EU hooks satellite positioning to mobile networks — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{Alcatel gets Liaison contract} EU hooks satellite positioning to mobile networks

16 Nov 2004 at 18:23 GMT Timo Poropudas

Alcatel announced Tuesday that it has been selected by the European Commission as prime contractor of the 34-member consortium responsible for the European Union research and development project, Liaison, part of the 6th R&D Framework Program.

The Liaison project aims to provide police forces, fire-fighters, municipalities, utilities and many other professional services with satellite positioning solutions that ensure that today's positioning systems liaise - hence the project name - with all wireless telecom technologies, including GSM/GPRS/UMTS, WLAN, Tetra, etc.

This will allow users to receive and send real-time positioning information using their mobile phones and devices - including in areas that are currently out of GPS' reach such as urban canyon, buildings and dense forests.

Six user groups are involved during development stages: Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in Great Britain, to coordinate On the Field Operational teams; Italian Fire Brigade, to coordinate Fire Forces during disasters; The city of Rome, to enhance waste data collection; TDF, the French broadcast service provider, to protect mobile workers; Iberdrola, the Spanish electricity company, to enhance network maintenance and on-site workers efficiency; Taxi companies in Athens, to support a "taxi on demand" service, designed to enhance the saturated traffic, and possibly develop a "taxi pooling" system.

This 42-month project, which has a budget of 21 million euros that is equally shared by the consortium and the EU, leverages both Alcatel's experience in the European satellite navigation programs EGNOS and Galileo, as well as the Enhanced Assisted-GPS solutions developed in Alcatel laboratories. It follows on the heels of the SCORE research program awarded earlier in 2004, which sought to integrate reliable positioning data in emergency services (call code E112).

"Liaison is above all a response to the strong demand in professional markets for effective positioning solutions," said Nicolas de Ledinghen, vice-president of navigation and aeronautical communications at Alcatel Space.