Date: December 02, 2020
Category: Events
Autor: Ewelina Kaatz-Drzeżdżon
The contribution of the ENTRUSTED project to the future EU GOVSATCOM programme was acknowledged and discussed during the Governmental session of the User Consultation Platform (UCP) 2020. The Governmental session was held on 2 December 2020 as an online event, and gathered over 200 participants representing relevant governmental organisations and industry.
“GOVSATCOM is the priority at the moment.”, said Fiammetta Dianini – Head of Market Development at the European GSSN Agency – in the opening presentation highlighting the importance of the EU GOVSATCOM programme for the EU and its Member States. The current status of the EU GOVSATCOM programme was presented by Stefano Scarda, Policy Officer at the European Commission, DG DEFIS. Scarda said “after years of preparations, the GOVSATCOM initiative has entered into the implementation phase.” In 2021, GOVSATCOM will become an integral component of the EU Space Programme. He informed that space regulation calls for the definition of implementing acts for the EU GOVSATCOM programme, including (1) operational requirements, (2) Service portfolio, (3) Sharing and prioritisation, (4) Location of hubs, and (5) security requirements. Concluding his presentation, Scarda argued that users are essential to the EU GOVSATCOM technical and institutional set-up, and their needs should be captured at the early stage of developing GOVSATCOM regulations. Inputs form users will be collected using such tools as the UCP and the ENTRUSTED project, in addition to a more institutional setting of the Expert working group.
“Final shape of services is not defined, so we need to know what are user expectations and needs.”, said Flavio Sbardellati, Market Development Technology Officer at the European GNSS Agency, when presenting the mission of the ENTRUSTED consortium, expected project outcomes and its roadmap. He argued that cooperation and coordination of activities among institutional users of secure SatCom is vital to derive a common understanding of user needs and requirements, and to share information about existing and planned future capabilities. Sbardellati also referred to the Network of Users (NoU) established by the ENTRUSTED project members. The NoU is open to new organisations willing to represent and voice their EU GOVSATCOM users.
Benefits derived from the use of secure SatCom were discussed with users during a dedicated roundtable. “What does secure SatCom mean for your users and how are these needs met today?”, “What is your experience when it comes to access of secure SatCom services via existing terminals?”, “What are your views on what the SatCom services should look like in 5-10 years? Do you see any specific or major global, or EU trend which should be considered for the evolution of secure SatCom?” These questions were answered by the roundtable panellists: Miguel Saiz – Strategy and Planning Manager EEAS-CPCC, Darek Saunders – Head of the Border Security Research Observatory at Frontex, and Krzysztof Cybulski from the Polish Ministry of National Defence. Panellist listed factors important for future secure SatCom, which comprise flexibility, time to deploy, increased bandwidth, simplicity of use and affordability. Governmental users require access to integrated space-based services, offered within different components of the EU Space Programme, leveraging communication, navigation and Earth observation.
Secure SatCom capabilities in the EU were presented by Enrico Russo from the Italian Space Agency, Geoffroy Beaudot from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg, and Alfonso Pérez de Nanclares from the Spanish Ministry of Defence.
The last part of the Governmental session was dedicated to the review of EU GOVSATCOM user needs and use cases. Paula Saameño , RTDI Project Officer at SatCen, informed about the approach adopted by the ENTRUSTED consortium to review already established user needs and use cases. Saameño specified that a dedicated survey on the EU GOVSATCOM user needs will be conducted among governmental and military communities.
Detailed information about the proposed survey strategy was presented by Kinga Gruszecka, the acting Head of Education Department of the Polish Space Agency. The ENTRUSTED survey will address advanced users of secure SatCom services and potential EU GOVSATCOM users. Gruszecka explained technical aspects of the survey study, and encouraged to consult the ENTRUSTED project website for further details.
-------
The 2020 edition of the User Consultation Platform (UCP) provided space for users representing 12 different market segments to discussed their needs for applications relying on Location, Navigation, Timing, Earth Observation, Secure Telecommunications, Copernicus services and Governmental Satellite Communications. For more information on UCP 2020 click here.