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The European GNSS Agency (GSA) recently participated in the Satellite Masters Conference in Berlin, where it joined the discussions on Big Data, innovative applications, and the convergence of Earth Observation and GNSS.

The latest edition of the Satellite Masters Conference took place in Berlin from 20 – 22 October, including the annual Awards Ceremony for the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), the Copernicus Masters and a portfolio of conference sessions covering Earth Observation (EO) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Major themes were Big Data, how to accelerate the development and realisation of innovative applications in the market, and the convergence of EO and GNSS.

Dorothee Bär of the German Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the host of the conference, set the tone during the Opening Session by highlighting how navigation and earth observation are key instruments of the digital age. Specifically, Bär sees a need to focus on downstream applications, which serve as the essential link between space technology and digital infrastructure on the ground – which is exactly where the GSA comes in.

EGNOS and Galileo Pave the Future

According to GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides, 2015 has been a busy year for Galileo, with successful launches and progress in the ground segment targeting the intermediate milestone of the launch of initial services in 2016. He also noted the excellent performance of EGNOS, which will soon enjoy enlarged coverage.

In particular, he highlighted the launch of LPV 200 capability in the aviation sector, which is already proving to be a major benefit in Europe and beyond. He also cited the concepts of smart cities, multi-modal logistics and the Internet of Things. “By 2020 it is anticipated that at least 50 billion ‘objects’ will be connected to the Internet,” he said. “Many of these will require positioning data services and applications.”

Matthias Petschke, Director of European Satellite Navigation Programmes at the European Commission, added that 6-7% of European GDP depends on the use of E-GNSS. Increasing the resiliency of these critical infrastructures would make a big difference, and Galileo will help. He also praised EGNOS, which he hailed as a true success story that was already making a huge difference in, for example, precision agriculture and civil aviation.

The European Commission’s Christoph Kautz gave an update on the two European GNSS programmes. As to Galileo, satellite launches are back on course, the ground infrastructure is expanding and the exploitation phase is now in sight with the target of 2017 and initial services in 2016. He also highlighted the decision to fund the next generation of EGNOS (V3) and extension of the service towards wide scale maritime and rail applications. He further discussed the European research and development funding for GNSS under the Horizon 2020 programme, along with the fundamental elements programme that aims to develop the chipsets and receivers Galileo needs to be in the market. In 2016, the Commission is looking to speed up market uptake through a variety of initiatives, and will also be looking to define strategic goals for the 2nd generation of satellites.

Hot Topics

Throughout the course of the conference, various panel discussions were held on an array of hot topics in the field of satellite navigation and earth observation. On the topic of Big Data, session moderator Jurry de la Mar of T-Systems said the world was experiencing a sensor revolution and managing all the data is proving a major challenge. “The data coming from EO operations over the next three years will be larger than the total collected by ESA in the last 30 years,” he said. “The key is to bring the user to the data, rather than data to the user, and for users to understand the semantics of the data. Handling this amount of data cannot be managed manually.”

One solution to the data overload is what Dr Manfred Krischke of CloudEO AG calls “geo-collaboration”. “Location based services are a key element of the sharing economy, enabling access to unused resources and saving costs,” he said. “Businesses should stop looking for the next killer app and start to make small apps that can be integrated with others via the geo-collaboration platform the cloud offers.”

Turning to Smart Cities, Stuart Martin of the UK’s Catapult Satellite Application declared it was the “Century of the City”. “The use of space data, along with GNSS, can have a massive impact on the development of Smarter Cities,” he said.

GNSS can also play an important role in creating Sustainable Solutions to Global Change. One example comes from the ESNC winner of Baden-Württemberg Challenge: ICARUS. ICARUS is a new global tracking service for small objects – birds and animals. Its aim is to monitor global migration, predict zoonotic diseases transmission and enhance climate modelling through a distributed animal-borne global sensor effort. Another example comes from the winner of the ESNC - The Netherlands Challenge and the University Challenge Special Prize, which uses GNSS monitoring of potential rain clouds over East Africa via low-cost receivers. The TAMHO project produces high resolution water vapour maps from GNSS signals that travel slightly slower through moist air. Low-cost receivers can measure this delay.

