GNSS is just one component of autonomous driving systems, along with other sensors like inertial navigation systems (INS), odometers, radar, cameras, gyroscopes and others. However it is a critical component providing much needed redundancy, according to participants in the Munich Satellite Navigation Conference on March 6.

EGNOS and Galileo were at the World Air Traffic Management (ATM) Congress in Madrid from 6 to 8 March to highlight the vital and increasing role of European GNSS (EGNSS) in the aviation sector enabling simplified, safe and integrated ATM for all aircraft from civil airliners to autonomous drones. On 6 March, funding for research, development, innovation and implementation opportunities worth more than €300 million for EGNSS related aviation projects were presented in a special conference session.

A call for proposals has been opened under the Fundamental Elements funding mechanism, targeting the development of GNSS receiver technologies for premium and general mass markets. This and other FE projects will be presented at Info Day in Prague on March 14.

The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit opened on March 5 with a discussion about who stands to win from competition and cooperation in satellite navigation. After a lively debate it was decided that, ultimately, the end user will be the winner in what one panellist described as ‘the Golden Age of GNSS.’

The European Commission, with the support of the GSA, is launching the EGNOSHA project to determine under what conditions it would be beneficial to implement an EGNOS high accuracy service in 2020-2035.

Registration for the 4th Farming by Satellite Prize was officially opened at the conference “Agriculture: a new frontier for the European space policy” in the European Parliament on March 6. The aim of the prize is to promote Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Earth Observation (EO) services in agriculture.

Five new Fundamental Elements calls have been announced in the Galileo Exploitation Grant Plan for 2018, which has been released by the GSA.

The GSA-funded BLUEGNSS project (Promoting EGNSS Operational Adoption in BLUEMED) was launched in 2016 with the aim of promoting the adoption of European GNSS in the BLUEMED Functional Airspace Block. Preliminary results, presented at the World ATM Congress in Madrid on March 6, show significant gains in safety and airport accessibility in the target countries. To achieve its overarching goal of promoting EGNSS

On May 25-26 the ActInSpace innovation contest will bring entrepreneurs, students, job seekers, developers and creative minds together in over 60 cities across 5 continents to work on real-life challenges and to design innovative services and applications using space technologies and data. This year the European GNSS Agency (GSA) has set three challenges in the contest. Initiated by the French Space Agency (CNES) and supported by the European GNSS Agency and European Space Ag

The last SAR/Galileo Initial Service Quarterly Performance Report of 2017 (from October to December) has been published in the Performance Reports section of the GSC web portal.