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The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit is established as one of the most important dates in the global GNSS community’s calendar. This year the Summit’s 14th edition took place from 14-16 March with the theme ‘GNSS – is it time for backup?’ The opening session examined a range of topics around GNSS in today’s changing political and technical environment.

The Munich Summit’s opening event is always a grand affair that takes place in the impressive Allerheiligen-Hofkirche (Court Church of All Saints) within the Residenz München – the majestic palace of the Bavarian princes.

Following a welcome from the Summit’s hosts, the Bavarian government and the Universität der Bundeswehr München, the plenary brought together prominent speakers from the global GNSS community to give their views on the events of the past year and look to the future.

Big year for Galileo

Clearly the highlight of 2016 from a European perspective was the successful launch of six Galileo satellites and the declaration of Initial Services on 15 December 2016.

Pierre Delsaux from the European Commission said that with the launch of Initial Services “for the first time users can now navigate using Galileo signals.” With Galileo now operational, it was important to reinforce Europe’s presence on the international scene with such initiatives as the recent cooperation agreement with Japan, he said.

Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), also highlighted the achievement of 18 Galileo satellites in orbit. “Today people say that Galileo is the ‘European GPS’, but in the future we should aim for GPS being the ‘American Galileo’,” he said. Galileo had showed its capability, including its robustness, in a challenging environment. But there was also a need to prepare for the future: initial work on the next generation of Galileo has been supported by ESA member states.

Agreeing, Hansjoerg Dittus for the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, highlighted the need to develop the next generation of EU GNSS by reinforcing research and development competence during the build-up for full Galileo operational capability in 2020, and to develop technology for future systems.

For the French government, David Comby emphasised the need for an operational view on the Galileo programme and the GSA’s key role in maximising the benefits of the systems for the EU and its citizens.

Galileo is a reality

“Market adoption of Galileo is a reality,” declared Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the GSA. “In 2017, 17 GNSS receiver chipset manufacturers representing 95 % of global supply are already Galileo-enabled.”

“The dual frequency capability provided by Galileo promises to improve horizontal accuracy by a factor of four – and this is confirmed by the manufacturers,” he continued. “Today Galileo is deploying in orbit more dual frequency satellites than GPS. This will pave the way forward for new applications such as autonomous driving.”

He also noted that three Galileo-enabled smartphones (from BQ, Sony and Huawei) were already on the market.

Outside Europe, Harold Martin of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing in Washington DC gave the US perspective reiterating that “GPS customers are important to us, no matter where they are.” He also reflected on the theme of the Summit saying that if “something is precious to you, you need backup too” and added that the USA is looking at developing technology-neutral options for GNSS backup systems.

From China, Dr Xiaochun Lu said that the Beidou programme would continue to work to integrate and promote interoperability between GNSS constellations emphasising that Beidou was “developed by China but open to the world”.

Changing environment, bright future

Next, a wide-ranging discussion covered many of the issues facing GNSS. The European speakers looked to focus on the bright future for Galileo, emphasising that its performance was exceeding expectations even in this initial stage.

Carlo des Dorides described the opportunities for the Galileo Commercial Service, “This service will deliver both high precision and authentication,” he said. “Market surveys show a clear need in a range of businesses, from high-precision agriculture through authentication of logistics to timing services.” He added that the number of customers is estimated at around 1 million users by 2027.

Giving an overview of Galileo services in terms of future markets and emerging applications, des Dorides noted the results from the GSA’s GNSS Market Survey Report, the latest version of which will be published soon, and highlighted major interest in two segments: location-based services and road. “These make up around 90 % of the market,” he said.

Other important segments include civil aviation where aircraft is being with equipped with SBAS-compatible receivers and the promise of the rail sector was underlined. “GNSS will be a game changer in rail,” he said. “GNSS demonstrates a clearly improved safety case, especially on rural lines, of which there are some 60 000 kilometres in Europe.” He expected to see operational solutions by 2020 in this sector.