UAVs, or drones – always a hot topic at any GNSS event – was also discussed in Berlin. The panel highlighted two ESNC winners, including the overall Galileo Master Winner and also winner of the ESNC Valencian Community Challenge: POSEIDRON, a UAV for search and rescue and environmental defence using EGNOS and the Galileo SAR signal. Enrique JM Asensi saw applications in the current migrant crisis, as the vehicle can deploy a 70kg life raft, is 15 times cheaper than a helicopter and can be deployed in all conditions. The winning idea behind the ESNC - Switzerland Challenge and ESA Special Prize – RTKNAV – was described by Zhenzhong Su as a low cost, compact, real-time centimetre accuracy navigation solution. Its target market is high precision agriculture apps, UAVs, mobility, sport and health applications. “RTKNAV provids affordable, high precision for the mass market,” said Su.

Safety and security are two important topics to the Galileo programme, and the Disaster and Security session focused on Galileo for Security Search and Rescue opportunities. Kai Herrmann from the German Competent PRS Authority sees PRS as the EU’s strategic answer to the security challenges of our digital society. Specifically, he sees applications in secure services for emergency services and critical infrastructure as well as access control, spoof resistance and contributions to data security and data privacy, local authentication and traffic management applications.

An example of one of these applications came from Prof Mattia Giovanni Crespi from the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and Dr Gabriele Colosimo from Leica Geosystems, who described the VADASE project that uses real-time monitoring of GNSS signals from a standalone receiver to monitor seismic events in real time. The idea won the 2010 ESNC DLR special prize, and Leica Geosystems launched the product this year with a VADASE engine able to compute seismic displacements in real time autonomously.

Another example came from Jukka Talvi, who described the HALI initiative from the northern Finnish city of Oulu, which won the ESNC - BMVI / BMWi Special Prize for its system that speeds emergency vehicles through green lights and has dramatically improved response times and safety. The system is currently being extended to the rest of Finland and perhaps the rest of Europe.

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 European GNSS Agency (GSA) recently participated in the Satellite Masters Conference in Berlin, where it joined the discussions on Big Data, innovative applications, and the convergence of Earth Observation and GNSS.

The latest edition of the Satellite Masters Conference took place in Berlin from 20 – 22 October, including the annual Awards Ceremony for the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), the Copernicus Masters and a portfolio of conference sessions covering Earth Observation (EO) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Major themes were Big Data, how to accelerate the development and realisation of innovative applications in the market, and the convergence of EO and GNSS.

Dorothee Bär of the German Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the host of the conference, set the tone during the Opening Session by highlighting how navigation and earth observation are key instruments of the digital age. Specifically, Bär sees a need to focus on downstream applications, which serve as the essential link between space technology and digital infrastructure on the ground – which is exactly where the GSA comes in.

EGNOS and Galileo Pave the Future

According to GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides, 2015 has been a busy year for Galileo, with successful launches and progress in the ground segment targeting the intermediate milestone of the launch of initial services in 2016. He also noted the excellent performance of EGNOS, which will soon enjoy enlarged coverage.

In particular, he highlighted the launch of LPV 200 capability in the aviation sector, which is already proving to be a major benefit in Europe and beyond. He also cited the concepts of smart cities, multi-modal logistics and the Internet of Things. “By 2020 it is anticipated that at least 50 billion ‘objects’ will be connected to the Internet,” he said. “Many of these will require positioning data services and applications.”

Matthias Petschke, Director of European Satellite Navigation Programmes at the European Commission, added that 6-7% of European GDP depends on the use of E-GNSS. Increasing the resiliency of these critical infrastructures would make a big difference, and Galileo will help. He also praised EGNOS, which he hailed as a true success story that was already making a huge difference in, for example, precision agriculture and civil aviation.

The European Commission’s Christoph Kautz gave an update on the two European GNSS programmes. As to Galileo, satellite launches are back on course, the ground infrastructure is expanding and the exploitation phase is now in sight with the target of 2017 and initial services in 2016. He also highlighted the decision to fund the next generation of EGNOS (V3) and extension of the service towards wide scale maritime and rail applications. He further discussed the European research and development funding for GNSS under the Horizon 2020 programme, along with the fundamental elements programme that aims to develop the chipsets and receivers Galileo needs to be in the market. In 2016, the Commission is looking to speed up market uptake through a variety of initiatives, and will also be looking to define strategic goals for the 2nd generation of satellites.

