Astri Polska Sumarizes Its Participation in the GNSS Project
A meeting summarizing the E-Knot project was held at the seat of the European GNSS Agency (GSA) on 16th January. The goal of the initiative was to establish a close collaboration in the GNSS area between industrial, scientific and educational entities. The whole initiative was financed by GSA, as a part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme. The project was being implemented by a consortium formed up by the European leaders of the satellite navigation domain, including the Astri Polska company.
The main goal of the E-Knot initiative is to stimulate GNSS domain collaboration between the industry, science and the R&D bodies of the EU member states. A number of activities has been completed throughout the project, exhibiting the importance of collaboration between the individual sectors. Establishing of such collaboration made it possible to offer academic support to the companies. Furthermore, students had a chance to participate in internships at large European companies. GNSS training was offered to the professionals. Finally, the programme also made it possible to provide scholarships for the students pursuing their academic goals in the fields related to satellite navigation, at the leading European Universities: École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile, Polytechnic University of Turin, University of Barcelona or Bundeswehr University in Munich. Furthermore, the consortium also carried out an expansive campaign promoting the GNSS services, for the Central and Eastern-European states, including Poland.
The meeting at GSA was to summarize the main goals achieved within the scope of the project. The consortium decided to extend a certain portion of the initiative, so that it lasts until May this year. Within the said period, extra GNSS training activities are expected to take place. Following the accomplishment of all of the assumed goals and positive evaluation of those goals by the GSA representatives, Astri Polska officially finalized its participation in the project.
Enhanced awareness regarding the potential benefits arising on the grounds of GNSS use in a variety of market domains may be seen as one of the main successes of the E-Knot project. When working on this project, it was our primary goal to share our knowledge and experience in this domain, which gained a lot of interest, also in case of the domestic entities.
Within the framework of the E-Knot project Astri Polska held a Technology Road Shows cycle, involving European satellite navigation experts hailing from industry and academia. These professionals were presenting the potential benefits arising on the ground of using GNSS solutions in space industry, aviation, maritime domains or precision agriculture.
The meetings also made it possible to establish cooperation between the participants, defining the problems faced by the individual sectors. Through discussion, solutions were developed and created, with the use of GNSS. Furthermore, the company co-organized training sessions for doctoral students and companies and entities utilizing satellite navigation in the undertaken activities. The main objective was to stimulate new projects based on the GNSS technologies.
GNSS is one of the main areas of activities undertaken by Astri Polska. The company specializes itself in testing satellite navigation receivers designed for space applications. Secondly, Astri Polska also provides consultancy services. Thirdly, the entity strives to raise GNSS applications awareness in the industry. At the moment Astri is working on another 3 projects in the area of testing the GNSS receivers for ESA. These are: AGGA-4 (delivering the test environment for radiation testing of advanced integrated circuitry for space satellite receivers), as well as TEcHNO (Test Environment for Hybrid NavigatiOn) - a project, the goal of which is to develop hybrid navigation solutions (GNSS + LTE) and FLIGhT - here the company is tasked with designing and creating adaptive software that would allow for integration of different hardware, for the purpose of creating a comprehensive test environment for a variety of hardware components, including the GNSS receivers. FLIGhT programme is driven primarily towards testing of receivers designed for space applications. Furthermore, the company is also involved in conducting GNSS classes within the scope of interdepartamental “Space Technologies” major, with the said study programme organized jointly by the Gdansk University of Technology, Polish Naval Academy and Gdynia Maritime University.
The E-Knot project began back in 2015. It is being pursued by a consortium formed by: École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile of Toulouse, Polytechnic University of Turin (leader of the project), Barcelona University of Technology of Barcelona or Bundeswehr University in Munich, as well as Astri Polska and BavAIRia companies.