Concluding the discussion, des Dorides looked forward to new innovative uses of location information. “We need to look at technology trends,” he said. “The Internet of Things (IoT) and big data all require input from GNSS. For example, IoT objects need to communicate between themselves and highly precise and available location information is key to achieving this.”

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 new series of articles will highlight the important work being done across the Asian region, providing European businesses with an inside look at GNSS market opportunities in India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and South East Asia.

Home to over 60 % of the world’s population, Asia is the world’s fastest growing economic region – and an increasingly important global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) market. In fact, as the region transforms itself into a knowledge-based economy, several countries are preparing to launch their very own GNSS constellations. At the same time, companies from across the region are inserting themselves at every point of the GNSS value chain, including the manufacturing of chipsets.

According to the most recent edition of the European GNSS Agency’s (GSA) GNSS Market Report, Asia is also the primary region for global market growth in terms of in-use GNSS devices. The region is forecasted to grow 11 % per year, from 1.7 billion devices in 2014 to 4.1 billion in 2023 – more than the EU and North America combined.

A stepping stone to Asia

Clearly, Asia is quickly positioning itself as a GNSS hotspot. As such, the GSA is dedicated to ensuring that European businesses are in a position to benefit from it. As part of this effort, the Agency is actively engaged in several Horizon 2020-funded projects geared towards supporting European interest within the Asian GNSS market.

One of these projects, GNSS.asia, is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market. The project maintains a team of GNSS and industry experts in its target countries of India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and South East Asia that lend individual support to European companies. For each of these countries, the project offers specific market analysis, networking and speaking opportunities at Asian events, and overall support to companies interested in doing business in or with Asia. All of its services are free of charge to European companies.

Over the past five years, GNSS.asia has assisted dozens of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from across the entire GNSS value chain in finding suppliers, clients, distributers and research partners. “For a specialised micro-SME such as ours, the GNSS.asia initiatives have been a unique opportunity for internationalisation,” says IGUASSU Software Systems CEO Petr Bares. IGUASSU, which designs and develops GNSS test beds and simulators, worked with GNSS.asia to successfully find distributors within a key Asian market – an especially difficult feat for a western company. “For innovative companies, GNSS.asia serves as a crucial interface to the Asian economy,” adds Bares.

Country profiles

To highlight the important work being done across the Asian region, the GSA is launching a new series of articles. Each article will focus on a specific country and provide an inside look at leading segments, opportunities and future trends. In the coming months, tune in to read:

• China and location-based services (LBS): With an explosive annual growth rate forecasted at 46 % up to 2020, the Chinese LBS market is a huge and relatively accessible market for European players. The gaming and marketing segments are the most promising for cooperating with Chinese partners, but companies like TomTom are also seeing success in its joint venture with AutoNavi for mapping applications. More so, a rapidly aging Chinese population is triggering a surge of healthcare apps that rely on GNSS data for personal health management.
• Taiwan: Taiwan has emerged as a world-leading GNSS receiver and chipset manufacturer. Taiwan based Mediatek, for example, is the world’s second largest mobile chipset manufacturer. In 2015, it saw its market share jump from 14 % to 19 %. As a result, it now threatens the dominance of the current market leader, US-based Qualcomm. Placing a strong focus on R&D, Taiwanese chipset manufacturers will play a significant role in the future evolution of GNSS mobile chipsets.
• Korea and vehicle telematics: 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 Korean 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). On top of this, the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement eliminated duties for most industrial goods, further enhancing the favourable business environment for European entities.
• India and Smart Cities: 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. There is also an opportunity for European companies to leverage their rail know-how following the 2013 authorisation of direct foreign investment in India’s railways.
• Japan and LBS: The GPS-based augmentation system QZSS, set to become operational in 2018, will drive domestic demand in centimetre-class applications for receiver manufacturers, system integrators and application developers. An estimated 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.
• South East Asia and natural disaster monitoring and surveying: In a region frequently hit by natural disasters, the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines have made the development of early warning systems for tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions a priority. With its nascent GNSS industry, South East Asia is a particularly promising field for foreign providers of GNSS applications. This is especially true in the surveying market, as the density of the tropical rain forest canopies that cover much of the region favour satellite-based surveying techniques.