Hot Topics

Throughout the course of the conference, various panel discussions were held on an array of hot topics in the field of satellite navigation and earth observation. On the topic of Big Data, session moderator Jurry de la Mar of T-Systems said the world was experiencing a sensor revolution and managing all the data is proving a major challenge. “The data coming from EO operations over the next three years will be larger than the total collected by ESA in the last 30 years,” he said. “The key is to bring the user to the data, rather than data to the user, and for users to understand the semantics of the data. Handling this amount of data cannot be managed manually.”

One solution to the data overload is what Dr Manfred Krischke of CloudEO AG calls “geo-collaboration”. “Location based services are a key element of the sharing economy, enabling access to unused resources and saving costs,” he said. “Businesses should stop looking for the next killer app and start to make small apps that can be integrated with others via the geo-collaboration platform the cloud offers.”

Turning to Smart Cities, Stuart Martin of the UK’s Catapult Satellite Application declared it was the “Century of the City”. “The use of space data, along with GNSS, can have a massive impact on the development of Smarter Cities,” he said.

GNSS can also play an important role in creating Sustainable Solutions to Global Change. One example comes from the ESNC winner of Baden-Württemberg Challenge: ICARUS. ICARUS is a new global tracking service for small objects – birds and animals. Its aim is to monitor global migration, predict zoonotic diseases transmission and enhance climate modelling through a distributed animal-borne global sensor effort. Another example comes from the winner of the ESNC - The Netherlands Challenge and the University Challenge Special Prize, which uses GNSS monitoring of potential rain clouds over East Africa via low-cost receivers. The TAMHO project produces high resolution water vapour maps from GNSS signals that travel slightly slower through moist air. Low-cost receivers can measure this delay.

UAVs, or drones – always a hot topic at any GNSS event – was also discussed in Berlin. The panel highlighted two ESNC winners, including the overall Galileo Master Winner and also winner of the ESNC Valencian Community Challenge: POSEIDRON, a UAV for search and rescue and environmental defence using EGNOS and the Galileo SAR signal. Enrique JM Asensi saw applications in the current migrant crisis, as the vehicle can deploy a 70kg life raft, is 15 times cheaper than a helicopter and can be deployed in all conditions. The winning idea behind the ESNC - Switzerland Challenge and ESA Special Prize – RTKNAV – was described by Zhenzhong Su as a low cost, compact, real-time centimetre accuracy navigation solution. Its target market is high precision agriculture apps, UAVs, mobility, sport and health applications. “RTKNAV provids affordable, high precision for the mass market,” said Su.

Safety and security are two important topics to the Galileo programme, and the Disaster and Security session focused on Galileo for Security Search and Rescue opportunities. Kai Herrmann from the German Competent PRS Authority sees PRS as the EU’s strategic answer to the security challenges of our digital society. Specifically, he sees applications in secure services for emergency services and critical infrastructure as well as access control, spoof resistance and contributions to data security and data privacy, local authentication and traffic management applications.

An example of one of these applications came from Prof Mattia Giovanni Crespi from the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and Dr Gabriele Colosimo from Leica Geosystems, who described the VADASE project that uses real-time monitoring of GNSS signals from a standalone receiver to monitor seismic events in real time. The idea won the 2010 ESNC DLR special prize, and Leica Geosystems launched the product this year with a VADASE engine able to compute seismic displacements in real time autonomously.

Another example came from Jukka Talvi, who described the HALI initiative from the northern Finnish city of Oulu, which won the ESNC - BMVI / BMWi Special Prize for its system that speeds emergency vehicles through green lights and has dramatically improved response times and safety. The system is currently being extended to the rest of Finland and perhaps the rest of Europe.

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).

Significant advancements in satellite-based positioning have enabled GNSS receivers and services to play a large role in intelligent transport systems in recent years. According to the European GNSS Agency (GSA) new applications for smart mobility are utilising EGNOS and Galileo, and GNSS is becoming a key asset in designing new ITS infrastructures.

Navigation is one of the most common ways GNSS can be used in road applications. For example, satellites can help provide turn-by-turn information to drivers, cyclists, and even pedestrians. More so, they can also be used in fleet management on-board units and road traffic monitoring services.

The GSA recently highlighted these benefits at the European GNSS Village, part of the ITS World Congress 2015.

