Theme 1: Maritime safety and security

Galileo is currently one of the most ambitious European research and development programmes involving a budget of 3 billion euros and deployment of 30 positioning satellites. There are geo-political issues at stake here: the American GPS, available for other nations’ civilian use, remains under the control of the Pentagon. The issues also touch on the future of Europe’s economy and research: there is the potential to develop new activities within the goods and services sector of niche markets such as aeronautics, road transport, mobile radio networks and also the maritime industry.

Ensuring the optimization of Galileo for use in terrestrial as well as maritime positioning is the aim of the GALILEOCEAN project. This is essential for the very future of Galileo whose success depends particularly on that “extra something” it brings to GPS.

The project involves the full range of maritime activities: navigational aids, coastal surveillance, maritime safety and search and rescue, exploitation of marine resources, pollution monitoring, laying/repairing undersea cables, marine science and engineering relating to oceanography and the environment – meteorology, cartography, currents, winds, etc. – the fishing industry and maritime trade.

GALILEOCEAN represents a scientific and technological challenge which Brittany is capable of meeting and which, in turn, will help strengthen its skills. The specific nature of Galileo signal reception at sea and the particular problems of maintaining signal integrity given the turbulence of the ocean’s surface are at the heart of the challenges facing the project partners who have already achieved considerable progress towards finding solutions.

Three stages are envisaged for the GALILEOCEAN project culminating in the creation of a prototype receiver using a simulation platform. The majority of the technologies researched will make a dual GPS/Galileo functionality mode possible:

- Critical analysis of existing solutions based on GPS.
- Study and creation of a multi-constellation (GPS and Galileo) prototype infrastructure: simulation platform with marine environment signal modelling and service and user platforms – terminals, antennae, applications, communications networks and information management systems.
- Validation of technologies in real environments.

GALILEOCEAN project partners

Research centres

• GET/ENSTB in Brest: Four departments of the Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications de Bretagne (Brittany advanced telecommunications institute) are directing the project with two of ENSTB’s CNRS labs being involved – TAMCIC for its research in modelling and simulation in marine and undersea environments, and LEST which specializes in propagation modelling.
• ENSIETA (National advanced institute for weapons industry and technology) in Brest whose E312 lab is working in the fields of sonar (acoustic signalling) and radar (electromagnetic signalling).
• IRENAV, (Naval academy research institute) in Brest is most notably leading research into the use of geographical information systems as tools for surveillance, modelling and simulation of the dynamic marine environment.

Companies

• Thales is heavily involved in the drawing up of the Galileo programme itself. Thales Aeronautics Division in Valence designs and manufactures secure radio navigation receivers embedded in aircraft, drones and ships for military and civilian purposes.
• BOOST Technologies is a company based in Brest specializing in research and services relating to remote sensing of the offshore and coastal marine environment and has recognised experience in the field of high-resolution satellite imaging radar.
• Antenessa in Brest is one of the European leaders in the design and manufacture of specialist antennae.
• MARTEC SERPE IESM in Guidel designs and produces professional electronics systems for use in extreme conditions in the areas of oceanography, deep-sea fishing and maritime and aviation safety.

Contact

jean-yves.eouzan@pole-mer-bretagne.com