Innovative GNSS-based Mobile LBS Applications

Transcription

1 Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities (2007 to 2013) 'Cooperation' Specific Programme Theme: Transport (including Aeronautics) Sub-theme: Support to the European Global Navigation Satellite System (Galileo) and EGNOS Activity: EXPLOITING THE FULL POTENTIAL Area: MASS MARKET APPLICATIONS DESCRIPTION OF TOPIC GALILEO Innovative GNSS-based Mobile LBS Applications 1/9

2 Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION... 3 I.1. CONTEXT... 3 I.2. LIST OF ACRONYMS... 3 II. TOPIC DESCRIPTION... 5 II.1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES... 5 II.2. DOMAIN AND APPLICATION SELECTION... 5 II.3. ASPECTS TO BE COVERED... 5 II.4. OTHER REQUIREMENTS... 6 II.5. TASKS TO BE PERFORMED... 6 II.5.1. GENERAL... 6 II.5.2. MANAGEMENT... 6 II.5.3. SUPPORT TO FP7 COORDINATION... 7 II.6. DELIVERABLES... 7 II.7. SCHEDULE AND MILESTONES... 8 III. ADDITIONAL OR COMPLEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRAFTING PART B OF THE PROPOSAL /9

3 I. INTRODUCTION I.1. Context Industry insiders have since a long time identified mobile Location Based Services (LBS) - mass market services provided to mobile subscribers based on their current geographic position - as an area with large market potential. First of all, the sheer size of the addressable market is staggering. Over 250 million mobile phones have been sold in the second quarter of Analysts expect that by 2010 more than 30% of new phones will be GNSS enabled. Secondly, the integration of position information with communication and content enables a number of interesting and valuable applications such as emergency call (E112) with location information, location aware yellow pages and location-based advertising to name just a few. Despite this enormous potential, few successful applications have been launched. The objective of this topic is to bring LBS a step closer to maturity. The obstacles that have been mentioned as hampering a successful take-off can be summarised as follows: 1) LBS technology is not yet mature: positioning performance is still poor, especially indoor; interfaces and content are not yet standardised; 2) The costs are too high: GNSS-enabled handsets are expensive, required network investments are significant and there is a high cost for the development of content and applications; 3) Customers are not really interested: low perceived value and user interest for these types of services. Progress has been made on the first obstacle. Receiver sensitivity is continuously improving and new techniques, such as A-GNSS, enable much faster acquisition. Positioning performance has also been addressed in FP6 and will also be a topic of other activities of the Galileo sub-theme in FP7 (e.g., receiver multipath mitigation, receiver hybridisation). Standardisation work is also making progress. The second obstacle is also being resolved. The relentless miniaturisation and integration activities carried out by the industry is driving down the cost of GNSS receivers for use in mobile phones to 2-3 in the next few years. Infrastructure options are increasing and competition is driving down the cost. The topic of receiver cost reduction has already been addressed in FP6 and will be a topic of other activities of the Galileo sub-theme in FP7. This topic aims to address the third obstacle, the low perceived value of LBS services. In the Far East and the US there are already some LBS success stories. Meanwhile, Europe has lagged behind in bringing LBS services to the market. The objective of this topic is to demonstrate that there is significant mass market potential for LBS in Europe and that the technology is mature enough to deliver real benefits to users. I.2. List of Acronyms A-GNSS AGILE COTS Assisted GNSS Application of Galileo in the LBS Environment Commercial Off The Shelf 3/9

4 E112 European single emergency call number 112 EC European Commission EDAS EGNOS Data Access System EGNOS European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service FP6, FP7 6 th, 7 th Research Framework Programmes GKMF Galileo Knowledge Management Facility GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System GSA European GNSS Supervisory Authority LBS Mobile Location Based Services PDA Personal Digital Assistant PND Personal Navigation Device SPOC Single Point Of Contact VAS Valued Added Services 4/9

5 II. TOPIC DESCRIPTION II.1. General Objectives The primary objective below shall be addressed: [1] Demonstrate that there is significant market potential for LBS services in Europe and that the LBS technology can soon be mature enough to deliver real benefits to users. The projects shall contribute to unlocking a very promising GNSS market and thus help to pave the way for future Galileo adoption. In addition to this primary objective, one or more of the following complementary objectives can also be pursued: [2] Show the potential benefits of EGNOS/EDAS in enhancing the performance (in terms of accuracy and availability) for LBS applications, especially in urban environment. [3] Support the positioning of GNSS in the regulatory roadmap for the E112 and ecall initiatives by e.g. providing fact-based cost and feasibility analysis. [4] Support the status of LBS as a key technology for implementing transport policies, e.g., investigate feasibility of a dynamically updated, location aware, pedestrian and public transport navigation tool. II.2. Domain and application selection The project shall develop one or more innovative, market-ready GNSS-based LBS applications. These applications shall be in one of the following domains: Health and safety applications such as patient localisation, emergency distress call, support to elderly and disabled, family locator, person tracking etc. Multimodal personal navigation applications that can be run on GNSS-enabled smartphones, PDAs and/or PNDs allowing users to determine the fastest way from A to B using public transport and other means. Such an application would require integration with databases and communication systems. Other GNSS-based LBS consumer applications that appeal to significant segments of the general population, including GNSS-based solutions for applications with regulatory aspects (e.g. emergency calls for vehicles (ecall) and pedestrians (E112)). II.3. Aspects to be covered [5] The project shall analyse user requirements and assess the technical feasibility of the application, in particular with respect to indoor and deep urban coverage. The project is encouraged to build on previous FP6 work, in particular the AGILE 1 project that has addressed the LBS market. 1 See for more information on this project. 5/9