Better Public Transport

When it comes to using GNSS services in public transport, Kordis JMK, the operator of public transport in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, is a successful example. Encompassing national and regional passenger trains, regional buses, city trolleybuses and trams, the project tracks vehicles using GNSS to guarantee passenger connections for those changing between different transport modes.

Using GNSS surveillance, the positions and real-time routes of all vehicles can be monitored, and drivers can be instructed to wait at stops until the connecting vehicle reaches the destination. This also helps ease congestion, as the public transport controller can be advised to take a detour in cases of congested areas.

         Also Read: European GNSS Brings Added Value to ITS

Also working in public transport, Voxelia Simulate uses a multi-agent system model to simulate vehicles in order to evaluate practical situations. “Real-time simulations and studies of transportation systems are very important for us,” says Renan Zeo, Director General of Voxelia.

“For instance, a public transport operator needs to know precisely the reason for an irregular bus service. Without an accurate positioning system, the operator would ignore if a bus is stopped by a traffic light, for boarding passengers, or because of a traffic jam.”

Voxelia tracks buses using EGNOS in order to provide accurate answers for delays, preparing a solution for the autonomous vehicles of the future. “Unmanned cars need to communicate to avoid deadlock situations,” Zeo says.

Using research coordinated with the Technology University of Belfort-Montbeliard, Voxelia studied the positioning accuracy that vehicles could manage by themselves, as well as access to conflict zones like intersections. “Our simulation shows the feasibility of cooperative intersections according to the accuracy of positioning systems,” adds Zoe.

Geoimagine, another company using GNSS for transportation, is working to create smarter routes for taxis. Its network optimiser solution for fleet management uses mobile sensors to optimise itineraries to drive taxis towards areas with higher potential number of clients, depending on the time of the day, therefore saving time and lowering fuel consumption while increasing business. “We are understanding taxi driving behaviour in a rapid, demand-changing scenario,” says Isaac Pozo, the company’s CTO.

Important for the Future

With growing cities and increased public transport, it is clear that GNSS services will become more and more important. GNSS receivers and services have an estimated core revenue of EUR 36 billion by 2018, showing that EGNOS and Galileo-related road applications are in demand, and will assist in optimising mobility for years to come.

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).

Significant advancements in satellite-based positioning have enabled GNSS receivers and services to play a large role in intelligent transport systems (ITS) in recent years. New applications for smart mobility are utilising EGNOS and Galileo, and GNSS is becoming a key asset in designing new ITS infrastructures.

Navigation is one of the most common ways GNSS can be used in road applications. For example, satellites can help provide turn-by-turn information to drivers, cyclists, and even pedestrians. More so, they can also be used in fleet management on-board units and road traffic monitoring services.

The GSA recently highlighted these benefits at the European GNSS Village, part of the ITS World Congress 2015.

Better Public Transport

When it comes to using GNSS services in public transport, Kordis JMK, the operator of public transport in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, is a successful example. Encompassing national and regional passenger trains, regional buses, city trolleybuses and trams, the project tracks vehicles using GNSS to guarantee passenger connections for those changing between different transport modes.

Using GNSS surveillance, the positions and real-time routes of all vehicles can be monitored, and drivers can be instructed to wait at stops until the connecting vehicle reaches the destination. This also helps ease congestion, as the public transport controller can be advised to take a detour in cases of congested areas.

         Also Read: European GNSS Brings Added Value to ITS

Also working in public transport, Voxelia Simulate uses a multi-agent system model to simulate vehicles in order to evaluate practical situations. “Real-time simulations and studies of transportation systems are very important for us,” says Renan Zeo, Director General of Voxelia.

“For instance, a public transport operator needs to know precisely the reason for an irregular bus service. Without an accurate positioning system, the operator would ignore if a bus is stopped by a traffic light, for boarding passengers, or because of a traffic jam.”

Voxelia tracks buses using EGNOS in order to provide accurate answers for delays, preparing a solution for the autonomous vehicles of the future. “Unmanned cars need to communicate to avoid deadlock situations,” Zeo says.

Using research coordinated with the Technology University of Belfort-Montbeliard, Voxelia studied the positioning accuracy that vehicles could manage by themselves, as well as access to conflict zones like intersections. “Our simulation shows the feasibility of cooperative intersections according to the accuracy of positioning systems,” adds Zoe.

