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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).