Ongoing projects 2023
100KTREES - Decision Toolbox for cities to improve air quality, biodiversity, human wellbeing and reduct climate risks by planting more trees in our cities
Business review of EO downstream projects
Completed projects 2023
Copernicus Digital Skills and Eyes on Earth Roadshows
Business review of EO downstream projects
GT2.0 - Ground Truth 2.0
FLOODIS - Integrating GMES Emergency Services with satellite navigation and communication for establishing a flood information service
South Africa-European Union Space Dialogue Workshop to explore cooperation in Scientific, Technical and Entrepreneurial Skills Development for the Space Sector
SATSA - SBAS Awareness and Training in South Africa
EEGS2 - EGNOS Extension to Eastern Europe: Applications
Technical review of FP7 Galileo projects
ESESA - EGNOS Service Extension to South Africa
EO in Water Resource Management
SUCCESS - SUpport to the Commission on international Cooperation by experts on Strategy and SATNAV
Title: Copernicus Digital Skills and Eyes on Earth Roadshows
Client: EC Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME)
Under the COSME programme, the team was awarded a Coordination and Support Action Contract of the Copernicus Digital Skills Initiative. The team, lead by DotSpace (NL), and supported by LOWeurope (BE), is organising 5 Copernicus roadshows across Europe (in Darmstad, Rotterdam, Tallin, Bucharest and Zagreb). In addition, and research and analysis task will investigate the skills gaps, the state of play and the market keys (opportunities and barriers) for the entrepreneurial entities operating in the EO downstream sector. NDConsult leads this activity, supported by the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (NL) and Ramani (NL).
Title: Business review of EO downstream projects
Client: European Executive Research Agency (REA)
Nina Costa is acting as business reviewer for the EC on the following H2020 and FP7 projects:
- PRIMEWATER - Delivering Advanced Predictive Tools from Medium to Seasonal Range for Water Dependent Industries Exploiting the Cross-cutting Potential of EO and Hydro-ecological Modeling (see primewater.eu)
- DIONE - An integrated EO-based toolbox for modernising CAP area-based compliance checks and assessing respective environmental impact (see dione-project.eu)
- CyanoAlert - Space Based Cyanobacteria Information and Serviced (see cyanoalert.com)
- APOLLO - Bringing the benefits of precision agriculture to smallholder farmers in Europe (see apollo-h2020.eu)
- DIANA - Detection and Integrated Assessment of Non-authorised water Abstractions using EO (see diana-h2020.eu)
- EONav - Earth Observation for Marine Navigation
And technical reviewer on:
- BRAGMA (Bridging Actions for GMES and Africa) - see www.bragma.eu
Title: Ground Truth 2.0 (GT 2.0)
Client: H2020 Research programme - Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials
Ground Truth 2.0 builds on previous projects related to citizen observatories, earth observation and land-use modelling, undertaken with the participation of Ground Truth 2.0 consortium partners. It recognised the importance of real-life interaction between people and technology to set up a successful system. Its innovative approach combined the social dimensions of citizen observatories with enabling technologies, so that the implementation of the respective citizen observatories was tailored to their envisaged societal and economic impacts.Ground Truth 2.0 set up and validated six citizen observatories in real conditions, in four European and two African demonstration cases. The project has demonstrated that such observatories are technologically feasible, can be implemented sustainably and that they have many societal and economic benefits. The ultimate objective was the global market uptake of the concept and the enabling technologies, including the GT 2.0 C0-design methodology.
Ground Truth 2.0 was led by Dr. Uta Wehn, Associate Professor of Water Innovation Studies at IHE Delft, and ran for 3 years from 1 September 2016.
NDConsult was responsible for the exploitation and CO sustainability activities within the project.
See http://gt20.eu/
Title: Integrating GMES Emergency Services with satellite navigation and communication for establishing a flood information service (FLOODIS)
Client: European Research Executive Agency (REA), Space Research Unit
FLOODIS was a FP7 Collaborative Project that provided a high accuracy, professional location-based portable device application. The proposed solution closed a critical gap for disaster management teams/civil protection field/emergency response units to enable them to better address and mitigate crisis situations arising before, during and after heavy flooding. Furthermore, it provided an open-source, location based smart phone application for the general public to enable the capacity for individuals to take pre-cautionary actions, therefore vastly reducing the likelihood of human and economic loss.
The proposed project combined Earth Observation (EO) and GNSS (Galileo/EGNOS) technologies to deliver information (alerts and interactive maps) on flooding risk/events and affected infrastructures to users in the field that are in the geographical area at risk. FLOODIS made use of the GMES Initial Operation– Emergency Management Service (GIO EMS) floods map product for geospatial analysis and to reduce flood forecast model uncertainties, and allowed the user to receive and send location based flood information. FLOODIS supported the multimodal use of EGNOS (and later on Galileo) by disseminating advanced EGNOS’ services in real time and within guaranteed performance boundaries.
