L 58/1406
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
23.2.2023
COMMISSION PILOT PROJECTS
CHAPTER PP 01 — RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (cont'd) PP 01 23
(cont'd)
PP 01 23 05
(cont'd) — identification of the possible actions at Member State, regional and local level to boost business development, and support SMEs to deliver EU Space based solutions to provide safer solutions for EU fleets (both aircraft and vessels); — prototyping of onboard equipment that uses Galileo signals to address the main needs not covered so far by existing equipment, with focus on the use of Galileo search and rescue services.
Equipment prototypes developed within this pilot project should be based, when available, on existing commercial off-the-shelf components; — implementation of several demonstrations for commercial aircraft and fishing vessels.
The aim is to demonstrate feasibility and added value for the sector, validating the operational concept with the participation of Aviation and Maritime users and competent authorities from different countries.
The aircraft and vessels in the demonstration shall be equipped at least with a beacon prototype with the capacity to be remotely activated using Galileo signals and the specific messages encoded; — contribution to draft new standards defining 1) minimum operational requirements for a Search and Rescue 406MHz beacons in commercial aircraft (ELT-DT) and fishing vessels (EPIRBS) so that they can be remotely activated and 2) the necessary tests required to verify the performance compliance in support of future regulatory initiatives in Europe; — attendance at existing working groups addressing solutions for search and rescue beacons, including different public/private platforms and interviewing key industrial stakeholders, such as aircraft operators, fishing vessels associations, shipping operators and relevant Maritime and aviation authorities for search and rescue; — consolidation of the user requirements and definition of equipment (beacons) requirements.
Cospas-Sarsat, the international organisation for search and rescue is contributing to save approximately 2 000 people a year on average.
The equipment used (406MHz Beacon) includes basic mandatory capabilities to transmit an alert message to satellites which re-transmit the information to the ground infrastructure.
Galileo is already contributing by providing its satellites for message forwarding, namely the so-called forward link service.
In the ground infrastructure, the location of the beacon is determined and Search and Rescue forces are activated.
An optional capability is currently provided by Galileo, with the primary objective of providing an acknowledgment receipt to the beacon activated, the so-called return link.
The possibility to have a communication channel from the Galileo infrastructure to any beacon in the world will enable new functionalities, and one of the most relevant ones is the possibility to remotely activate a beacon from the ground infrastructure when necessary.
Preliminary work has been done in the commercial aviation sector which resulted in the publication of a minimum aviation system performance standard (EUROCAE ED-277), describing the operational procedures to be put in place to enable this evolution.
However, no minimum performance standard for the beacons is in place yet, that could be used to support a future regulation.
In fact, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) providing the requirements for aircraft tracking explains that the remote beacon activation needs further development.
The standard for Aircraft beacons (EUROCAE ED-62B) does not include the possibility for remote activation yet.