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After months of development and validation, the first GRICAS in-flight demonstration of an Autonomous Distress Tracking system was successfully completed from 24 to 26 April 2017.

Following 15 months of operational concept definition, solution design and demonstrator development – including three months of integration, verification and validation – a GRICAS end-to-end demonstrator of an Autonomous Distress Tracking system based on a COSPAS-SARSAT space segment distress beacon was successfully triggered for the first time. The demonstrator successfully completes a Test Case Plan developed by the GRICAS project engineering team aimed at demonstrating the system’s compliance with ICAO recommendations and EUROCAE specifications. GRICAS is funded by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) under the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and development.

On 24 April, the GRICAS engineering team met at the Sabadell flight club, located outside Barcelona, Spain, to finalise the system’s integration on-board a Cessna 182 test aircraft and prepare the in-flight demonstration. Thanks to the excellent results of a prior dry-run and non-regression tests and very good weather conditions, the team and test pilot decided to do the first flight test one day earlier than initially planned. During this first flight, the GRICAS ELT-DT was successfully activated in-flight and transmitted a distress signal, which was well received and processed by the French MEOLUTs.

“We are very lucky right now with 6 Galileo satellites in co-view between Barcelona and Toulouse [where the MEOLUTs used for the tests are located], so the independent localisation should be excellent,” said MEOLUT engineer Nicolas Rey.

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Tests with automatic activation of the beacon based on commands transmitted by the Beacon Activation Logic to the ELT-DT were conducted on 25 April. Thanks to the excellent results achieved here, the GRICAS team was able to complete the Test Case Plan within a single day of testing.

On the third and final day, the pilot and flight team performed a set of touch-and-go tests to collect data at MEOLUT levels with significant variation of vertical speeds. This allowed them to assess the performance of independent localisation, used to complement the horizontal curves that were tested in the previous days.

Unique demonstration with impressive results

Project manager and GRICAS technical manager Pauline Martin noted the unique aspects of the GRICAS demonstration and the excellent results received. “It was the first time a prototype of a real ELT-DT SGB was automatically triggered in-flight and the first time an independent localisation of an SGB was computed during a transmission on board a flying airplane, and this was done using only the Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) service,” she said. “It was also the first time FGB and SGB modulated distress messages transmitted on board a flying airplane were recorded.”

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 benefits that space technology bring to European citizens and how these benefits can be maximized was one of the key topics discussed at the European Navigation Conference (ENC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 10 May.

Users were very much the centre of attention at the opening Navigation Science and Strategy session at this year’s European Navigation Conference (ENC). In his opening speech, GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides stressed the importance of service delivery. He noted that, as of the first of July this year, the GSA will take the lead in the operations and service provision of Galileo.  “This is an important time for Galileo and the GSA, following the Declaration of Initial Services in December, and the award of the Galileo Service Operator contract,” he said. Looking to the future, des Dorides highlighted that two important strategic pillars are underpinning the work of the Agency: the new European Space Strategy, announced by the Commission at the end of last year, and the GSA’s 2017 GNSS Market Report.

Also read: GSA Signs Galileo Service Operator Contract

5th GSA GNSS Market Report

The latest edition of the GSA’s GNSS Market Report was officially launched during the ENC! According to des Dorides, over the past five years the report has become an internationally recognised document downloaded by many thousands of GNSS users. The GSA GNSS Market Report is coupled with the GSA’s GNSS User Technology Report, which the GSA published for the first time last year. From now on, the GSA will publish their GNSS Market Report and the Technology Report on alternate years.

Download now: 5th GSA GNSS Market Report 2017

As there will be more GNSS devices in the world than people by 2020, des Dorides said that growth for applications and services will be even more impressive. “European GNSS is ready to face the major technology trends that lie ahead,” he said.

Miguel Mantiega Bautista, GNSS Evolutions Programme Manager at the European Space Agency (ESA), concurred. He said that companies are starting to believe in the business and, as a result, navigation will soon be at the centre of a huge number of business development models. To capitalise on this, GNSS must be able to rapidly adapt to market trends and be committed to providing consumers with value-added services. “GNSS has to adapt or it will become irrelevant,” he said.

“We are very lucky to be arriving at this point at a time when the system is reaching maturity,” Bautista noted, adding that the ESA, the European Commission, Member States and the European GNSS Agency (GSA), were undertaking a huge joint effort to set the path for the next generation of GNSS systems.

Paving the way for Galileo and EGNOS

To ensure Europe is positioned to answer the opportunities and challenges that come with these major technological trends, last year the European Commission launched the European Space Strategy. Des Dorides highlighted five key elements of the Strategy, the first of which is to maximize the benefits of space for society. According to des Dorides, this will require strong action on market uptake. He noted that this is particularly important because, with EGNOS and Galileo, Europe is building the infrastructure highway on which applications and services will transit. “It is through these applications and services that Europe is expecting to receive a return on its investment,” he 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).