Call for Kick-start Activities: Automated Road Transport
Kick-start Activities elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services exploiting one or more space assets (e.g. Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation, Human Space Flight Technology).
This call for Kick-start Activities is dedicated to the theme "Automated Road Transport". It is open to ideas for services addressed to local authorities, infrastructure/road operators, public transport operators, logistics companies, private drivers, fleet operators and other relevant stakeholders in this sector. Such services can cover topics as:
- Managing a network of automated road vehicles
- Monitoring automated trucks driving system
- Providing optimal decision support systems for automated road transport from big data analytics and optimisation
- Resilience of the automated road transport to cyber attacks on vehicles and infrastructure
Exploitation of space-based data and technology is key for the proposed Kick-start Activity theme, with the following considerations:
- Satellite Navigation (SatNav) is essential to provide an accurate location to track & trace automated vehicles, to guide to target locations, to operate traffic management systems and others. SatNav can also enable location-based services such as to geo-localise points of interest, to enable autonomous car sharing, parking and fare payment. In addition to GNSS receivers, wireless connections, radars, lidars and other sensors installed on the automated vehicles will enable them to monitor the surroundings, to talk to each other and with the infrastructure in real-time and respond to changes instantaneously.
- Satellite Communications (satcoms) is essential to ensure global communications for any of the above data services enabled by SatNav whenever the terrestrial communications are absent or not reliable. In case of network failures or cyber-attacks targeting terrestrial communication, satcoms may be used to increase communication network robustness and resilience.
- Earth Observation imagery can be used to provide the maps required by the traffic management, as well as evaluate the conditions on the ground, assess changes and provide key data for monitoring and forecasting the air pollution, etc. Earth Observation derived data are used to provide meteorological information such as wind speed and direction, humidity, and others that have to be taken into account into the models contributing to traffic management services.
Kick-start Activities elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services exploiting one or more space assets (e.g. Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation, Human Space Flight Technology).
This intended Invitation To Tender will be launched on 13 March 2017. The closing date is 24 April 2017.
For more information:
Kick-start Activities: new funding opportunity for innovative applications ideas