Major leading countries and players worldwide in the field of GNSS and GMES related applications
From INVESaTWIKI
MAJOR LEADING COUNTRIES AND PLAYERS WORLDWIDE IN THE FIELDS OF EARTH OBSERVATION
Some of the important providers and users of remote sensing data are outlined below:
- United States Department of Defense (DOD) satellite intelligence continues to play a substantial role throughout the military and intelligence communities. DOD’s role is not strictly limited to prosecuting wars and battlefield assessments, but also includes gathering a host of signal, communication, and electro-optical information throughout the world to inform military and foreign policy decisions.
- At least 30 US government organizations and departments are involved in remote sensing, including the Departments of Commerce, Energy, State, Agriculture, Interior, Health, Transportation, as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institute.
- The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and United States Geological Survey are beginning to use remote sensing to monitor and respond to emergencies, such as a chemical spill in a river used as a drinking water source.
- Local government agencies employ geospatial imagery for numerous purposes, including urban planning and law enforcement.
- Commercial applications of remote sensing include agriculture, oil exploration, Global Information Systems, and entertainment. According to Space Imaging, the Rhythm and Hues Studio in Hollywood purchased $90,000 of remotely sensed imagery for the movie, The Sum of All Fears. Thomas Moore, the Technical Director of the movie, was quoted as saying that he expected Hollywood to continue this trend.
- Scientists utilize remote sensing to understand natural processes in greater regional and global contexts and to track environmental interactions over time. One example of this is the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS). CGMS participants include the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), European Space Agency, India, Japan, China, Russia, the United States, and the World Meteorological Organization. [1]
MAJOR LEADING COUNTRIES AND PLAYERS WORLDWIDE IN THE FIELDS OF GNSS
Industrial players of GNSS
In the GNSS value chain, a variety of different industries is involved, ranging from space industry with extremely long product cycles, down to chip manufacturers that update their products every six months. The following Figure 1 and related links illustrate the possible navigation value chain, as it might be realised with GALILEO (based on different studies, e.g. PWC). This mixture of different industries that are already established in other areas and partially do not yet see navigation as a potential profitable business, demands a high level of communication and co-operation. [2]
European industrial capabilities and co-operations
The industrial capability for the development and maintenance of European satellite navigation products has to be exploited best to enable the
successful extension of Europe's share in the satellite navigation market. Where needed the European impact can be maximised by exploiting
possible synergy between different industries. What can be done to stimulate and to facilitate such industrial co-operation?
European players in the satellite navigation business today and their success
There is apparently sometimes the perception that the European industry is at a disadvantage against its American counterparts in the satellite navigation business. This is a perception which is perhaps worthwhile to challenge.
American ownership of GPS - an excuse for not parteciping in this business today?
Certain companies today might not want to participate in this business because of the costs involved until this technology is mastered and competitive products can be built.
Critical success factors to get the development of GPS/GALILEO receivers started
Players potentially interested in GALILEO need to see clear and unambiguous signals that GALILEO will become operational at a certain point in time. Before these signals are not sent out by the EC or the GALILEO proponents, nobody will start investing into the development of GALILEO based receivers or chipsets.
Is there a need for an european wide industry association?
The existing industrial trade associations (Automotive, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, etc.) that are addressed to specific products or market sectors very likely would not be suitable in order to provide a central contact point to the public sector and to disseminate information to the industries concerned. A more appropriate way would be to have an GNSS focussed platform representing all those industries supplying and using GNSS related products and services.
Will GALILEO create an (interely) new industry in Europe?
A major objective of the entire GALILEO programme is to establish a new industry in Europe, which is currently believed to be mainly in the hands of USA.
Role of local/regional technology parks
The common denominator of companies building positioning / navigation products is probably pretty small. The advantage of a technology park should be to draw synergy from a variety of different competencies, which share a location.
General role of international co-operation
Co-operation between companies of different countries can have several positive effects, and are therefore a widely used measure to improve business. [2]
Overview of market developments and emerging applications
Ever since the launch of the first satellite
navigation systems for military purposes (GPS
in the United States and GLONASS in
Russia), companies worldwide have been
developing products and services to stimulate
and serve a civilian market for positioning
technology. From a baseline of professional
equipment for surveying and civil engineering,
continued innovation in technology has led to
huge improvements in the price and
performance of equipment. In tandem with
this, entrepreneurs have continued to develop
new applications and spawn new businesses
to serve growing markets.Today, several
thousand companies are already involved in
satellite navigation device production and
service provision, encompassing a diversity of
markets far outstripping anything that could
have been envisaged even ten years ago.
As the market grows in size, it also develops in
structure.What started as an industry that
supplied stand-alone navigation units, the
situation has developed to combine both
navigation and communication technologies as
shown in Figure 2.
Satellite navigation receivers are now
commonly integrated into other devices,
including in-car navigation systems, fleet
management systems, and increasingly also
into mobile phones and Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs) either by full integration
of the GNSS receiver or by wireless (e.g. via
Bluetooth®) communications with external
receivers.The product business is
complemented by a rapidly developing
service industry that integrates, among others,
digital mapping, bundled with mobile
communications to deliver packaged services
to end-users.
In this section we will present several applications very promising, produced by some of the major leading players worldwide, in the fields of Location Based Services, road, aviation, maritime, rail, oil and gas, agriculture, fisheries, science, electricity networks, social, customs, justice and home affairs and leisure. [3]
References
[1] S.Hitchings
"Policy assessment of the impacts of remote-sensing technology".
[2] G.Dippel-Hens (GALILEAN working group report)
"GNSS business issues".
[3] Galileo Joint Undertaking
"Business in satellite navigation - An overview of market developments and emerging applications".
