[SatNews] There will be an all day Think Tank on May 19, in Tunis (Tunisia) addressing: exploiting the potential of E-GNSS in non-EU countries for road regulated applications. Euromed GNSS II/MEDUSA is a European regional project part of the Euromed Transport program. 

MEDUSA promotes the use of the European Satellite Navigation Systems (E-GNSS), EGNOS and Galileo, in the Euromed countries of Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.  

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is the first pan-European satellite navigation system. It augments the U.S. GPS satellite navigation system and makes it suitable for safety critical applications such as flying aircraft or navigating ships through narrow channels.

Consisting of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations, EGNOS achieves its aim by transmitting a signal containing information on the reliability and accuracy of the positioning signals sent out by GPS. It allows users in Europe and beyond to determine their position to within 1.5 meters.

EGNOS is a joint project of ESA, the European Commission and Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation. It was Europe’s first activity in the field of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and was a precursor to Galileo, the full global satellite navigation system.

Galileo satellite

Running since January 2012, the project has been implementing a capacity building program, consisting of technical assistance actions in the countries aimed to prepare them for an optimal adoption and exploitation of the E-GNSS services, and to give support for the actual service introduction. 

In the countries, MEDUSA has built national/regional liaisons with the decision-makers and key stakeholders, and it has shared with them the identified priorities in relation to the use of EGNOS services, and the elaborated strategy and a plan of actions. 

As part of the technical assistance actions’ program, MEDUSA has also set up GEMCO, a long term cooperation and operation structure with an associated Work Plan ensuring the proper regional participation of the beneficiary countries. 

Located in Tunis (Tunisia) at the Elgazala Technopark and operated by MEDUSA, GEMCO acts as a catalyst of initiatives fostering regional and international cooperation on E-GNSS, and contributing to the regional capacity building program put in place by the project. 

Through the project, the Euromed countries have gathered valuable information on the technical aspects, they have validated opportunities and evaluated social and economic benefits that the use of EGNOS, and Galileo in the future, will generate. They are also having the chance to contribute in sketching out the industrial and regulatory issues needed to define the roadmap to introduce EGNOS, in view of Galileo. 

Galileo satellites

For almost all the Euromed countries, the road and freight transport are among the identified priorities. In these countries, the market is becoming more and more mature. Today, the adoption of GPS technology is fast growing especially for professional applications, often for tracking and tracing vehicles transporting goods (for safety and surveillance purposes) and for monitoring service fleets. 

In the past two years, various technical assistance actions have been undertaken by MEDUSA specifically to promote the use of EGNOS services and relevant advantages, through technical trainings, real-life demonstrations, sharing information about European examples and best practices. 

Positive feedbacks have emerged from the Euromed countries, along with a clear interest in pursuing initiatives to work with European players, to absorb know-how and to concretely prove EGNOS. 

To follow-up these feedbacks, this all day long event is conceived as a Think Tank to bring together speakers from European and Euromed countries, and to give them the opportunity to present their state of play and practical experiences concerning E-GNSS. 

The Think Tank is organized by MEDUSA, under the auspices of GEMCO, and in coincidence with the Elgazala Innovation Days 2015 (EID’15, http://eid.tn), a three-day event taking place in Tunis at the Elgazala Technopark and turning the spotlight on the role of innovation in the development of services and applications relying on Information and Communication Technologies. 

The Think Tank is oriented to industry, business and research sectors involved in the fields of “geolocalization” and Intelligent Transport Systems, as well as to road operators and public bodies. It features interactive discussions from different perspectives, policy, user needs, technology and commercial. 

Venue 

Okba conference room (Elgazala Technopark business center),  Pôle Elgazala des Technologies de la Communication,  Cité Technologique des Communications,  Elgazala - Ariana 2088, Tunis (Tunisia) 

Agenda

• 09.00 - 09.30 Registration 
• 09.30 Welcome and introduction 
• 09.50 - 11.30 Policy-makers 
• 09.50 E-GNSS in transport applications: the perspective of Tunisia (Mr. S. Hammami, Ministry of Transport) 
• 10.10 European GNSS program: status and contribution to road regulated applications (Mr. A. Fernández-Wyttenbach, GSA) 
• 10.30 European R&D projects: pathways for E-GNSS adoption in dangerous goods transport (Ms. A. Di Fazio, MEDUSA-Telespazio) 
• 10.50 The use of E-GNSS in ITS: institutional perspective and experiences (Mr. E. Louette, Ministry of Transport of France) 
• 11.10 Discussion 
• 11.30 - 11.50 Coffee break 
• 11.50 - 13.10 Users 
• 11.50 ITS for road professional applications: the role of E-GNSS (Mr. K. Diamandouros, ERF) 
• 12.10 Introducing E-GNSS in roads operations: tolling and beyond (Mr. M. Rotondo, expert) 
• 12.30 The best practice of GNSS usage for customs applications (Eng. I. Shaderma, Jordan Customs) 
• 12.50 Discussion 
• 13.10 - 14.20 Lunch 
• 14.20 - 16.20 Technology providers and other initiatives for regional capacity building 
• 14.20 GNSS based road user charging in Slovakia (Mr. M. Bobošík, GNSS-based road charging) 
• 14.40 Pioneering the use of EGNOS for commercial applications in North Africa (Mr. M. Masmoudi, Green Control) 
• 15.00 Capacity building on GNSS in African French speaking countries (Prof. A. Touzani, CRASTE-LF) 
• 15.20 Promising GNSS applications in Egypt (Mr. A. Owis, Space Science Center at Cairo University) 
• 15.40 Sharing experiences with Euromed neighboring countries (Mr. R. H. Ngaya, International Center for Theoretical Physics - ICTP) 
• 16.00 Discussion 
• 16.20 - 16.30 Closing remarks 
• 16.30 Networking and visit of EIDs