In order to achieve this, the FLOODIS system depended on four key components. Firstly, a web-based, geographical information system (FLOODIS GEO gateway), secondly, an EGNOS based open source smart phone application (FLOODIS mobile APP), thirdly a professional EGNOS/EDAS solution for emergency response units (FLOODIS professional). Fourthly, a novel flood forecast model based on map and field input. A key and innovative capability of the system was the ability of the user to send back actual information about the situation ‘on the ground’ (e.g. text information &pictures of flooded infrastructures) to the FLOODIS gateway for ingestion and subsequent dissemination to all other users. As such, it served to provide up-to-date, local information to Disaster Management Centres (DMCs), Civil Protection Agencies (CPAs), Emergency Response Units (ERUs) as well as affected citizens.
The lead partner on FLOODIS was ISMB, Italy in collaboration with GeoVille, Austria, UNESCO Venice, Italy, Alpha Consultants, Italy, NDConsult, UK, Terranea, Germany and EOXplore, Germany.
NDConsult lead the Demonstration and Dissemination activities, and supporting on the User requirements definition.
See www.floodis.eu
Title: SUpport to the Commission on international Cooperation by experts on Strategy and SATNAV (SUCCESS)
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
SUCCESS was a framework contract for activities in support to international cooperation on satellite navigation issued by the Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry. The SUCCESS activities spanned four years and comprised:
- Cross-cutting support activities such as workshop organisation, capacity building and training, support to international research activities and participation in international events, and preparation of regional GNSS strategy documents.
- Cost-benefit analyses.
- Sectorial regional activities with an emphasis on Africa, South Africa and other regions (Latin America and Asia).
The lead partner on SUCCESS was FDC, France in collaboration with NDConsult, UK, VAS, Italy, Daniel Ludwig Consulting, France.
Title: South Africa-European Union Space Dialogue Workshop to explore cooperation in Scientific, Technical and Entrepreneurial Skills Development for the Space Sector
Client: DG Enterprise and Industry (Directorate for EU Satellite Navigation Programmes)
Nina Costa attended this workshop in Pretoria, South Africa, from 19-20 November 2013, on behalf of Unit (H/3) for Galileo and EGNOS - Applications, security, international cooperation, and presented ideas on skills development in the satnav sector.
Title: SBAS Awareness and Training in South Africa (SATSA)
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
SATSA aimed to support South Africa in building up local capacity with regard to SBAS knowledge and technical know-how to better manage SBAS in South Africa (and Africa ultimately), in all its phases, from deployment to an operational service. It also raised awareness of SBAS capabilities to a wide range of application sectors. To this end, the team undertook three main activities namely SBAS training sessions, hands-on working sessions and training trials. The goal was for SANSA to operate the SBAS Central Processing Facility magicSBAS thereby gaining awareness of the services and performances that SBAS technology can bring to South Africa. EGNOS, EDAS and Galileo technology was shown and used through the different training sessions, trials and tools. In particular, EDAS data and similar EGNOS algorithms were used when magicSBAS was operated to show the SBAS performances that could be achieved in South Africa. As a consequence of the capacity building acquired during the project, a way forward on SBAS introduction in South Africa will be developed. A realistic and pragmatic update to the ESESA (www.esesa.org) roadmap was presented where aspects of SBAS operation and service exploitation were taken into account.
The lead partner on SATSA is GMV, Spain in collaboration with NDConsult, UK, Alpha COnsulting, Italy and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), South Africa.
NDConsult conducted further market analysis and managed the EGNOS trials.
Title: EGNOS Extension to Eastern Europe: Applications (EEGS2)
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
The EEGS2 project followed on from the EEGS project (http://www.eegs-project.eu) and aimed to demonstrate the benefits of EGNOS, EDAS and Galileo through applications in the Eastern countries of Europe. The project had the following objectives:
- To demonstrate through flight trials the benefits of EGNOS in areas of Eastern Europe where EGNOS is currently not available.
- To study the impact of the SBAS technology in transport management
- To assess the markets for GNSS in the aviation and road sectors in a number of Eastern European countries
- To promote EDAS, EGNOS and Galileo in Eastern Europe
The first objective was demonstrated through the deployment of avionics on board capable of reading the magicSBAS message from RF, the definition of flight procedures and the analysis of the performances in real flights in four eastern countries. Demonstrations on Electronic Fee Collection, Pay as you Drive and Transport Technology Information applications were undertaken in Ukraine. Through the the EEGS2 project, Eastern countries had a real EGNOS experience, and thus they are able to better understand the performance, benefits and limitations of EGNOS.
EEGS2 is lead by GMV (Spain) and includes partners from Russia (RSS), Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and UK (NDConsult).
NDConsult supported the market analysis and business case development of the Eastern European partners.