Geoimagine, another company using GNSS for transportation, is working to create smarter routes for taxis. Its network optimiser solution for fleet management uses mobile sensors to optimise itineraries to drive taxis towards areas with higher potential number of clients, depending on the time of the day, therefore saving time and lowering fuel consumption while increasing business. “We are understanding taxi driving behaviour in a rapid, demand-changing scenario,” says Isaac Pozo, the company’s CTO.

Important for the Future

With growing cities and increased public transport, it is clear that GNSS services will become more and more important. GNSS receivers and services have an estimated core revenue of EUR 36 billion by 2018, showing that EGNOS and Galileo-related road applications are in demand, and will assist in optimising mobility for years to come.

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 relatively new phenomenon, autonomous and connected vehicles are the way of the future. As this industry grows, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) says GNSS-enabled vehicles will help make life simpler and safer for drivers.

Automated vehicles are becoming a reality, with promises of safer and more efficient roads. Drivers often struggle with maintaining a smooth speed, and usually do not maintain the appropriate distance between vehicles. Computer control optimises traffic flow and energy efficiency, and also helps prevent accidents due to speed or distance.  In addition, autonomous vehicles could open greater transportation options for people with disabilities, and could allow drivers to work, sleep, read – or simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

GNSS plays a large role in providing accurate information for automated vehicles. In fact, Galileo is set to provide an even stronger service as it will be more resistant to multipath interference in urban canyons and will provide an authenticated signal allowing receivers to detect spoofing attacks. Galileo’s important role in automated vehicles was well-demonstrated at the European GNSS Village, part of the ITS World Congress 2015. 

         Also Read: European GNSS Brings Added Value to ITS

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is already taking advantage of GNSS to increase the flexibility and resilience of autonomous vehicles in the city environment as GNSS signals are currently used as a complement to LIDAR-based navigation systems in a trial project in Greenwich. If the trial is successful, it will increase potential applications for autonomous vehicles within the city environment and accelerate the uptake by the operators of business and leisure services, as well as increase the relevance of autonomous vehicles as part of the transport system for citizens.

Also using GNSS, Capturas is a vehicle connectivity platform from OTC Engineering addressed to the present and future of connected mobility. The solution takes the maximum benefit of the ICT integration inside vehicles and generates data for companies that rely on vehicles and mobility for business, such as fleet operators or renting companies. Operation times and costs can be reduced with better data, and productivity can increase.

The New Normal

As cities and companies see the benefits of autonomous and connected vehicles, they will become the norm. Major vehicle manufacturers are already delivering autonomous cars, and with connected services for drivers like weather reports and accident or traffic warnings, it is easy to see the appeal.

As autonomous vehicles enter the market, GNSS technologies such as EGNOS and Galileo are ready to deliver precise and trustable localisation, enhancing the safety and comfort of passengers.

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).

During the Satellite Masters Conference, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) held a special session dedicated to innovative E-GNSS applications and research and development results.

As part of the Satellite Masters Conference in Berlin, the GSA organised a full-day session on European Global Navigation Satellite Systems (E-GNSS) research and development results, as well as implementation activities. The innovative projects showcased during the event are all helping to accelerate the development of a European market for satellite navigation applications and create new opportunities for European industry. 

Projects from both the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) and the current Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (H2020), were on display.

“These GSA-funded programmes have done very exceptional work,” said the European Commission’s Christoph Kautz.  He noted two reasons for this success. First, applicants had to provide a business plan – a unique concept under FP7 that has now been adopted across all research areas for H2020. Second, the GSA has followed all the projects in a detailed, personal way.

Funding for E-GNSS research has been doubled for H2020, and with Galileo initial services on course for next year, Kautz said this should be a game changer. However, he noted two issues that need to be considered. The so-called ‘valley of death’ needs to be tackled to facilitate the movement of successful research ideas into products and services available on the market, and synergies between Galileo and Copernicus need to be identified and built on.

GSA Head of Market Development Gian Gherardo Calini gave an overview of FP7 results. He said the GSA’s mission is “to achieve the highest return on investment in terms of benefit to users and economic growth.” The GSA is building on a solid base of tangible results. Under the

FP7 programme, 13 patents were filed and 45 commercial products and services launched. Forty percent of GSA funding has gone to SMEs (compared to the average of 15% across the whole of FP7) and the GSA programme also provided valuable business coaching for many start-up companies and SMEs.

