A new information portal for PNT and GNSS is now active. The European GNSS Center of Excellence (GNSS-COE) is designed to provide expertise to help development of critical PNT and GNSS applications.
“We support the development of applications both in the design definition phase, as well in the validation phase of these applications,” according to the site. Among the offerings are masterclasses, resilience assessment, mitigation methods, and a newsfeed.
The portal, a National GNSS Knowledge Center project, was funded under the European Space Agency’s NAVISP Element 3, which supports member states’ PNT initiatives and national strategies.
The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is set to launch a new Fundamental Elements call, with a dedicated online workshop June 30. The workshop is an opportunity to learn about the new call and hear from successful projects funded during the last call.
Fundamental Elements is a research and development funding mechanism designed to support the development of innovative chipset, antenna and receiver technologies in which industry would not yet invest on its own initiative. In doing so, the program helps accelerate the integration of European GNSS (EGNSS) into market-ready devices and solutions.
Projects funded by Fundamental Elements play a key role in EUSPA’s mission of driving the development and market uptake of Galileo-enabled receivers. For example, the GEARS project, which was funded during the initial call, developed a super accurate and highly robust Galileo-enabled receiver capable of providing both time and frequency data for critical infrastructure.
The new Fundamental Elements call builds on success of projects by:
integrating Galileo’s key differentiators into receiver technologies, including OSNMA, high-accuracy frequency, triple frequency, Early Warning Service, CAS and ARAIM
leveraging disruptive technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence
exploring potential synergies with Copernicus and the forthcoming GovSatCom.
More details about these points and the call in general will be made available during EUSPA’s upcoming Fundamental Elements online Workshop via Webex. Scheduled for June 30, the workshop will include in-depth information on the funding program and the application process.
The event will also feature project teams funded during the first Fundamental Elements call, who will share their experiences, best practices and advice for putting together a successful project.
A new European project is researching automated collection of geodata and production of high-definition maps.
The GAMMS project is funded by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), and will take place until the end of 2023. Galileo will be the main enabler of GAMMS, given its precise, multipath-resistant measurements and its upcoming high-accuracy service (HAS).
A European consortium, led by the French map service provider GEOSAT, will investigate how the combination of self-driving mapping cars (autonomous mobile-mapping systems) and artificial intelligence-based mapping software can automate the production of high-definition maps.
These maps are used by driverless vehicles and need to be provably accurate, complete and up to date. Fast, sustainable production of trustworthy maps is the goal.
Consortium members include:
GEOSAT — map-making and machine learning
GeoNumerics — multi-sensor fusion and accurate navigation
“It is as challenging as interesting to bring together the geodetic estimation methods with the navigation ones in multi-sensor systems powered by EGNSS and its differentiators, VDMs (vehicle data management systems) and visual features,” said Marta Blázquez, responsible for GAMMS at GeoNumerics. “GAMMS will boost the development of NEXA, our trajectory determination platform, and GENA, our adjustment platform for dynamic networks, in the direction of trustworthy navigation.”
GeoNumerics is responsible for computing the mapping vehicle trajectory (a time series of position, velocity and attitude coordinates) by integrating the manifold of sensors available in a mapping vehicle.
Measurements of inertial units and atomic clocks will be fused with measurements of all available navigation satellites (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou), odometers, cameras and laser scanners. For this purpose, GeoNumerics’ GENA and NEXA systems will be further developed to include new sensor mathematical models and to improve its robust estimation methods.
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has been selected by the European Commission for a new strategic contract to assess the feasibility of an integrity service to complement the European Global Navigation Satellite System (EGNSS) High Accuracy service, which will pave the way for use in autonomous vehicles.
Thales Alenia Space will focus on the development of a sensor-fusion approach, including and complementing evolutions of EGNSS High Accuracy. These service evolutions are aimed at providing the integrity level to serve the high-reliability and high-accuracy positioning needs of new, demanding applications such as autonomous vehicles on the road and autonomous transport in the maritime and rail sectors.
With this contract, Thales Alenia Space will assess the extension of the integrity and safety-of-life services for aviation into the road, rail and maritime sectors. In 2020, the company won the EPICURE project, based on an integrity concept for road travel (tolls and insurance), as well as the IMPRESS project, targeting an integrity service for rail signaling and train separation.
Thales Alenia Space has been a prime contractor for EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) for 25 years. It is a lead industrial contributor to the Galileo system and its ground mission segment and responsible for providing six Galileo Second Generation satellites. In April, the company was awarded a contract to support the implementation and experimentation of the navigation algorithms that will be used in the Galileo Second Generation program.
In June, Alstom became the first railway manufacturer to integrate certified data-fusion algorithms for fail-safe train localization, using position and speed of trains based on GNSS data coming from multiple constellations, including Galileo.
The added value of Galileo and EGNOS in the European railway sector is widely known, especially when it comes to non-safety applications, such asset management and passenger information services.
In recent years, however, with multi-constellation becoming the norm and multifrequency receivers being adopted rapidly, rail stakeholders view GNSS-based solutions as game-changers for the future of European Train Control System (ETCS).
A recent example of EGNSS adoption in rail operations is the innovative odometry solution deployed by Alstom to measure the location and speed of its trains. The French rolling-stock manufacturer introduced a new sensor type, with a hybridisation of satellite information and inertial sensors. The solution is primarily using GNSS Doppler information, derived from Galileo, GPS and GLONASS constellations (configurable).