Without a doubt, the evolving Asian GNSS landscape represents a land of opportunity – even for smaller European players. Despite all of its challenges, as you will see in the forthcoming series of articles, overcoming any entry barriers is not an insurmountable task. And while these articles cannot alleviate the need for a significant investment in resources and time on the part of an aspiring business, they can improve the odds of success by providing an insider’s perspective into the opportunity-filled Asian GNSS market. 

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 new series of articles will highlight the important work being done across the Asian region, providing European businesses with an inside look at GNSS market opportunities in India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and South East Asia.

Home to over 60 % of the world’s population, Asia is the world’s fastest growing economic region – and an increasingly important global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) market. In fact, as the region transforms itself into a knowledge-based economy, several countries are preparing to launch their very own GNSS constellations. At the same time, companies from across the region are inserting themselves at every point of the GNSS value chain, including the manufacturing of chipsets.

According to the most recent edition of the European GNSS Agency’s (GSA) GNSS Market Report, Asia is also the primary region for global market growth in terms of in-use GNSS devices. The region is forecasted to grow 11 % per year, from 1.7 billion devices in 2014 to 4.1 billion in 2023 – more than the EU and North America combined.

A stepping stone to Asia

Clearly, Asia is quickly positioning itself as a GNSS hotspot. As such, the GSA is dedicated to ensuring that European businesses are in a position to benefit from it. As part of this effort, the Agency is actively engaged in several Horizon 2020-funded projects geared towards supporting European interest within the Asian GNSS market.

One of these projects, GNSS.asia, is dedicated to developing and implementing GNSS industrial cooperation between European and Asia-Pacific GNSS industries, with a focus on the downstream market. The project maintains a team of GNSS and industry experts in its target countries of India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and South East Asia that lend individual support to European companies. For each of these countries, the project offers specific market analysis, networking and speaking opportunities at Asian events, and overall support to companies interested in doing business in or with Asia. All of its services are free of charge to European companies.

Over the past five years, GNSS.asia has assisted dozens of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from across the entire GNSS value chain in finding suppliers, clients, distributers and research partners. “For a specialised micro-SME such as ours, the GNSS.asia initiatives have been a unique opportunity for internationalisation,” says IGUASSU Software Systems CEO Petr Bares. IGUASSU, which designs and develops GNSS test beds and simulators, worked with GNSS.asia to successfully find distributors within a key Asian market – an especially difficult feat for a western company. “For innovative companies, GNSS.asia serves as a crucial interface to the Asian economy,” adds Bares.

Country profiles

To highlight the important work being done across the Asian region, the GSA is launching a new series of articles. Each article will focus on a specific country and provide an inside look at leading segments, opportunities and future trends. In the coming months, tune in to read:

• China and location-based services (LBS): With an explosive annual growth rate forecasted at 46 % up to 2020, the Chinese LBS market is a huge and relatively accessible market for European players. The gaming and marketing segments are the most promising for cooperating with Chinese partners, but companies like TomTom are also seeing success in its joint venture with AutoNavi for mapping applications. More so, a rapidly aging Chinese population is triggering a surge of healthcare apps that rely on GNSS data for personal health management.
• Taiwan: Taiwan has emerged as a world-leading GNSS receiver and chipset manufacturer. Taiwan based Mediatek, for example, is the world’s second largest mobile chipset manufacturer. In 2015, it saw its market share jump from 14 % to 19 %. As a result, it now threatens the dominance of the current market leader, US-based Qualcomm. Placing a strong focus on R&D, Taiwanese chipset manufacturers will play a significant role in the future evolution of GNSS mobile chipsets.
• Korea and vehicle telematics: 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 Korean 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). On top of this, the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement eliminated duties for most industrial goods, further enhancing the favourable business environment for European entities.
• India and Smart Cities: 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. There is also an opportunity for European companies to leverage their rail know-how following the 2013 authorisation of direct foreign investment in India’s railways.
• Japan and LBS: The GPS-based augmentation system QZSS, set to become operational in 2018, will drive domestic demand in centimetre-class applications for receiver manufacturers, system integrators and application developers. An estimated 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.
• South East Asia and natural disaster monitoring and surveying: In a region frequently hit by natural disasters, the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines have made the development of early warning systems for tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions a priority. With its nascent GNSS industry, South East Asia is a particularly promising field for foreign providers of GNSS applications. This is especially true in the surveying market, as the density of the tropical rain forest canopies that cover much of the region favour satellite-based surveying techniques.

