Successful closure of the Horizon 2020 COREGAL project
On 8-9 June 2017, the final review meeting of the project was held at the European GNSS Agency (GSA) headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. With this event the final milestone has been reached, successfully closing the project. During the meeting, the consortium members, from seven different countries presented the latest developments and results on each unit of the system as well as on the integration level of the technologies involved.
The objective of the project was to generate a first of a kind combined Position+Reflectometry (P+R) Galileo receiver to use it as the main sensor for platform positioning and biomass estimation, the latter using reflected Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals (also called GNSS-R) that propagate through tree canopies, branches and leafs. The Galileo constellation play a key role due to the low noise level of the E5 AltBOC pseudorange signal. GeoNumerics' contribution was to investigate and develop state-of-the-art positioning and orientation algorithms as well as their implementation. For this purpose, GeoNumerics used the platform GENA, and further developed the platform NEXA and the model toolbox dynamicSURVEY.
The Generic Extensible Network Approach (GENA) platform is a generic simultaneous, post-mission, estimation engine of parameters from measurements. NEXA stands for New Extensible State-Space Approach and is a generic real-time and post-mission sequential estimation engine that, loaded with the dynamicSURVEY toolbox, can perform INS/GNSS-based determination of a vehicle’s position, velocity and attitude.
In the project, GENA and the dynamicSURVEY toolbox were used for the development and validation of the GNSS models. NEXA and the dynamicSURVEY toolbox were used for the post-mission computation of the position, velocity and attitude parameters of the drone carrying the GNSS-R receiver for later biomass estimation.
During the COREGAL project several test campaigns have been conducted as well as dissemination activities including a presentation at the ION GNSS+ 2016 conference in Portland, Oregon (2016-09-14). A webinar for Brazilian stakeholders was held to present the technology developed during the project.
GeoNumerics is a research and development (R&D) intensive small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) company specialised in geomatics and accurate navigation.
The European Global navigation Satellite system Agency (GSA) is a European Union (EU) agency that promotes the use, adoption, application and market development of European GNSS services and that these services and operations are thoroughly secure, safe and accessible.
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly 80 B€ (billions of euros) of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). It couples research and innovation with emphasis on excellent science and industrial leadership, and tackles the EU societal challenges. H2020 goal is to ensure that Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.
Galileo is the European Union (EU) satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing system and, as such, the EU contribution to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) of systems together with the US GPS, the Russian GLONASS and the Chinese Beidou. It will consist of 30 satellites positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) planes at 23222 km altitude above the Earth. Its Final Operational Capability (FOC) configuration of 30 satellites is scheduled, as of today, for 2020.
PROJECT DETAILS:
Acronym: COREGAL
Title: Combined Positioning-Reflectometry Galileo Code Receiver for Forest Management
Period: 2015-01-01 to 2016-12-31
Funding: European Global navigation Satellite system Agency (GSA), European Commission (EC) grant 641585, Horizon 2020 (H2020), GALILEO-3-2014
Coordinator: DEIMOS Engenharia, S.A. (PT)
Other participants: DEIMOS Space (ES), GeoNumerics (ES), Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation (ES), University of Nottingham (UK), Max Planck Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Wissenschaften E.V. (DE), Gamma Remote Sensing Research and Consulting AG (CH), Univesità Degli Studi di Roma Torvergata (IT), Engemap Engenharia Mapeamento e Aerolevantamento Ltda (BR), Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP (BR), Editora Mundo Geo Ltda (BR).
This project has received funding from the European GNSS Agency under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement no. 641585.