report of the action team on global navigation satellite systems (gnss)

etween 13 study groups. By <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> CEGRN Consortium, an organization thatconforms to <strong>the</strong> European research policy trends, <strong>the</strong> participating countries would like to ensure<strong>the</strong> long-term continuation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> project. The CERGOP-2 project was funded within <strong>the</strong> EU’sfifth Framework Programme.323. Considerable experience is gained with differential GNSS service in many countries <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> region. Differential methods are used, e.g., in <strong>the</strong> Czech Republic where <strong>the</strong> TechnicalUniversity operates a reference station in Prague. The corrections are transmitted to <strong>the</strong> rovingreceivers via FM and long-wave radio. It is known that advanced national and regional DGNSSsystems would significantly improve <strong>the</strong> positioning accuracy and boost <strong>the</strong> applications. To thisend, <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> a multi-purpose GNSS reference network (EUPOS, European PositionDetermination System) is currently under consideration by an international working group <strong>of</strong>experts. The network would adopt <strong>the</strong> standards successfully developed in Germany for <strong>the</strong>irSAPOS (Satellite Positioning Service) system.324. In many countries, <strong>the</strong>re is a need to increase <strong>the</strong> awareness <strong>of</strong> policy makers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>benefits <strong>of</strong> GNSS, and at <strong>the</strong> same time, to increase funding available to establish a nationalinfrastructure. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, <strong>the</strong> proper governmental organizational structure to deal with GNSSissues needs to be established, which is sometimes difficult due to <strong>the</strong> multi-disciplinary nature <strong>of</strong>GNNS issues. In Austria, as a good example, satellite navigation activities are co-ordinated andmanaged by <strong>the</strong> GALILEO Contact Point Austria (www.galileo-austria.at) established at <strong>the</strong>Austrian Space Agency (ASA, www.asaspace.at), and by <strong>the</strong> Austrian Institute <strong>of</strong> Navigation(OVN, www.ovn.at). A national testbed – <strong>the</strong> Austrian Radionavigation Technology andIntegrated Satnav services and products Testbed (ARTIST) - has been established by <strong>the</strong> FederalMinistry <strong>of</strong> Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) in order to demonstrate throughpilot projects <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> navigation services <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> European GALILEO satellite system to beoperational by 2008. Through <strong>the</strong> ARTIST Programme, various application areas will bedemonstrated and evaluated with respect to <strong>the</strong>ir innovative character and pr<strong>of</strong>itability. Inparticular, <strong>the</strong> objectives <strong>of</strong> ARTIST are to test and establish new and promising market segmentsfor satellite navigation applications, to increase <strong>the</strong> awareness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> capabilities <strong>of</strong> satellitenavigation applications in general, and to stimulate Austrian institutions to increasinglyparticipate in <strong>the</strong> international navigation applications networks. All Austrian institutions relatedto navigation and its applications are encouraged to participate in <strong>the</strong> ARTIST Programme.325. The main topics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first “Call for Proposals” opened in April 2002, funded by <strong>the</strong>BMVIT with an amount <strong>of</strong> € 2.000.000. Topics comprised: fleet management, including allmodalities and inter-modalities, agriculture and forestry. The large number <strong>of</strong> project proposalsreceived (22) was an impressive response to <strong>the</strong> efforts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> BMVIT to support and streng<strong>the</strong>n<strong>the</strong> navigation market in Austria. The duration <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> projects shall be approximately one year.Thus, it will be possible to evaluate <strong>the</strong> project findings and results within a reasonable timeframeto initiate follow-up activities in <strong>the</strong> most promising areas. In addition to <strong>the</strong> Call for Proposals,participants were invited to elaborate ideas in <strong>the</strong> area <strong>of</strong> satellite navigation, its applications andvalue-added services. The ideas were not bound to <strong>the</strong> main topics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Call for Proposals, butwere open to address all areas where satellite-based navigation is expected to play a major role.The project proposals and ideas received by <strong>the</strong> GALILEO Contact Point Austria are to beevaluated by an international expert committee. A second Call for Proposals with focus onapplications in <strong>the</strong> areas <strong>of</strong> tourism and leisure time, personal navigation, search- and rescueservices, and fleet management, was expected to open on 1 April 2004. The Call would close on 7June 2004. Institutions or entities interested in participating in <strong>the</strong> ARTIST-Programme wereinvited to contact <strong>the</strong> GALILEO Contact Point Austria at Austrian Space Agency (ASA) .58