Without a doubt, the evolving Asian GNSS landscape represents a land of opportunity – even for smaller European players. Despite all of its challenges, as you will see in the forthcoming series of articles, overcoming any entry barriers is not an insurmountable task. And while these articles cannot alleviate the need for a significant investment in resources and time on the part of an aspiring business, they can improve the odds of success by providing an insider’s perspective into the opportunity-filled Asian GNSS market. 

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).

What was unique this year, however, was the increasing number of GNSS-based innovations being launched – including several Galileo-enabled smartphones and chipsets. “One trend seen at MWC was a convergence between IT, the Internet of Things (IoT), the automotive sector, and traditional positioning technology,” says GSA Head of Market Development Gian Gherardo Calini. “Whereas this show was once dominated by smartphones, it has now expanded to include autonomous vehicles, wearables, drones and even robots.” 

Mobile World Congress (MWC) and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) are the world’s premiere consumer electronics and mobile technology trade shows. Held annually every winter in Barcelona and Las Vegas respectively, many leading companies use the shows to launch new flagship products – and 2017 was no exception.

What was unique this year, however, was the increasing number of GNSS-based innovations being launched – including several Galileo-enabled smartphones and chipsets. “One trend seen at MWC was a convergence between IT, the Internet of Things (IoT), the automotive sector, and traditional positioning technology,” says GSA Head of Market Development Gian Gherardo Calini. “Whereas this show was once dominated by smartphones, it has now expanded to include autonomous vehicles, wearables, drones and even robots.” 

The same can be said of CES. “CES is the place to be not only for such traditional segments as LBS and road, but also emerging segments like drones, IoT and other cross-sectional solutions,” says GSA Market Development Officer for LBS and IoT Justyna Redelkiewicz.

Whether it be a chipset, smartphone, drone, robot or autonomous car, many of the technologies on display at MWC and CES were Galileo capable. Here’s a look at the role European GNSS plays in many of today’s most cutting-edge innovations. 

Galileo-enabled smartphones and chipsets

International technology giant Huawei took the MWC stage to unveil its new P10 and P10 plus smartphones, both of which come Galileo-ready. For users, this means they can expect their Huawei phone to provide them with more precise positioning and better performance. Meanwhile at CES, the company announced its entry into the US market with the introduction of the Galileo-enabled Mate 9 smartphone.

One of the biggest surprises at MWC came from the Sony booth, where the company announced its new Xperia ZX Premium flagship smartphone. The phone will be the first to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip. This multi-constellation capable chip, which includes Galileo, features an advanced 10 nanometre design. Also promoted during CES, the 835 chip is 35 % smaller and uses 25 % less power than previous designs and has been engineered to deliver exceptionally long batter life, life-like virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, cutting-edge camera capabilities and Gigabit-class download speeds. 

Getting ready for a 5G world

A key topic on everyone’s minds at both shows was 5G. According to Intel, 5G is expected to be one of the most important technological developments of our time, capable of connecting billions of ‘things’ that have never been connected before. In doing so, it will bring intelligence and data to cars, homes, buildings, factories, cities and infrastructure – fundamentally transforming the way we live. In order to realise the full potential of 5G, Intel is currently delivering new technologies, such as the Galileo-capable XMN 7560 chipset.

