Andrew Yee[_1_]
May 16th 07, 03:54 PM
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
30 April 2007
Call for ideas in satellite navigation -- Galileo Masters 2007
If you or your company or university has an innovative idea for a
ground-breaking use of satellite navigation, now is the time to put it to
the test. This year's Galileo Masters competition opens on 1 May and will
remain open for submissions until 31 July 2007.
The Application Center Ltd. Oberpfaffenhofen, together with the Munich
International Trade Fair and its business-to-business trade fair SYSTEMS,
are searching for the Galileo Masters 2007. This European satellite
navigation competition, which began in 2004, is run under the patronage of
the Bavarian Ministry for Economics, Transport, and Technology and supported
by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and ESA through its Technology Transfer
Programme (TTP). Its aim is to encourage small enterprises in participating
European regions to come up with new ideas for satellite navigation
applications.
Many outstanding ideas have been presented at previous editions. These
include a seismograph that uses the Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS) timing signals to detect natural disasters and many other innovate
uses of satellite navigation such as improving urban transportation, helping
the blind become more mobile, calculating a site's exposure to sunlight,
hoeing weeds and rescuing hikers.
The Galileo Masters 2007 addresses companies, entrepreneurs, research
establishments, universities as well as individuals in the following 10
high-tech European regions: Bavaria (Germany), Nice Sophia Antipolis
(France), Geborg (Sweden), Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Prague (Czech
Republic), Province of South Holland (the Netherlands), Madrid (Spain),
Hessen (Germany), Wallonie (Belgium) and Baden Wtemberg (Germany).
Competitors can choose the region in which they want to participate. The
overall winner will be provided with an office for six months within the
"business incubator" of the region they selected and given support during
this time to convert the proposed idea into a business product.
A new feature of this year's competition is the opportunity to be awarded a
special topic prize from a sponsoring partner. These are:
* T-Systems Enterprise Services GmbH, which is looking for the best
applications for seamless localisation and navigation
* DHL Innovation Center, a brand of Deutsche Post World Net, which is
seeking innovative solutions for an intelligent traffic control system
* DLR which is searching for applications ready to be tested at the Galileo
Test and Development Environment Gate in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria
Each of the 10 European regions will select five finalists. From these a
team of 80 international experts from industry, research institutes, DLR and
ESA will select the Galileo Masters 2007 and the winner of each region. All
the winners, including the topic winners, will be announced at an official
presentation on 23 October 2007.
Judging from the innovative ideas presented by previous year's finalists it
is expected that 2007 will also result in many convincing new applications
that will enhance the products and services provided by satellite
navigation.
Galileo perspective
When fully deployed in 2011-2012, Galileo, Europe's own global navigation
satellite system, will be the world's first completely civilian positioning
system. Galileo will provide a highly accurate, guaranteed global
positioning service and will be inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS, the two
other global satellite navigation systems. Galileo is a joint initiative
between ESA and the European Commission.
Galileo's increased reliability will be particularly useful in situations
where safety is paramount, for example when guiding planes, ships or road
traffic. GIOVE-A, the first Galileo in-orbit validation element, was
successfully launched on 28 December 2005. At 17:25 GMT on the 12 January
2006, the first Galileo signals were transmitted from the satellite.
The fully deployed Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites, 27
operational plus 3 active spares, positioned in three circular Medium Earth
Orbit (MEO) planes at 23 222 km altitude above the Earth, and at an
inclination of the orbital planes of 56 degrees with reference to the
equatorial plane. Once this is achieved, the Galileo navigation signals will
provide good coverage even at latitudes up to 75 degrees north, which
corresponds to the North Cape and beyond. The large number of satellites,
together with the optimisation of the constellation and the availability of
the three active spare satellites, will ensure that the loss of one
satellite has no discernible effect on the user.
For companies with innovative ideas on how to use the improved navigation
data from the Galileo satellites there will be new markets to exploit
benefiting daily life. Galileo will provide considerable economic and social
benefits for all and particularly for Europeans.
More information on the competition is provided on the European Satellite
Navigation Competition 2007 'Galileo Masters' website,
http://www.galileo-masters.com
ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office
Companies which would like to follow up an idea and turn it into a long term
business may use offer made by the ESA Business Incubation, part of the
Agency's Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) Office.
The mission of the TTP Office is to facilitate the use of space technology
and space systems for non-space applications and to further demonstrate the
benefit of the European Space Programme to the European citizens.
The TTP operations can be divided into two lines of business. Firstly, TTP
identifies technology transfer opportunities and performs feasibility
studies. Secondly support is provided for the commercial development of the
technology transfer through new venturing.
