On 13 November 2006, the companies MarineSoft Entwicklungs- und Logistikgesellschaft mbH and Scandlines presented information about current research on innovative applications of the future European Satellite Navigation System, Galileo.

The new Satellite Navigation System is expected to go into operation from the year 2012, surpassing the conventional GPS in terms of precision and enabling other innovative applications in the marine and port sectors.

Before the 30 Galileo satellites go into orbit, important data first have to be gathered and future applications tested in practice. A test bed comprising six transmitters, known as “SeaGate”, will be set up at the Port of Rostock in the course of the extensive research and test work to simulate Galileo signals, for example. The aim is to provide users with high-precision satellite navigation signals while, at the same time, testing the accuracy, susceptibility to interference and usability of the transmitted signals.

Scandlines is so far the only Germany ferry company to support development of possible maritime applications for the Galileo system. Scandlines is making its “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” ferry vessel available as a research ship during the experimental phase.  Among other things, the Scandlines ferry will be equipped with two receivers for the Galileo signals to enable collection and evaluation of comparative data between Galileo and GPS over a longer period of time.

“We hope that Galileo will, as a commercially operated system, provide a stable signal for high-precision navigation at all times”, says Captain Dirk Pevestorff, who is in charge of the project at Scandlines. “On board, Galileo could enable automated channel navigation in the future, as well as automated docking and casting off in combination with other systems such as radar, electronic sea charts and autopilot systems. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve this in technical terms.”

The Rostock-based company MarineSoft Entwicklungs- und Logistikgesellschaft mbH is a member of the InnoMAG working group, an amalgamation of public and private users for the coordination of regional initiatives and responsible, among other things, for the development of maritime applications for Galileo.

These are supported by the Ministry of Economics of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and are executed in cooperation with the University of Rostock, Wismar Polytechnic and the “Rostock Galileo Research Port” project, carried out by EADS RST Rostock-System-Technik GmbH.

Rostock, 13 November 2006

For further information, please contact:

Jürgen Burg, MARINESOFT Entwicklungs- und Logistikgesellschaft mbH, Tel.: +49-(0)381-1283518, Email: sales@marinesoft.de

You will find a picture of the ferry “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” for download under following address: http://www.scandlines.de/en/infocenter/imagearchiv/category1/category1-1.htm