GPS World, April 2016

WATCH MARKET ESA to Research Geohazard Monitoring O p e r a t o r s o f Live Land Project to Use GNSS Observation Satellites to Protect Rails and Roads APRIL 2016 WWW GPSWORLD COM GPS WORLD 33 UAV 2 2 TRANSPORTATION UK transport networks will be the first to benefit from Live Land a land monitoring system developed through the European Space Agency ESA Transport operators across the UK face significant challenges in monitoring and detecting landslides and subsidence Geological hazards nearroads and railways can disrupt business and communities especially in remote locations As a result owners and operators of transport infrastructure increasingly need to understand geohazards to better manage their exposure mitigate risk and improve planning and response to incidents when they occur The Live Land demonstration project will monitor these MWC Continued from previous page hazards with integrated data from GNSS and Earth observation satellites Over the next two years Live Land will develop products for two prominent Scottish transport operators Network Rail Scotland and Transport Scotland Once successfully demonstrated in Scotland and regions of England Live Land is expected to expand across the UK and continental Europe The Live Land demonstration project follows a previous feasibility study concluded in 2014 and draws on expertise from a team of internationally respected authorities CGG GeoConsulting s NPA Satellite Mapping group will lead the project which also includes the British Geological Survey Met Office and Nottingham Scientific Ltd who will serve as the GNSS experts MILLIMETER PRECISION Data will be collected three ways Radar images from Europes Sentinel 1A observation satellite detect surface motion changes with millimeter precision geological and meteorological data will be used for hazard forecasting models and GNSS receivers and inertial sensors will be installed for in situ monitoring in specific locations For example an area of steep slopes and wet soil that is expecting heavy rainfall is at a higher risk of a landslide NPA Consulting has considerable experience in geohazard research projects for ESA with expertise in satellite InSAR surface deformation mapping A January landslide in Barnehurst England tumbled debris onto the tracks and damaged a railway signaling system Photo Network Rail 602A into the automakers 2017 vehicles The company showed off connected car technologies with Formula One Team Mercedes AMG Petronias One of the cooler pieces of equipment at MWC was the folding steering wheel developed by Harman and Rinspeed The companies are also co developing an autonomous car Besides rolling out Galaxy S7 phones Samsung announced its Connect Auto dongle that adds LTE connectivity for older vehicles The dongle plugs into a diagnostic port to let drivers monitor a vehicles performance It also makes the vehicle a Wi Fi hotspot It should be available in the second quarter with AT T as the U S wireless partner Saying the partnership is a giant step toward driverless vehicles Panasonic and Ficosa announced that they are developing a Smart Connectivity Module that enables passengers to be securely connected through a vehicles own internal connection The system provides both inside and outside connections and works in V2V and V2X environments A lot of people dont know that 33 percent of our business is in auto and industrial systems Consumer is only 14 percent said Tony OBrien deputy managing director Panasonic Systems Solutions Europe For more news from the Mobile World Congress see page 39