A different kind of mobile

Although the Mobile in Mobile World Congress traditionally referred to mobile phones, laptops and tablets, this year a different kind of mobile arrived: the car. For the first time, such automotive manufacturers as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ford and Peugeot all made an appearance on the exhibition floor. Although a regular feature at CES, as more and more vehicles become connected, one can only expect that this won’t be the last time we see vehicles at MWC.

This developing relationship between automotive manufacturers and mobile companies was on clear display at both MWC and CES. Take for example Peugeot’s Instinct concept car, which features the Samsung Artik Cloud IoT connectivity platform capable of aggregating data from smartphones and social networks. This data is then used to create unique profiles of the vehicle’s user.

Mercedes-Benz showcased several products from its Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Service and Electric Drive (CASE) strategy. One crowd favourite at MWC was the Smart Ready to Share service, which lets car owners share their vehicle with others, and the Smart Ready to Drop service, which allows packages to be delivered right to the trunk of your car. At CES, the company highlighted its Vision Van, a study for what it terms as the “innovative delivery van of the future”. The vehicle combines electric propulsion and a fully automated cargo space with integrated delivery drones. The van is a case study for the IoT vehicle, coming with such built-in smart technologies as a new telematics unit that collects and processes data concerning the status of a delivery, the present GNSS-based location and a fully automated management system.

Meanwhile, BMW demonstrated how its Connected Service keeps their customers on time, in touch and in control via such touch points as smartphones, smartwatches and voice assistants. In its current format, the service helps users with trip planning and remote control functions. However, in the near future, this capability will be expanded to include alerting when the car is due for service and offering a choice of appointments available at the local dealer. At a CES press conference, the company announced that it plans to put a fleet of 40 autonomous BMW 7 Series test vehicles on the road by the second half of this year.

One highlight at CES was the unveiling of the Toyota Concept-I vehicle, which will be able to measure your emotional responses to the places you drive, using this information to build a relationship between the vehicle and the user. Also at CES, Honda unveiled its Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem concept, which brings together artificial intelligence, robotics and big data. The concept aims to mitigate traffic congestion and eliminate traffic fatalities while also increasing the productivity of road users and delivering new opportunities for in-vehicle entertainment.

Of course the success of all these connected cars depends on the availability of accurate and reliable GNSS. A key roadblock to their development is that the available level of guidance and positioning relies on what has been called “severe simplification of road descriptions” that are not valid for such next-generation uses as lane-level positioning. “The launch of Galileo Initial Services has allowed the industry to take an important step towards achieving the necessary level of accuracy and reliability,” explains GSA Deputy Head of Market Development Fiammetta Diani.

According to Diani, with Galileo satellites working in conjunction with GPS, there are more satellites available, meaning more accurate and reliable positioning for end users. In particular, navigation in cities, where satellite signals can often be blocked by tall buildings, benefit from the increased positioning accuracy this provides. “Galileo also offers a second frequency, E5, and a planned authenticated signal capable of detecting spoofing attacks – both essential contributions for the safe operation of autonomous cars,” she says.

Dawn of the GNSS age

Both MWC and CES saw an increase in the number of drone companies on the show floor, with 42 different UAV companies exhibiting at CES alone. Although none of the products on display were Galileo ready yet, many companies noted that they had plans for doing so in the coming months. This is because many see GNSS as an answer to mounting concerns about drone safety, especially in light of reports of crashes and of incidents where drones have encroached on security-critical spaces. Luckily, GNSS offers a solution.

“In order to operate safely, drones are becoming increasingly dependent on satellite navigation signals, including Galileo, for their precise positioning and orientation information,” says GSA Manager of the GNSS Market Report Martin Sunkevic. “It is because of this precise positioning that drones and all of the innovations seen at MWC and CES depend on that GNSS will become the essential infrastructure for the technology of tomorrow.” 

The upcoming 2017 GSA GNSS Market Report will include a special section on UAVs.