Participation in European Funded Projects

6th Framework Programme

The aim of the TWISTER project is to provide applications and services that meet the needs of user communities in rural areas. These services are provided over a communications infrastructure that allows to cover rural areas in the most efficient manner, integrating satellite and terrestrial technologies. Within that framework, the following drivers and associated objectives have been identified as key:

1. Provide content and applications adapted to meet the needs of rural areas.

2. Investigate and validate in real operational conditions and on test beds the integration of DVB-RCS satellite communications standard with wireless type terrestrial technologies.

3. Develop and validate a set of service metrics allowing to quantify key parameters for network sizing such as resource utilisation at different points in the network topology or end-to-end quality of service.

4. Complement ESA activities on interoperable terminals by validating the performance of these terminals at end-to-end application level in a real operational environment.

5. Improve the use of satellite capacity. Potential techniques that have already been identified are multicast protocols adapted to satellite environment, intelligent caching mechanisms or higher coding/modulation schemes.

6. Define and disseminate a set of technical and quality guidelines for resellers on the installation and exploitation of DVB-RCS services.

START is an initiative aimed at

• Disseminating aeronautics and space experience and heritage of the following Central and East European countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Rumania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey

• Stimulating their research and technology in aeronautics and space in order to increase their participation in the current and future European Framework Programmes and particularly in proposals for integrated projects and networks of excellence.

START objectives are:

To map the aerospace area in each of the above mentioned country and create a detailed database of researchers, research organizations, universities, industry parties, small and middle enterprises (SMEs), going down to single individuals, involved in aerospace activities or possessing aerospace expertise;
To create, maintain and update an Aeronautics and Space Portal (ASP), containing the above mentioned database. This new portal will not duplicate the existing ones like CORDIS, EASN, AECMA etc. because ASP will be the first and only one that will contain in one place the entire aerospace information for the above listed countries;
To strengthen the network of NCPs, researchers and liaison officers in these countries though the organisation of brokerage events and seminars ;
To edit and publish an electronic Newsletter as a medium for the aerospace community in these countries;
To save the aerospace experience, resources and heritage of these countries and favour their association and interactive cooperation in the shortest time possible and in a lasting and sustainable way;
To promote the entry by SMEs, Women, and Graduate Students in aerospace research and industry enterprises;
To contribute to the European Space Policy (White paper) objectives.

ALIPRO is an EU research project under Framework Programme 6 which aims at supporting the alignment of the new member states’ national and regional research programmes with European IST research in the area of mobile technologies, applications, and services.

The project will accelerate the creation, improvement, and alignment of mobility-related national and regional activities and programmes in the new member states (NMS) and accession candidate countries (ACC), strengthening their integration on European level. ALIPRO will achieve this goal through benchmarking, vision-building and roadmapping as well as dissemination of the results to the relevant stakeholders in the NMS and ACC.

E-Cab (Electronically enabled Cabin and Associated Logistics for Improved Passenger Services and Operational Efficiency) proposes solutions to improve the end–to–end process of air travelling in a holistic approach. The project encompasses the whole logistic chain from journey planning at home, through the airport, flying, up to the final destination.

7th Framework Programme

HIRF SE

HIRF SE (High Intensity Radiated Field Synthetic Environment) has the goal of providing the European aeronautics industry with a computational framework which can be used in the development phase to enable ElectroMagnetic aspects of the airframe design to be accounted for at an early stage of the design process. Currently much of this work has to be done at the test phase risking considerable re-work costs if problems arise. Application of the HIRF SE framework will thus confer a substantial economic benefit. In addition it will provide a considerable reduction in the certification and qualification tests required on an air vehicle. This proposal has brought together a large community of airframe manufacturers, research institutes and universities all with significant expertise in the aeronautics applications of ElectroMagnetics. The consortium has significant membership from recent accession states.

The expected results to be included in the computational framework are summarised as follows:

Capability to deal with the increased use of composite materials and structures by the airframe industry. The HIRF SE framework will include the most advanced computational models for the numerical simulation of the EM characteristics and performance of composite materials.
Capability to deal with the complete internal and external electromagnetic environment (present and foreseen). The HIRF SE framework will be able to simulate a wide spread typology and number of EM (internal and external) interference sources.
A developed methodology and tool well recognised inside the civil aviation community in accordance with the certification bodies.

The COSMOS project will create a strong network of Space NCPs which will identify and exchange good practice, elaborate and conduct training courses for the NCP staff, gather and provide up-to-date information on Space and neighbouring topics and develop common concepts to raise awareness for the FP7 Space programme and the Space NCPs. Thus a more balanced high quality NCP service will be ensured for the benefit of new and experienced FP7 applicants.

The expected achievements of SEREN-phase I project are: -

To improve the knowledge of FP7 procedures, of the European Security Research landscape for the Security Research community;
To identify the specific needs of the Security Research Community (including endusers) in the European Research Area;
To design a well-adapted structure for an efficient NCP network in Security Research;
To insure a better integration of Security Research actors at the European level;
To increase the level of services delivered by the NCPs network in order to raise the quality level of submitted propositions and, as a result, of the projects, that will better match the expectations related to European policies;
To disseminate effectively PASR (Preparatory Action Security research) and ESRP (European Security Research Programme) results.

August 2008