The Project Portfolio

According to Tim Just of Innovate UK, innovation can be defined as “invention x market.” He said there is a need for both elements to achieve true success – a belief that was substantiated by all the presented FP7 success stories.

For example, in the area of mobility, Jürgen Seybold from TeleConsult Austria described MODIS, a mobile safety and emergency response system. The augmented EGNOS/Galileo handheld device targets people with reduced mobility. The underlying IEGLO technology was adapted for emergency call applications under the SAWOS brand in 2012, and MODIS is being used extensively in India as an effective monitoring solution in large factories, hospitals and schools.

On the topic of professional applications and transport, Klaus-Herbert Rolf from 365 FarmNet presented GEOPAL. This successful field route optimisation application was integrated as an on-vehicle platform tool for farmers, and also as a planning tool. The product has been on the market for four years and has proven easy and reliable in delivering real benefits.

Another success story in the area of transportation is TAXISAT. Dr Oihana Otaegui from Vicomtech-IK4 outlined the work done to develop a driverless GNSS vehicle able to operate safely and with high-reliability within private sites. The TAXISAT concept is now being commercialised.

Otaegui said the hybrid sensors from TAXISAT could be used to enable cloud based enhancement of maps in real time, and this area of research represents a huge opportunity for GNSS.

Horizon 2020

Moving to the current Horizon 2020 funding programme, the GSA’s Marta Krywanis-Brzostowska outlined the GSA’s recent calls. The first two calls awarded funding of €65.2m for 40 successful projects.

The GHOST project, described by Srdjan Tadic of Bitgear Wireless, looks at how Galileo can enhance services in Smart Cities. The project combines Galileo signals and video images in an intelligent system mounted on public vehicles (buses, waste lorries etc.) to monitor services such as parking enforcement (including disabled badge detection) and pothole and lighting outage detection.

         Also Read: 13 H2020 projects focused on EGNSS applications development selected for funding

Another innovative project is COREGAL, which is developing a GNSS receiver that can be used to estimate biomass. Pedro Freire da Silva of Deimos Engenharia S.A. said that forest management requires accurate knowledge of the quantity of living, above-ground vegetation, and that knowledge has high economic and scientific value. COREGAL uses the Galileo E5 signal in an airborne receiver monitoring both direct and reflected signals to accurately estimate biomass.

The spyGLASS project also uses reflected signals in its Galileo-based Passive Radar System for Maritime Surveillance. Claudio Calisti from ASTER S.p.A. said the system uses fixed coastal receivers to analyse the reflected signal. The concept was low cost and preliminary trials have demonstrated the feasibility of project. Applications range from anti-piracy operations and environmental protection to maritime traffic safety.

Last but not least, the GEO VISION application demonstrated the opportunities that lie at the interface of Galileo and Copernicus. Dr Harald Skinnemoen from AnsuR Technologies said the project can provide visual situational awareness capability anywhere in the world, with the aim of enabling “observation to action” within one minute worldwide. There are two main markets: humanitarian and financial. The project is releasing products and applications to the market and they are already being used by the UN to map the effects of the earthquake in Nepal and help prioritise operations there. 

Just Do It!

The day concluded with an extended panel discussion on space entrepreneurship and finance. Gregor Novak from the European Commission’s Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) described the agency’s SME financing instrument as a perfect example of connecting and leveraging public and private investment. Reinhard Blasi of the GSA agreed on the importance of this instrument, highlighting the GSA’s interpretation of FP7 towards innovation that had helped some projects get to market, and said the key is to ensure projects have the momentum to continue to market.

“Now is the right time – there has never been a better time to invest in space,” said Blasi. “With so many means on the table, entrepreneurs should just do it!”

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 European GNSS Agency (GSA) talks with Aerodays 2015 delegates on how the launch of LPV 200 brings precision landing to even more European airports and helipads and helps air traffic management.

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), combined with the precision and robustness offered by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), will play a key role in the implementation of a European air traffic management (ATM) system. And the development of a harmonised European ATM is the central focus of the European Commission’s SESAR joint undertaking, which is now entering its deployment phase, as showcased at the Aerodays 2015 conference on innovation and research in aviation, held in London from 20-23 October.

