The Kick-Off Meeting (KOM) for GERMINAL was held on the 11th of July 2024, marking the first milestone of the project. The KOM was held in hybrid format, with physical attendees meeting at the European GNSS Service Center (GSC) (European Union Agency for the Space Programme – EUSPA) in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid. The consortium is led by GMV, with IMDEA and UAB as consortium partners. During the meeting, all general aspects of the development of the project were discussed, as well as some points referring to the next steps.
GERMINAL (Connectivity: Enabling next generation NAV/COM Hybrid Terminal), is a two-year project co-financed by EUSPA with a double objective, in both communication and navigation solutions. From the perspective of communication, the terminal will be able to use different infrastructures and bands, to allow communications in areas such as aviation, maritime and more. From the perspective of navigation, the terminal will be able to use the novel LEO-PNT signals. The final product will be composed of a Unified Hybrid User Terminal (UHUT) prototype, which will be able to process a number of different signals through the use of an ensemble of signal processing units, and an IoT receiver prototype, which will have a pure software approach. Both prototypes will support the use of 5G signals.
GMV, as project leader, will coordinate all activities between members of the consortium and EUSPA, bringing expertise on navigation with the hybridization of signals (GNSS, 5G, LEO-PNT and LEO-SOP) as well as IoT devices with low system requirements. GERMINAL will benefit from the synergies with other LEO-PNT developments, also carried out at GMV. Most activities are expected to take place in Spain.
More details about the development of the project or the team can be found on this website. Also, for up-to-date information about the project, GERMINAL has official social media channels: LinkedIn and Twitter.