Such use allows to improve the overall confidence in the resulting speed, along with specific algorithms to master the resulting location accuracy. The GNSS receiver is an automotive grade receiver manufactured by u-blox. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) used to supplement information in case of GNSS loss is based on enhanced micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, with temperature compensation.
The new odometry system based on data fusion, which Alstom is currently implementing in Norway, is applicable to all types of trains and all environments, including the harshest weather conditions. It is estimated that by 2026, 450 trains will be equipped with this new feature across Norway.
Increased safety, lower costs for rail companies
Wheel slipping and sliding especially during demanding weather conditions can affect the odometer accuracy and the proper functioning of the different sensors involved. By incorporating Galileo signals as an extra layer of accuracy, Alstom managed to create a system that is capable of providing a more robust speed and location estimate. This space data fusion approach —certified by Belgorail — minimizes the need for the costly external radar components for localisation and speed measurement currently used.
“Industry embedding Galileo in their solutions is the proof that we are on the right path to ensure the market uptake of the EU Space Programme technology,” said Rodrigo da Costa, GSA executive director. “This is a recognition of the capability of EGNSS to reduce the need for infrastructure and related cost, while maintaining the operational safety of ETCS.”
The European Commission (EC) is seeking help to build a roadmap for high-accuracy Galileo and EGNOS services.
The EC Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG-DEFIS) has issued an Invitation to Tender for a service contract to address how the future evolution of European GNSS (EGNSS) could be beneficial for innovative demanding applications.
The new service contract will assess the feasibility of an integrity service complementing EGNSS high accuracy in the 2030+ timeframe.
The new service contract will feed into the evolving needs of demanding new applications without disrupting the current business models of established service providers, according to the European GNSS Agency. The tender will assess various steps needed for the Galileo and EGNOS services to evolve.
A webinar to explain the framework and objectives of the procurement and the different tasks in the procurement is planned on September 23 at 16:00 CEST.
Emerging and next-generation applications will require more demanding positioning solutions to be able to offer innovative services. The use of an integrity service complementing European GNSS (EGNSS) High Accuracy in the 2030 horizon could result in the provision of an accurate and reliable positioning solution that would translate into the overall improvement of future innovative and demanding services.
As part of the services provided by Galileo, the Galileo High-Accuracy Service (HAS) will provide high-accuracy positioning and synchronization information, the EC said.
EGNOS version 3 will extend the service area to the entire landmasses of EU Member States. New EGNOS services could be implemented in further releases of EGNOS as an option for the integrity service complementing EGNSS High Accuracy.
EGNSS improves positioning integrity and accuracy for the Boreal drone. (Photo: GSA)
News from the European GNSS Agency
The Skyopener project, co-financed by the European GNSS Agency (GSA), aims to pave the way toward increased use of remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) in civil applications.
The project has tested the benefits of multi-frequency GNSS and EGNOS in RPAS, revealing gains in availability, accuracy and robustness.
There is increasing demand to operate RPAS over long distances because of their potential for a wide range of civil applications. However, regulation regarding RPAS use in civil airspace does not yet allow beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations, and remotely piloted aircraft are not allowed to fly in non-segregated civil airspace and are not yet widely used for civil and commercial applications.
This is something that Skyopener aims to change.
RPAS for civil applications. The project is developing operational processes that will reduce all categories of risks associated with RPAS and allow an air navigation service provider (ANSP) to manage very-low-level RPAS operations. Thanks to the benefits it offers in terms of improved integrity and positioning accuracy, EGNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) will play a central role in these processes.
Through these operational processes, Skyopener will contribute to the roadmap for the integration of civil RPAS into non-segregated airspace, which will have a huge impact on the service applications that can be offered by these aircraft.
“Systems that enable RPAS to fly safely, in compliance with regulations, will enable market access and significantly reduce the cost of insurance premiums for RPAS operators, making a wide range of RPAS applications more commercially attractive and widely used,” said Marc Pollina, CEO of Skyopener consortium member M3 Systems.
Excellent results. A test conducted by the project into the benefits of multi-frequency GNSS and EGNOS has delivered excellent results. The test found that the use of GPS and Galileo in L1/E1 and L5/E5 multi-frequency combinations provides improved availability, better accuracy and greater robustness against interference, as interference with one frequency band has no effect on the second.
What’s more, EGNOS helps meet increasingly stringent requirements for robust navigation, continuity, accuracy and availability — further complemented by Galileo’s multi-constellation capacity and integration with other sensors such as inertial or vision sensors.
The Boreal drone used in the project is a fixed-wing system that operates over a long range (more than 100 kilometers) in BVLOS, with EGNOS and Galileo enhancing navigation by improving positioning integrity and accuracy. In addition, the RPAS is equipped with a newly developed communication and navigation surveillance (CNS) system that combines use of GNSS, satcom and special security measures.
Essential GNSS. GNSS technologies are essential for RPAS. The primary need is obviously for navigation — the RPAS uses GNSS waypoints to follow the trajectory defined in its mission. However, GNSS also addresses other key needs, such as geofencing to ensure that the RPAS keeps within the mission parameters and surveillance to enable adequate tracking by the operator and civil aviation authority.
GNSS also enables high accuracy and, ultimately, automated landing and the geo-referencing of collected data. These benefits will increase in the future, with the Galileo authentication service reducing the risk of threats, and PPP data correction on E6 providing better geo-referencing.
