Fulfilling enhanced Location Accuracy in the Mass-market through Initial GalileO services

Project Information

FLAMINGO

Grant agreement ID: 776436

DOI

10.3030/776436

Project closed

EC signature date 26 October 2017

Start date 1 November 2017

End date 31 May 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Space

Total cost

€ 2 767 681,20

EU contribution

€ 1 999 793,51

Coordinated by

GMV NSL LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FLAMINGO (Fulfilling enhanced Location Accuracy in the Mass-market through Initial GalileO services)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2020-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

FLAMINGO is a project part funded through the European GNSS Agency, and a collaborative venture comprising key European GNSS organisations, NSL (lead organization), Telespazio France, University of Nottingham, Rokubun, Thales Alenia Space France, VVA, ECLEXYS and Blue Dot Solutions.
The purpose of FLAMINGO has been to develop the infrastructure, solutions, and services to enable the use of highly accurate and precise GNSS within the mass-market, particularly using Smartphones and IoT devices. High accuracy Smartphone positioning is very much an emerging technology and throughout the the project, our consortium has kept abreast with the technology changes and accommodated support for the new devices within our solution. We have created a positioning service with enhanced accuracy for Smartphones, lowering accuracy from circa 3 to 10 metres down to 0.5 to 1 metre which enhances user experience, creates new and improved features in location based Apps and allows new Apps to be developed that introduce GNSS into new markets.
Our adventure began with a market analysis, where more than 30 applications were screened based on their maximum market potential and their required horizontal accuracy. Target applications were identified as those requiring a horizontal accuracy between 20 and up to 100 cm and expected market size above 1 million users. The team then set about the research & development to create an operation service to be used by these applications. Key features were to use existing GNSS formats and protocols and to be readily usable by those who have no prior knowledge of our technologies. We developed and built a hosting and interface server, software to interface with the GNSS measurements in the devices, high accuracy GNSS data products, server and device side positioning engines, and an Application Programming Interface which is the gateway of FLAMINGO to the developers of mass market Apps. Iterative development and testing ensured we met the requirements, albeit when certain conditions related to the operational environment are met.
The FLAMINGO service, solution and potential has been demonstrated to mass market App developers through a series of hackathons and demonstration events. These activities were faced with the adversity of the COVID-19 pandemic with many of the workshops and activities changing from face to face to online events. We successfully held a face to face demonstration event in Barcelona and several online localised events, including a dedicated FLAMINGO hackathon, targeting users and potential stakeholders across Europe.
Our consortium are proud to have created the world’s first sub-metre accuracy positioning service for Smartphones and to be the sole initiative to create first-generation products which the early adopters to this emerging technology are beginning to investigate. When Smartphones with the required GNSS capability become more prolific, the consortium will be in a good place to fully exploit the potential of the innovation delivered.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project started on 1/11/2017 and had a duration of 31 months. Our activities began with WP1 User, Application & Market Analysis, undertaking an in-depth analysis to capture the market and user needs for FLAMINGO. Target applications were identified as those requiring a horizontal accuracy between 20 and up to 100 cm and expected market size above 1 million users. Based on these findings, the project has defined the high-level architecture and carried out a series of in-depth technological analysis of each FLAMINGO component to determine the system requirements and to explore, determine, trade-off and justify the project recommended approach (WP2 Requirements Definition). Under WP3 System Design, the project consolidated the FLAMINGO architectural and detailed design and generated the documentation that has guided the technical development of the service.
The realisation of the FLAMINGO subsystems was achieved under WP4 Prototype Development. The individual components have then been integrated into a single FLAMINGO system and tested for performances as part of WP5 System & Service Testing. Following various months of finetuning the integration, the FLAMINGO service has demonstrated performance in line with the set requirements. It was concluded that the consortium has delivered a system that is not only complies but exceeds most requirements. However, there are technology factors beyond the control of the consortium that impose limitations to the service at the time of the project closure. These however are expected to clear out in time, as the technology continues to evolve.
The FLAMINGO business case and plan delivered in WP7 are taking into account these factors when laying down the options for the future commercialisation of the service.
Various demonstration and dissemination activities have been delivered as part of WP6 Prototype Validation and WP8 Dissemination. It is important to note that the demonstrations have not been designed as a technical validation of the system but rather an opportunity to showcase the innovative concept and future potential of FLAMINGO. Due to the COVID-19 onset, most of the activities have been amended to take place online. Overall, the consortium has delivered the following results:
-7 dedicated FLAMINGO events/activities
-15 Conferences and events participation
-17 Articles and Publications
-2 Websites
-3 annual representation within the EU GSNSS Task Force Events.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

FLAMINGO developed data and positioning services for high accuracy positioning and navigation on Smartphones, IoT and wearables. Whereas these services do exist for professional and transport-related users, there is nothing available that targets the mass market consumer. This has been identified within our Business Case activities as FLAMINGO’s unique selling point and makes FLAMINGO the state-of-the-art system. The performances achievable from FLAMINGO along with the actual service can provide future researchers with a standard reference from which to improve, for instance with improved multipath detection and mitigation, noise elimination, GNSS processing, and sensor integration.
FLAMINGO provides a low-cost positioning solution, something that is traditionally comes with a relatively high cost. Through the implementation of FLAMINGO into Apps that address different markets, FLAMINGO could have a direct socio-economic impact.
By enabling high accuracy positioning on these devices FLAMINGO has a direct benefit to environmental and social applications providing a low-cost approach for the implementation of added capabilities and improved features without the need for additional hardware. Some examples of applications enabled are:
•Health and well-being – mHealth and fitness Apps
•Sustainable land use – low cost Mapping and GIS
•Protecting heritage and cultural resources – Tourist and Mapping Apps
•Business opportunities, services and infrastructure – Apps to be used within Smartcity environments and for transport
The use of raw GNSS measurements from Android smartphones for precise positioning is a topic that has taken significant interest in the last three years within R&D groups and various industries. FLAMINGO has created the world’s first sub-metre accuracy positioning service for Smartphones and is the sole initiative to create first-generation products which the early adopters to this emerging technology are beginning to investigate.

FLAMINGO Project LOGO