Projects

PLANET2 aims at providing business and regional aviation with in-flight information updates on weather conditions and hazards, while contributing at the same time to the observation of the atmosphere thanks to in-situ measurements sent from the aircraft to the weather agencies.

This project aims to contribute to the
increase of road safety by providing localised and realtime
Traffic and Travel Information to vehicle drivers.
The project goal is to develop and demonstrate a nonproprietary
system and language-independent platform
for aggregating, provisioning, distribution and delivery of
Traffic and Travel Information (TTI) content to vehicle
drivers. The TTI Content is provisioned into the system
and then it is broadcast through satellite communication
to the hotspots installed along the road.

Development and first pre-operational
assessment of an Interactive TV suite of MHP
applications to reward audiences of TV channels with
extra contents. The core of EDIBS concept is to embed
additional services within the digital transmission stream
using the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard for
DVB set-top boxes (STB). By using common digital
satellite transmission technologies, the TV- stations are
enabled to offer additional Program services and new
forms of embedded advertisement within a parallel
program flow.

The key-objective of the project was to design and to develop a multifunctional "black box" that consists of an intelligent user terminal router and provides interfaces to multiple communication systems.

VERDI is a solution for the provision of
broadband corporate services exploiting Virtual Reality
environment for eLearning and eMarketing. The VERDI
project aimed at delivering a comprehensive solution,
demonstrating the added value brought to corporate
applications and working on the improvement of both
the cost-effectiveness of the service provision and the
perceived quality of the service.

This study will determine the causes of the current problematic situation regarding Conditional Access Systems (CAS). It will detail how the lessons learnt should impact the development of new CAS for broadcast services.

The COTV (Community TV Content Making) project aims at implementing a 'Community TV' where the TV viewers collaborate with TV producers for generating mixed 'user' and 'professional' content via TV blogs.

Through the MIST concept, isolated and
mobile sites like ambulances and ferries can benefit
from teleconsulting. The Wireless Sickbay element of
the project developed, tested and implemented a
telemedicine solution that can be fitted to a vessel (in
this case the Marine Atlantic super ferry The Joseph and
Clara Smallwood) to allow quick responses to medical
problems from the RCST/IEMN network site in Port aux
Basques, Newfoundland. MIST was dedicated to the
creation of a technology, application, and human
systems model that can be custom fitted to a vessel to
meet its specific requirements.

The 21Net system enables Internet services on board high-speed trains. The system uses several communication technologies to access the internet: cellular, WiFi and satellite.

The objectives of the project are the
integration and trial of a communications system that
exploits the unique features of two wireless
technologies, namely DVB-RCS and terrestrial wireless
802.11x. The system is expected to be particularly
relevant to some rural communities, which are suffering,
when compared with urban communities, from a lack of
broadband communications. The new system will
provide a broadband system that is easy and quick to
install. The system can be shared by end users making
it cost effective.

The Millennium Development Goals, together with the World Summit on the Information Society have paved the way to a number of Capacity Building projects related to ICT in developing countries. The goal of this project is to define and validate a reference model for CB projects using satellite communications (Satcom).

The primary scope of activities to be undertaken within this project is service evaluation of a combined TDMA/DVB satellite network for Internet/Intranet services.

The main purpose of the SAVSI project is
to combine the aspects of several tested-and-affordable
technologies in order to provide a centralised video
surveillance service for locations where terrestrial DSL
connections are not available. These technologies are IP
video surveillance using MPEG compression, wireless
local network and DVB-RCS broadband Internet
connection. Two video-surveillance services are being
developed: surveillance of sensible sites, either as a
nominal surveillance capability or as a means of
redundancy (high-risk sites classified as "Seveso" e.g.
remote train crossings, hydroelectric dams, isolated ATM
machines), and surveillance of large and remote areas
(mountains, borders, jungles, volcanic areas) where
several risks are present (fires, smuggling, rains,
eruption, etc.).

The objective of the GAMMA project is to develop and demonstrate a pre-operational A-SMGCS which will provide surveillance and conflict detection services to controllers and vehicle drivers at airports.

The SMART Project targets the development and demonstration of a low cost satellite access provision service using GEO satellite parked in inclined orbit on both Single Channel per Carrier and Multi Channel per Carrier access schemes.

SATWAYS aims to install remote site controllers equipped with radio and telephony interfaces at isolated heliports countrywide. They will relay radio and telephony communications over satellite connections using IP as the transport protocol.

The SCOUT (SkyWAN Carry-On User Terminal) is a system for satellite communications which includes
an antenna, indoor-unit and outdoor-unit.
SCOUT will provide data connectivity of SkyWAN networks to customers with high requirements regarding mobility.

The project " Broadband Satellite
Information and e-Learning Channel for Manufacturers
and Service Companies (SiLC)", intends to deploy
broadband IP services via satellite to provide a new type
of high quality and professional service channel. It will
enable the electronic-hardware manufacturing industry
as well as the consumer electronics industry to
introduce their products to the trade and market
professionals and also to the end consumer.

