Commission commented on the presentations. At the end of the session each panellist was presented with a CD containing the User Requirements Documents.

All feedback will be considered and was recorded in comprehensive minutes of the meeting for all nine thematic sessions. The minutes will be distributed to the participants at the UCP along with the full set of presentations delivered at the event.

This information will feed a review of the EGNSS User Requirements Documents that will be shared widely during Q1 of 2018. At the 2018 UCP the GSA will report back on the implementation status of all the agreed actions.

Concluding the final session Justyna Redelkiewicz Musial from the GSA accurately commented that the atmosphere of the first UCP was that of a true family gathering. “This is just the start of the dialogue,” she said. “We can improve, and we look forward to the second UCP in 2018 with even more users and the wider community.”

This first UCP was clearly a success with all participants contributing in a truly collaborative and enthusiastic manner to ensure Galileo and other EGNSS can deliver substantial benefits and opportunities to society.

See you in 2018!

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).

On 28 and 29 November the First Galileo User Assembly was jointly hosted by the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) based within Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) just outside Madrid. As the main interface for European GNSS and its users the GSC featured heavily in the Assembly with briefings on its performance and future service plans. Assembly participants also had the opportunity to visit the main operations centre within this secure facility.

On the evening of the 28 November a reception for Assembly participants was held at the GSC where Matthias Petschke, Director of EU Satellite Navigation Programmes, European Commission said: “Today Galileo is coming home.”

The full name of the GSC building is the Loyola de Palacio Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Service Centre and is named in memory of the Spanish Commissioner and Vice President of the European Commission who was a strong supporter of Galileo in its early years.

“Her vision of Galileo has now become a reality,” he continued.  “GSC is a great place to work and a great place for Galileo’s first user platform less than one year after the declaration of Initial Services.”

Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director, European GNSS Agency (GSA) agreed saying: “It is not by chance that we are holding the first user forum here. The GSC is core to future client service. The GSC is the entry door to the system for Galileo users with the number of registered users substantially increasing every year.”

GSC is working to implement the next version of the real-time system interface, which will be the first step towards the provision of the Galileo Commercial Service and the Open Service signal authentication, he continued.

Carmen Librero Pintado, Spanish Secretary of State for Transport said that “Spain has always supported the EGNOS and Galileo programmes” and looked forward to continuing cooperation as the implementation and exploitation of the system grows.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman of the GSA Administrative Board and President of the French Space Agency (CNES) concluded the speeches saying the performance of Galileo since the launch of Initial Services had proved that it had been the right decision. “We are entering a new era for Galileo – the exploitation phase,” he said praising the advances made over the past year.

More information and material available here.

Window on GSC

During the reception, User Assembly participants were able to take a short tour of the GSC and learn about its operation and services.

The GSC aims to be the centre of the user community and is the single user interface for the Open Service and Commercial Service. In addition, it supports Safety of Life applications and is home to the Search and Rescue (SAR) service server.

Visitors were told that GSC wants to fully understand all user needs across the full spectrum of Galileo application domains to ensure it can provide the most appropriate service and products for users.

A key current initiative is to define advanced product needs for Galileo. This process should be as open as possible to ensure that the best global Galileo products are provided.

Watch this: The Galileo Integrated Logistics Support Centre opens in Transinnes, Belgium

One stop shop

The visit and briefing were followed up with a presentation from Aitor Alvarez, GSC Manager for the GSA during the User Assembly sessions on 29 November.

“Galileo was specifically designed for civilian purposes, so a user focus is a key element of its operation – and the GSC is the centre of this focus,” he said. “But this was a bidirectional interface that needs and promotes feedback with its users.”

He described GSC as a “One stop shop for Galileo public information status, performance, documentation and help desk support to developers”. The main Galileo user interface was the website and the number of users and sessions visitors were increasing year on year. He hoped to reach 1000 registered users before the first anniversary of initial services.

The GSC provides continuous updates on the Galileo system status including NAGUs (Notice Advisory to Galileo Users) that can be subscribed to via email.

The GSC helpdesk responds to increasing numbers of questions, mainly on technical issues, each year and monitors user incident reports. “For independent monitoring – having millions of users is the best solution,” said Alvarez. Most reported incidents were due to ‘local effects’ rather than any issues with the system, he remarked.

“Galileo is constantly evolving,” concluded Alvarez. “And GSC is evolving to support Open Service and Commercial Service implementation plans, to satisfy user needs, cope with new functions and to disseminate extra data as a means to provide users with additional information.”

Earlier Manuela Rossi from Spaceopal the contracted Galileo Service Operator at GSC talked about the service delivery experience at GSC. “The focus was very much on service delivery with an emphasis on service performance improvement,” she 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).