“EGNOS and Galileo are involved in all three domains of ATM: communication, navigation and surveillance,” explained GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides, speaking at the conference, which is held once during every EU Framework Research programme. “The very accurate time measurement of Galileo will help to synchronise telecom networks, for example. In terms of navigation, Galileo will be central to the multi-constellation concept, which will greatly increase the availability, continuity and robustness of the signal. More so, SBAS (EGNOS) can also be used for surveillance as a positioning source for ADS-B, giving the same level of performance as for secondary radar, with 99.9 % availability.”

Precision Instrument Landing at Low Cost

EGNOS enables localiser performance with vertical guidance (LPV) approaches without the need for costly ground-based infrastructure (e.g. ILS CAT I), usually mandatory for precision instrument landing systems. Since the end of September, the GSA has deployed its EGNOS LPV 200 service, which offers aircraft approaches that are operationally equivalent to ILS CAT I, providing vertical and lateral guidance and with a decision height for a missed approach of just 200 feet. 

“This is particularly interesting for smaller and more remote airports,” explained GSA Market Development Officer Carmen Aguilera. “Normally these airports don’t have enough traffic to justify the investment in ground-based infrastructure. With EGNOS and LPV 200, they can have the same performance, but at much lower cost, enabling them to remain open during bad weather and poor visibility conditions.” 

At present, 202 EGNOS approaches are operational serving 120 airports in 18 countries. The goal is to have 440 procedures operational by 2018.

Continuous Descent Approaches

EGNOS and LPV 200 make curved and continuous descent final approaches possible, which are also core features of a deployed European ATM.  Curved approaches mean that aircraft can avoid built-up areas during landing, reducing noise nuisance, while continuous descent saves fuel – and reduces CO2 emissions - as aircraft are less likely to need to stagger their approach. The expanded trajectory capabilities from take-off to landing offered by SESAR and underpinned by EGNOS will mean more efficient traffic management and flight predictability, with savings in terms of flight time and cost. 

According to Olivia Nunez, ATM expert at SESAR, the AMBER demonstration project at Riga airport showed that, by optimising the flight path, 15 nautical miles can be shaved off the flight path, saving 145 kg of CO2 emissions, as well as reducing noise levels.
The latest EGNOS services are also of great interest to the rotorcraft industry, making helipads more accessible, more of the time. Special Point in Space (PINS) have been developed especially for rotorcraft, interleaving visual segments and instrument segments in departures and approaches. With LPV 200, these can now be implemented down to 200 feet with EGNOS-enabled instruments.

While most modern aircraft are now built to include satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) such as EGNOS, the GSA is working with the aviation industry to support the development of cost-effective avionics, to upgrade existing aircraft and perform LPV approaches. In June this year, the GSA launched its second EGNOS adoption avionics call for proposals, with a EUR 6 million budget. “So far it has been very well received,” said Aguilera. “We received applications that amounted to double the budget available and had to turn down some very high quality proposals.”

Towards a Multi-Constellation Environment

“The next EGNOS milestone, scheduled for the end of the decade, will be EGNOS version 3”, explained des Dorides. “This will offer two frequencies – L1 and L5 – meaning that it will be even more robust. It will also overlay not only GPS, as does the current version, but also Galileo, making the multi-constellation concept a reality.” The International Civil Aviation organization (ICAO) in its Global Air Navigation Plan, has recognised the advantages of multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS, both technically and in offering significant operational benefits.

One of the additional operational benefits for aviation that Galileo offers is the return link message service in aircraft emergency locator transmitters (ELTs), which confirms receipt of a distress message and greatly facilitates search and rescue operations.

Preparations for EGNOS v3 are now underway, not just in terms of infrastructure, but also the receivers. “At the moment there are no receivers able to process this future version of EGNOS,” explained Aguilera. “We recently launched a call for tenders to develop the prototype receivers that will work with this version, so we are supporting industry to get ready.”

Looking towards the future, beyond the next decade, des Dorides believes that transport will become increasingly intermodal and coordinated: “There will be a paradigm shift,” he said. “Mobility will be a service that is independent of the means - plane, boat or car etc. And here again, GNSS will have an important role to play.”

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