Pacific Skies is dedicated to defining,
developing, implementing and piloting a premium
internet access and corporate services product aimed at
small/medium enterprises (SMEs) in Asia and the Middle
East. The service, branded IPsys Broadband, offers two
way Internet Access for remote corporate sites and is
retailed through ISPs and satellite service providers
specialised in the corporate market. The network will
support services typically demanded by corporate users,
such as virtual private networks (VPNs) suitable for
intranet and extranets.

The main objective of the SAET project is to define an engineered satellite-based network architecture for the provision of multimedia services on-board European trains.

This project aims to set-up and
demonstrate the "modus operandi" for designing and
providing effective distance learning applications that
exploit the SkyPlexNet satellite technology available,
integrate satellite and terrestrial telecom infrastructures
and prepare for commercial sustainability.

DISaV's objective is the design of a
platform to deliver multimedia content to a distributed
audience and to manage the whole content lifecycle.
DISaV meets the requirements of the new advertising
market allowing the distribution of rich multimedia
messages (with videos, audios and images) to a wide
territory. The added-value of the platform is the
possibility of sending audio-video material and data to
screens distributed throughout the territory so as to
have a dynamic grouping of the reception points.

ABARIS enables consumers to order a
wide range of music products from an easily accessible
World Wide Website. Following payment and copyright
clearance these products are multicast to consumers,
using the ASTRA-NET satellite communications service.
ABARIS multicasts music products to customers who are
equipped with a computer connected to a standard
satellite TV dish. Following reception, each track may be
played using a multimedia PC or written to a CD for use
in a standard home or car hi-fi system. The music
encryption scheme employed by ABARIS will protect
artists' and composers' rights by preventing
unauthorised performances or recordings.

The objective of project Cached VIdeo Content Set top Box was to provide a cost effective solution for a satellite based PushVOD (Video On Demand) infrastructure. This would allow end users located in areas not covered by reliable broadband networks to access services such as on demand video rental and Catch Up TV.

Hurricane is a dual polarised Ka-band Satcom on the move (SOTM) system which comprises a low profile antenna to be mounted on a positioner to dynamically track the satellite as the system moves. This project covers the design and fabrication of the low profile antenna which uses novel technology to produce an efficient array based aperture to enable a significant reduction in antenna height compared to reflector solutions whilst maintaining the required G/T performance.

G3 Solar Array Drive Mechanism project aims to capitalize successful qualification and heritage of Constellation, SpacebusTM and ATV SADM to
develop a new product that meet competitiveness and technical objectives of the new SpacebusTM satellite range.

The Typhoon project has successfully designed, developed and tested an X-band (7/8GHz) Satellite-On-The-Move terminal incorporating a low profile antenna, and satellite trials have been successfully carried out over a representative range of tracks and terrains, both on and off road.

The next generation solar array (NGSA) under development by Airbus Defence and Space is based on a hybrid solar array concept consisting of a rigid backbone of Eurostar 3000 (E3000) type sandwich panels in combination with lightweight lateral panels.

The aim of the project is to develop and test a Phased Array Antenna Full Facet Prototype allowing the simultaneous reception of at least 4 Search And Rescue (SAR) signals relayed by the satellites in view.

The mechanical pressure regulators that are widely used on telecommunications platforms for Helium control suffer from significant drawbacks inherent to their design. An alternative method is an electronic bang-bang regulation.

The focus of Cuva.me is on the development of compact dual band UHF-VHF antennas for use in maritime emergency situations. There are three main segments in this project: study/preliminary design, modelling and fabrication/test/ validation. The main challenge lies in managing the trade-off between compactness and electrical performance in hostile environments.

The project shall implement functionality able to localize the source of an interferer by using just one satellite.

The study aims to identify the architecture and critical technologies required to fulfill the future demand in High Accuracy Antenna Pointing Systems to cope with highly demanding multimedia missions using very small beamwidth (up to 0.2 degrees).

Although the commercial satellite communication and broadcasting services have only recently expanded to the Ka-band, future applications, such as 3DTV, live video and video conferencing, require higher and higher data rates and therefore more bandwidth. The need for bandwidth can be satisfied by preparing the next generation satellites with the Q/V-band capability.

The aim of the project is the design, development, manufacturing and test of a Ka-Band high power isolator in WR51 waveguide technology capable to handle 350 Watt CW in both forward and failure modes.

The SFEDONA project aims to design, develop, validate and demonstrate a complete end-to-end fire detection and alerting application which makes use of state-of-the-art fire detection technologies based on terrestrial optical cameras and sensors, data fusion, satellite and wireless communications as well as modern IT technologies.

SWAY4Edu aims to develop a satellite ICT solution to support three main activities in Africa, these being Rural Radios, Electoral eTraining and Space4Education. It is to be an open eTraining network for the Millennium Development Goals.

The project, which is part of ESA's Newcomers initiative of the ARTES 3-4 Programme, is aimed at developing, integrating and validating a set of mobile applications onboard of vehicles such as cars, coaches and trucks, using the S-Band delivery platform of Solaris on the Eutelsat W2A satellite.

The objective of the project is the development and validation of a system for the provisioning of an integrated maritime communications service.

The TESHEALTH project is dedicated to developing, implementing, qualifying and validating a telemedicine system promoting the use of satellite communications aimed at reducing the impacts of chronic diseases, improving life styles and empowering citizens to adopt a healthier behaviour.