LaiQa comes as a technology intensive research and innovation action aiming to develop and advance critical components and technologies necessary to build a global spaced-based quantum network. LaiQa envisions to realize unconditionally secure quantum communications over long distances bringing functional QKD components together with advanced system integration techniques towards deployable space-QKD systems. The project's objectives will include the development of space-deployable, high-brightness 1550 nm entangled photon pair source (EPPS), a space-suitable Decoy State - BB84 Prepare and Measure (P&M) source, a photonic integrated EPPS for next-generation on-board sender stations, a quantum memory for long-distance entanglement distribution, an advanced fiber-coupling/adaptive optics system for converged space/terrestrial QKD segments, and software components towards the optimization of LaiQa architecture. The project will demonstrate P&M- and entanglement based QKD systems both in lab/terrestrial FSO testbeds and in field demonstrations in Helmos optical ground station (OGS). LaiQa will also mobilize its consortium to prioritize standardization activities that focus on space components for P&M- and entanglement-QKD, consider interfaces and parameters for them to propose specification standards and potentially trigger new standardization activities within EU.

The STARS project paves the way for the future EGNSS deployment in safety relevant railway applications. By evolving the highly developed and deployed ERTMS standard through the implementation of the satellite positioning functionality, it will be possible to reduce the cost of the future railway signalling systems, especially for lines with lower traffic density. The project deals with three main topics: 1) The elaboration of reference data and characterisation of the railway environment through a measurement campaign; 2) The assessment of the EGNSS performances achievable in the railway environment with the determination of the applicable requirements for the positioning system as well as the necessary evolutions of EGNSS services and ERTMS/ETCS functions and 3) Quantification of the economic benefits and specifying the possible implementation roadmap when applying the EGNSS on railways. The project is strongly linked with other initiatives and actions on the same topic in Europe. In order to feed directly into the standardization work of ERTMS, the project partners will cooperate closely with UNISIG. Moreover, the project will actively interact with NGTC (EU funded FP7) and the results will be directly implemented by SHIFT2RAIL, providing the practical demonstrators for different categories of railway tracks. The approach developed in STARS is also taking the profit of the strong know-how inherited from civil aviation, making this project as completely integrated and consistent in overall activities in Europe and worldwide, leading to the effective deployment of the satellite technologies in advanced railway signalling systems.

With the advent of the Copernicus program with its wealth of open data, the Earth Observation application and service development domain is increasingly adopting big data technologies. This adoption is first related to efficient data storage and processing infrastructures, but most importantly data analytics and application development framework. CANDELA project main objective is to allow the creation of value from Copernicus data through the provisioning of modelling and analytics tools given that the tasks of data collection, processing, storage and access will be provided by the Copernicus Data and Information Access Service (DIAS), which the team is fully familiar with. The implementation starts by putting in place a set of powerful tools that drastically lowers the cost of getting familiar with the data and creating new services. These modules adopt new developments in the domain of machine learning, data mining, data fusion and web semantics, combining the Copernicus data and information with other non-Earth Observation data sources to derive novel applications and services. CANDELA will demonstrate the breadth of project capabilities with a real-life small demonstrator by means of two reference scenarios: a “macro-economics and agriculture” scenario to show how remote sensing capacities to extract adequate information from images could be used to feed economical models; and a “forest health monitoring” (FHM) scenario which aim is to present how Earth Observation satellite data collection can be used for the monitoring of forest health conditions. CANDELA team is a well-balanced consortium, consisting of nine partners from five European countries, and with strong participation from the industry as encouraged by the Call, being half of the partners well positioned SME’s.

The success of Galileo will largely depend on its uptake in LBS and IoT markets. Leveraging on Galileo’s features that improve performance in urban environment, FLAMINGO will unleash GNSS mass-market potential. The overarching objectives of FLAMINGO are to develop and deliver high accuracy and reliable positioning and navigation services for mass market uptake, to demonstrate the potential by developing and showcasing ready to market applications on both Smartphone and IoT devices within major European cities, and to foster a new community of E-GNSS consumers and applications. FLAMINGO shall produce a service targeting accuracies of 50cm (95%) and better, employing multi-constellation, PPP and RTK mechanisms, power consumption optimisation techniques as well as the GNSS raw measurements availability. FLAMINGO will deliver hardware and software that utilise the service to its full potential. Technology triggers for mobile devices are provided by Google through the provision of the GNSS raw measurements API that provide access to pseudorange and carrier phase (a prerequisite for the highest order accuracy GNSS positioning) and by various commercial smartphone manufacturers who support these measurements. IoT devices currently provided by three of the consortium partners will be modified, enhanced, and made available for the validation activities. The project will develop and deliver a series of market-ready Galileo enabled IoT and commercial LBS applications in three urban areas that support European ambitions on Smart Cities namely Barcelona (ES), Toulouse (F) and the Gdansk/ Gdynia/Sopot Tricity (PL). In addition the E-GNSS user base and markets will be stimulated through a tiered FLAMINGO Hackathon process which will bring together a mixed community of E-GNSS users, consumers, application developers, GIS and data scientists. FLAMINGO involves nine leading organisations who specialise in location technology, including five SMEs.

Terrestrial demands on space missions are increasing rapidly in terms of complexity, technology and velocity. Next to navigation (GPS, GALILEO), science (investigation of space and the universe) and exploration (ISS, Mars), two types of space missions are very important for Europe: Earth Observation (EO, for the sustainability of nature and mankind) and Telecommunication (TC, for business and global connectivity). Each mission requires partly unique technologies, which are produced by only very few global suppliers. If these technologies are not available from within Europe, there is a danger that non-dependent missions may not be performed, created and tailored with a consequent loss of sovereignty in political decisions and a loss of market shares. One of these so-called “Critical Technologies” is the “Large Deployable Reflector (LDR)”. Packed in stowed configurations, these reflectors can be accommodated on satellites, which then still comply with the limited launcher fairing volumes. By enlarging the size of the reflector it is possible to offer higher sensitivity and resolution, e.g. for radar missions (EO & science) and implement stronger communication links for e.g. higher data throughput (TC). Within the upcoming eight years the demand for such reflectors will increase worldwide, whereas the Consortium targets a certain market share with its “Large European Antenna (LEA)”. The proposed H2020 project would now enable the combination of the technologies previously developed by the consortium members and the joining of further European entities to fill the remaining gaps and form one strong and complete European team. Through obtaining an EC-grant for LEA, each building block will be upgraded with innovation, adapted to a scenario and qualified to meet one common target, namely: 1st European PFM (including reflector and arm) reaching TRL 8 to be ready for integration by the end of 2020 and for flight in 2021.