Multimodal Logistics

Brussels/Milano March 2012: DKE Aerospace Germany together with partners and under the leadership of VVA, Italy, has been awarded a new contract to support the European Commission in the implementation of the "Action Plan on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Applications” encompassing applications based on EGNOS and Galileo, particularly in the multimodal logistics transport modes.
The European Commission will investigate the expediency of some directives on GNSS based multimodal logistics focusing on legal, technical feasibility and the organizational support. As noted, some measures may become necessary where GNSS adds value to the efficiency of Freight transport. Such measures are expected to compliment initiatives implemented in the context of the Logistics and the ITS Action Plans.
DKE Aerospace under the leadership of VVA takes responsibility for investigating the Technical Feasibility of GNSS application in the multimodal logistics. This activity shall assess the followings:

  • To investigate a series of GNSS requirements to be implemented for the identified services deployment
  • Assess the main impediments for the services implementation and service uptake
  • Proffer possible solutions and provide recommendations to the EC on how to solve the identified technical impediments to enable services deployments and uptake in the marketplace.
As noted, the assessments shall establish direct links with the ITS Action Plan and Directive, focusing in particular on significant pre-requisites such as a standardized communication interface within the different modes of transport and the interoperability issues.

 

GNSS in transport of dangerous goods

Brussels, May 2011. DKE Aerospace Germany together with partners and under the leadership of VVA, Italy, has been awarded a new contract to support the European Commission in the implementation of the "Action Plan on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Applications " encompassing applications based on EGNOS and Galileo, particularly in the transport of dangerous goods and the use of digital tachographs.
For the transport of dangerous goods the European Commission will investigate the expediency of some directives: one on GNSS-based monitoring of long-range coaches, and one on GNSS-based multimodal logistics. As regards GNSS-based monitoring of the transport of dangerous goods, the European commission will examine various options concerning the use of Telematics jointly developed at the international level (e.g. unece10 and OTIF).
DKE Aerospace under the leadership of VVA takes responsibility in the following activities:

  • An analysis of the state-of-the-art in the use of GNSS on dangerous goods tracking and tracing
  • Identification of the main GNSS system requirements for dangerous goods tracking and tracing
  • The main impediments for the use of GNSS systems in dangerous goods transport are not so much related to the GNSS technology itself, but rather to the strict type approval and installation approval rules that are applicable for dangerous goods transport vehicles
  • An overview of best practices in different modes of transport and a roadmap towards guidelines

For the digital tachographs the European Commission will investigate the expediency of amending the regulation bearing on digital devices, notably to take advantage of the availability of authenticated GNSS-based positioning, timing and speed information.
This task aims at supporting the Commission in understanding which are the technical implications of the introduction of GNSS in tachographs and the required functionalities, what is the perception of key stakeholders and how this perception can be positively impacted thanks to an awareness campaign.

This task will include an assessment of functionalities and technical feasibility, based both on primary and secondary sources, to define an overview of the current status and identify the most relevant needs to be addressed, as well as the organization of a meeting with key stakeholders from the tachograph sector and the launch of an awareness campaign.

DKE Aerospace in this part of the project is in charge of the technical feasibility study mainly focussing on the issues like

  • How can a GNSS system be integrated with a digital tachograph? What would be the building blocks of a ‘hybrid’ system? What GNSS information could be written/read to/from the driver’s card?
  • What are the GNSS system requirements (availability, integrity, continuity and anti-spoofing capabilities), data communication requirements (availability, continuity, packet error rate, encryption)?
  • What is the error on the GNSS positions and on the distance recorded by the GNSS system?
  • In the event of mismatch between a GNSS system result and a tachograph result, which result is most trustworthy? How can the GNSS system be certified?
  • How can EGNOS and Galileo be used to fulfil the user needs? What are the findings from the past or on-going FP7 projects in this area?
  • Why is GNSS technology more suited to fulfil the user needs than other position or distance determination technologies?
  • Is it possible to define a number of reference models, possibly using a modular approach in the construction of these models?
  • Are there synergies possible with the evolution in Road User Charging?
  • How can GNSS based systems be used to support TachoNet (the exchange of Tachograph information between the member states).