TEKEVER IT Hosts the iSAR+ Kick Off Meeting

TEKEVER IT hosted the Kick-Off Meeting (KOM) of the FP7 Research Project iSAR+ Online and Mobile Communications for Crisis Response and Search and Rescue at its Lisbon facilities, signalling the Project's official launch on January 1st 2013.

The meeting was attended by most Project partners and also the EC's Research Executive Agency (REA) representative, Mr. Sakellaris Hourdas, in the quality of the iSAR+ Project Officer, who addressed the audience with several key observations on the successful execution of FP7 projects.

TEKEVER IT is the Coordinator of the iSAR+ Security FP7 research project (http://isar.i112.eu) that aims to develop the iSAR+ Guidelines, providing instructions and recommendations for citizens and PPDRs for an effective and efficient use of social media and mobile technology in crisis situations, and the iSAR+ Platform, integrating ICT tools and functionalities that offer additional communication channels between PPDRs and citizens and enhanced high-quality situational awareness for PPDRs and citizens, during and after a crisis. 

Ranking second in its call's evaluation, iSAR+ is a 2 and a half years Project, with an overall budget of about € 5 millions for the 16 participating institutions of 9 European countries, also benefitting from the valuable contributions of transatlantic expert consultants in Chile and the United States, relevant to explore the applicability of the iSAR+ Guidelines and Platform to non-European markets.

TEKEVER SPΔCE at the QB50 Workshop

TEKEVER SPΔCE attended the QB50 Workshop held at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) premises in Brussels, where updates on the evolution of the QB50 Initiative and the status of the QB50 Launch were presented.

An EU FP7-funded project, QB50 (https://www.qb50.eu) has the scientific objective to study in situ the temporal and spatial variations of a number of key constituents and parameters in the lower thermosphere (90-320 km) with a network of 40 double CubeSats (miniaturised satellites), separated by a few hundred kilometres and carrying identical sensors. QB50 will also study the re-entry process by measuring a number of key parameters during re-entry and by comparing predicted and actual CubeSat trajectories and orbital lifetimes. QB50 will also accommodate about 10 double or triple CubeSats for In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of technologies and miniaturised science sensors and the Gossamer-1 solar sail technology demonstration package. 

At the QB50 Workshop, TEKEVER SPΔCE hosted a splinter session on the ambitious GAMANET endeavour, aiming to create the largest ad hoc communications network ever in Space, providing the networking capability to satellite constellations. This session generated a great deal of interest from workshop participants and instructive discussions took place concerning the next steps of this revolutionary initiative in space communications. TEKEVER SPΔCE's GAMANET proposition will join CubeSats and ground stations in a seamless communications network that will be instrumental to validate innovative communication technologies in space and to improve the overall QB50 communications and scientific results.

SAFECITY Successful Proof of Concept in Stockholm

The first SAFECITY Proof of Concept was developed and successfully demonstrated at the Stockholm Arlanda Airport. The use case scenario of Stockholm tested an express train derailment in a tunnel in the northern part of the Stockholm County leading to the Arlanda Airport, caused by a winter storm and provoking serious disturbances in the public road and railway transport systems.

The objective of the Stockholm use case was to demonstrate SAFECITY's increased situation awareness based on analysis environmental sensors. TEKEVER ASDS was responsible for the ad hoc radio network, which used TEKEVER Communication Systems' WAC radios and supported SAFECITY sensors and sensor adapters, gateways and the security manager. All sensor data was then collected locally in Stockholm and processed by applications running on the FI-WARE test bed in Seville (Spain), using FI-WARE Generic Enablers.

SAFECITY is a FP7 ICT research project (http://www.safecity-project.eu/) dealing with smart public safety and security in cities with the main objective of enhancing the role of the future internet in ensuring people are and feel safe and protected in their surroundings. SAFECITY will create an open IT platform for M2M developing eco-designed networks and sensors and high-value smart public safety applications and demonstrating the feasibility of urban public safety services, in order to highlight the positive impact of the SAFECITY solutions on a city's sustainable development. The eight smart SAFECITY public safety applications (video analytics, ad hoc networks, sensors gateway, real-time 3D positioning, road track and environmental sensors, information security, data fusion and decision support system) will be tested and demonstrated in use case scenarios in several European cities (Athens, Bucharest, Helsinki, Madrid, Óbidos and Stockholm), representing crisis situations where public safety and emergency responders take part.

TEKEVER Takes A Leading Role in European Aeronautics R&D

The TEKEVER Group has been awarded two European Aeronautics R&D projects, coordinated by the Group’s subsidiary companies, in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), in the value of 5 millions and a half euros, reinforcing its leading position as a provider of disruptive technologies for the Information Technologies, Aeronautics, Space, Defence and Security markets. 

In a sector strongly marked by fierce competition of international manufacturers and integrators, the TEKEVER Group invests in technological innovation as the strategy to conquer the international market, developing technologies and products that defy status quo and enable high added value. The two projects now awarded are focused in aerostructures and flight management systems (FMS), introducing new concepts and high potential approaches. 

The CHANGE project explores innovative concepts for adaptive aerostructures, incorporating new composite materials and intelligent materials, with the goal to significantly improve aircraft performance. Project BRAINFLIGHT, which results from the Group’s wide experience with autonomous systems, introduces an unforeseen approach to aircraft control. This new technology allows the shift of the navigation and control paradigm and it is applicable to both manned and unmanned aircraft, in the commercial, military and private contexts, giving way to multiple opportunities of commercial exploitation in the FMS, Flight Control Systems and cockpits international markets.

The two projects’ award, based on their high technological innovation levels, is evidence of the TEKEVER Group’s international recognition in the Aeronautics domain. It also bears a relevant mark for the Portuguese participation in European programmes, doubling the number of projects coordinated by Portuguese entities, and highlighting the TEKEVER Group as the Portuguese entity coordinating the highest number of projects in European Aeronautics R&D.

The results today attained by the TEKEVER Group enable the consolidation of its national leading position in the Research, Development and Innovation for the Aeronautics specialised sector, a market in full growth, and in which Portugal is committing a strategic investment with the creation of a technological cluster of international projection. 

TEKEVER is the Portuguese Reference in European Security R&D

The TEKEVER Group has been awarded three European Security R&D projects, in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), in the value of 13 million euros, reinforcing thus its leading position as a provider of disruptive technologies for the Information Technologies, Aeronautics, Space, Defence and Security markets. 

Evaluated as the second Best European project in the Security call, iSAR+ (Online and Mobile Communications for Crisis Response and Search and Rescue) aims to research and develop guidelines and an associated platform that, in crises, enable citizens to use the mobile and internet technologies to become actively involved in the response effort. The SNIFFER (SeNsory devIces network For Food supply chain sEcuRity) Project proposes the concept and development of a distributed sensors network, capable of detecting multiple types of agents and CBR agents in the food supply chain. Finally, the PPDR-TC (Public Protection and Disaster Relief – Transformation Center) goal is to define a roadmap for the adoption of novel emergency communications, using cognitive radio, hybrid networks and UAV technology, ensuring interoperability, security and resilience.

These projects now won by the TEKEVER Group are instrumental in the national entrepreneurship effort that has been consolidating Portugal’s reputation in the European and international R&D community.

For the first time, a Portuguese Group undertakes the coordination of two FP7 – Security projects, an achievement that highlights TEKEVER’s leadership capability and reinforces its unsurpassable reference status in R&D and Innovation for the competitive Security market.