Further information, is available on ESA's Technology Transfer Programme
Office website at
http://www.esa.int/ttp
[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSPIMJC0F_index_1.html ]
http://www.esa.int
30 April 2007
Call for ideas in satellite navigation -- Galileo Masters 2007
If you or your company or university has an innovative idea for a
ground-breaking use of satellite navigation, now is the time to put it to
the test. This year's Galileo Masters competition opens on 1 May and will
remain open for submissions until 31 July 2007.
The Application Center Ltd. Oberpfaffenhofen, together with the Munich
International Trade Fair and its business-to-business trade fair SYSTEMS,
are searching for the Galileo Masters 2007. This European satellite
navigation competition, which began in 2004, is run under the patronage of
the Bavarian Ministry for Economics, Transport, and Technology and supported
by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and ESA through its Technology Transfer
Programme (TTP). Its aim is to encourage small enterprises in participating
European regions to come up with new ideas for satellite navigation
applications.
Many outstanding ideas have been presented at previous editions. These
include a seismograph that uses the Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS) timing signals to detect natural disasters and many other innovate
uses of satellite navigation such as improving urban transportation, helping
the blind become more mobile, calculating a site's exposure to sunlight,
hoeing weeds and rescuing hikers.
The Galileo Masters 2007 addresses companies, entrepreneurs, research
establishments, universities as well as individuals in the following 10
high-tech European regions: Bavaria (Germany), Nice Sophia Antipolis
(France), Geborg (Sweden), Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Prague (Czech
Republic), Province of South Holland (the Netherlands), Madrid (Spain),
Hessen (Germany), Wallonie (Belgium) and Baden Wtemberg (Germany).
Competitors can choose the region in which they want to participate. The
overall winner will be provided with an office for six months within the
"business incubator" of the region they selected and given support during
this time to convert the proposed idea into a business product.
A new feature of this year's competition is the opportunity to be awarded a
special topic prize from a sponsoring partner. These are:
* T-Systems Enterprise Services GmbH, which is looking for the best
applications for seamless localisation and navigation
* DHL Innovation Center, a brand of Deutsche Post World Net, which is
seeking innovative solutions for an intelligent traffic control system
* DLR which is searching for applications ready to be tested at the Galileo
Test and Development Environment Gate in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria
Each of the 10 European regions will select five finalists. From these a
team of 80 international experts from industry, research institutes, DLR and
ESA will select the Galileo Masters 2007 and the winner of each region. All
the winners, including the topic winners, will be announced at an official
presentation on 23 October 2007.
Judging from the innovative ideas presented by previous year's finalists it
is expected that 2007 will also result in many convincing new applications
that will enhance the products and services provided by satellite
navigation.
Galileo perspective
When fully deployed in 2011-2012, Galileo, Europe's own global navigation
satellite system, will be the world's first completely civilian positioning
system. Galileo will provide a highly accurate, guaranteed global
positioning service and will be inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS, the two
other global satellite navigation systems. Galileo is a joint initiative
between ESA and the European Commission.
Galileo's increased reliability will be particularly useful in situations
where safety is paramount, for example when guiding planes, ships or road
traffic. GIOVE-A, the first Galileo in-orbit validation element, was
successfully launched on 28 December 2005. At 17:25 GMT on the 12 January
2006, the first Galileo signals were transmitted from the satellite.
The fully deployed Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites, 27
operational plus 3 active spares, positioned in three circular Medium Earth
Orbit (MEO) planes at 23 222 km altitude above the Earth, and at an
inclination of the orbital planes of 56 degrees with reference to the
equatorial plane. Once this is achieved, the Galileo navigation signals will
provide good coverage even at latitudes up to 75 degrees north, which
corresponds to the North Cape and beyond. The large number of satellites,
together with the optimisation of the constellation and the availability of
the three active spare satellites, will ensure that the loss of one
satellite has no discernible effect on the user.
For companies with innovative ideas on how to use the improved navigation
data from the Galileo satellites there will be new markets to exploit
benefiting daily life. Galileo will provide considerable economic and social
benefits for all and particularly for Europeans.
More information on the competition is provided on the European Satellite
Navigation Competition 2007 'Galileo Masters' website,
http://www.galileo-masters.com
ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office
Companies which would like to follow up an idea and turn it into a long term
business may use offer made by the ESA Business Incubation, part of the
Agency's Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) Office.
The mission of the TTP Office is to facilitate the use of space technology
and space systems for non-space applications and to further demonstrate the
benefit of the European Space Programme to the European citizens.
The TTP operations can be divided into two lines of business. Firstly, TTP
identifies technology transfer opportunities and performs feasibility
studies. Secondly support is provided for the commercial development of the
technology transfer through new venturing.
Further information, is available on ESA's Technology Transfer Programme
Office website at
http://www.esa.int/ttp
[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSPIMJC0F_index_1.html ]