6 [6] The project shall result in the development of an application delivering end-to-end functionality using new and/or existing equipment and systems. The application shall be trialled and user feedback shall be gathered. [7] The project shall evaluate and demonstrate the commercial feasibility and the business potential of the concept proposed (business plan). [8] The project may consider the valued added by EGNOS/EDAS and implement it in the project's technical platform. In this case, the connectivity to the EDAS server will have to be ensured and the potential operational limitations of EDAS valid at the time will have to be taken into account 2. The potential value added by Galileo may also be assessed. [9] The application shall have the potential for seamless roaming. [10] The project may contribute to the standardisation of content and interfaces (e.g. standardisation of information such as train schedules, etc.). II.4. Other requirements [11] The application shall be targeted to mobile subscribers and the (client) application shall run on a handheld mobile device. [12] Positioning shall be a key enabler of the application and GNSS shall be used as the key positioning technology [13] The project shall show progress beyond the current state-of-the art. II.5. Tasks to be performed II.5.1. General Project tasks are to be in line with the objectives and scope of this topic in order to achieve the deliverables, milestones and stated project goals. In addition, tasks of management and support to FP7 coordination are to be included as described hereafter. II.5.2. Management This task consists in performing the overall management for the entire project. It includes as a minimum the following items: Technical coordination of the project; Contractual management; Organisation and coordination of internal communication flow; Documentation management; Tracking of the project status; Establishment and maintenance of the travel plan; Review and verification of deliverables; Organisation of progress meetings and reviews (notification, agenda, chairing and reporting); 2 See for more information 6/9

7 Identification of the need for interfaces with external entities; Coordination between the different tasks as necessary. II.5.3. Support to FP7 coordination The project will be performed in parallel with other activities of the Galileo programme. In particular it will run alongside other R&D projects related to FP6 and FP7. In this respect: The project shall support and facilitate the coordination between the tasks performed in the frame of this project and the tasks performed in other projects. To this end, the project shall organise a workshop for participants in other projects. The project shall also participate in up to 4 workshops organised by other projects. The project shall also support ad-hoc meetings and reporting with the GSA. The total amount of effort for this task should not exceed 3 person-months. The project shall support the dissemination of the project outcome to the general public and GNSS community. To this end the project shall prepare a public presentation and provide ad-hoc support to FP7 coordinators in its communication with the specialised press or scientific community on the outcomes of the project. The project shall also provide inputs for GSA's GKMF. The total amount of effort for this task should not exceed 1 personmonth. Note that the project will have access to GNSS-related documentation via GSA's GKMF. II.6. Deliverables The project shall deliver at least the following outputs during its lifetime: 1) Project management plan; 2) Brief assessment of the current state of technology; 3) Preliminary system architecture and initial technical feasibility study; 4) Business model and initial commercial feasibility study including market potential assessment and expected economics (relevant costs and revenues); 5) System prototype, including prototype of the back office (service platform and integration with databases) and mobile terminals (based on COTS products); 6) Business and exploitation plan. Building upon the previous deliverables and project outcome, the plan constitutes an assessment of the business potential of the application and how this potential can be captured. Such plan should contain the following elements: a. Concept or product description; b. Assessment of market potential; c. Marketing strategy and competition analysis; d. Business model (e.g., make vs. buy, sources of revenues, pricing strategy) and exploitation economics (e.g. break-even analysis); e. Organisation and team; f. Implementation plan; g. Rough projected financials (i.e. profit and loss); h. Identification and discussion of main risks. 7) Market trial report including technical and user-experience assessment; 8) Presentation and report on project outcome that can be disseminated to the general public; 7/9

8 9) Quarterly progress reports. The project should also provide the following outputs when these are considered relevant: 10) Analysis of regulatory aspects including recommendations for regulatory enablers; 11) Contribution to relevant LBS standards. II.7. Schedule and milestones The total duration of the project shall be less than 24 months. The project shall be split in several phases and several milestones shall be identified. As a minimum, the following milestones shall be foreseen: Kick-off meeting: this shall cover at least deliverable 1; First interim review: this may cover deliverables 2-4; Second interim review: this may cover deliverables 5-6; Final review: this may cover deliverables /9

9 III. ADDITIONAL OR COMPLEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRAFTING PART B OF THE PROPOSAL Section 1 - maximum length of 10 pages, plus the tables, for the whole section. Section also describe briefly what is unique or innovative about this project. Section describe both state-of-the art R&D as well as actual commercial or precommercial activities. Section in addition, indicate flexibility in the work plan e.g. depending on the outcome of the trial, earlier steps may be revisited or later steps may be tackled in different ways. Section additionally describe how the organisational structure allows for flexibility and fast and efficient decision making. Section focus should be on impact towards the topic's primary and possibly secondary objectives (see above). Section the focus should be on the impact resulting from exploitation of the research. Include a rough preliminary business plan that includes: - brief concept description; - preliminary assessment of market potential; - preliminary analysis of competing offers and technologies; - preliminary high-level business model and economics. Section 4 - maximum length of 1 page. 9/9