Title: EGNOS Service Extension to South Africa (ESESA)
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
The key objective of ESESA project was to provide the EU and South African authorities with an overall service implementation plan for the initial extension of EGNOS service to Southern Africa, including a roadmap and recommendations. These objectives were achieved and results are already used by the EC and South Africa to feed their official discussions for the implementation of the cooperation on EGNOS for South Africa
(EGSA) programme and its development linked to future versions of EGNOS. In addition, the following work was achieved based on the networking activities:
- A market analysis and CBAs for aviation sector in South Africa,
- The elaboration of the institutional and financial framework of the EGNOS extension to South Africa and SADC,
- The elaboration of the operational framework for service provision in South Africa and SADC, including system and operators certification aspects,
- The synthesis of the studied frameworks and the elaboration of an implementation roadmap,
- The initiation of RIMS sites survey by the SANSA, subject to the procurement of the necessary hardware and software tools and subcontracting to South African industry.
The lead partner on ESESA was FDC, France in collaboration with NDConsult, UK, ECORYS, The Netherlands and CSIR, South Africa.
NDConsult lead the market analysis activities in South Africa and supported ECORYS in the CBA.
See www.esesa.org
Title: EO in Water Resource Management
Client: MottMacDonald, UK
Mott MacDonald undertook a project to develop the use of satellite Earth Observation (EO) information for the water management sector as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Value Added Element, formerly the Earth Observation Market Development (EOMD) Programme. This project aimed to expand the use of EO in the civil engineering sector, using Mott MacDonald and water management as staging posts, though a series of trials based on real on-going civil engineering projects. Based on the trials, methodologies were developed to widen the range of prospective users in related disciplines across the civil engineering domain.
In support to MottMacDonald, NDConsult carried out an independent review of the business case for future service expansion – this concentratee on actions to ensure that the work done in the trials will be used to grow the wider uptake of EO data in the water management sector.
Title: Technical review of FP7 Galileo projects
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
Nina Costa acted as technical reviewer for the GSA on a number of framework 7 projects, including :
- GalileoCast ( see http://www.forecaconsulting.com/galileocast/)
- CoSuDEC (see http://www.cosudec.eu/)
Title: In-depth analysis and assessment of the Thematic Priority 1 "Life sciences, plus in-depth analysis and interim assessment of the two first calls of the "Health Theme" of the Seventh Framework Programme, namely FP7-HEALTH-2007-A and B Genomics and Biotechnology for Health" of the Sixth Framework Programme
Client: COWI, Denmark
The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of the 6th framework programme thematic priority one "life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health" (FP6 TP1) in total and the first two calls of the 7th framework programme health theme (FP7-HEALTH-2007-A and B). The study provides recommendations on how to increase the impact of research performed and raise awareness accordingly.
NDConsult supported COWI, Denmark in this analysis.
Title: Support to GSA/EC at APIRG meetings in Africa (2008-2010)
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
Attendance of the ICAO’s (International Civil Aviation Organisation) AFI Planning and Implementation Regional Group (APIRG) on behalf of the GSA and EC. Presentations on EGNOS status and Inter-regional SABS for AFI (ISA) cost benefit analysis were made at:
- 2 GNSS Task Force meetings in Nairobi in December 08 and September 09
- APIRG CNS (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance) Sub Group 3 meeting in Nairobi in April 2010
- APIRG/17 in Burkina Faso in August 2010
Title: Secretariat Support to ISRSE 33 Co-chair (2009)
Client: DG Joint Research Centre (DG JRC)
The following activities were undertaken in the framework of a small contract for DG-JRC involving secretariat support to the co-chair of the 33rd International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment Symposium (ISRSE 33):
- Coordination meetings with the JRC Co-chair
- Support to the ISRSE 33 Helpdesk
- Preparation of the ISRSE 33 Preliminary Programme, and regular updates
- Preparation of the Final Programme for printing
- Preparation of the Electronic Proceedings for distribution at the Symposium on USB pen drives
- Attendance of Symposium Organizing Committee meetings, and organization support at the Symposium
Title: Inter-regional SBAS for AFI (ISA) CBA Update (2009)
Client: European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
NDConsult supported L.E.K. Consulting, Milan, in a study that updated the cost benefit analysis for ISA (Inter-regional SBAS for AFI). This work comprised briefing L.E.K. on previous ISA Cost benefit analyses, and feedback from African stakeholders, as well as giving the team advice on how the CBA should be revised and improved.
Company profile
NDConsult was established at the end of 2008 and provides independent consultancy services in the fields of satellite navigation and Earth Observation (EO) with a focus on international activities, market and business analysis, cost benefit analyses (CBA) and crowd sources data...
Key staff
The Director, Nina Costa, has over 27 years experience in studies of the status, structure and size of markets for satellite navigation (GPS, Galileo, EGNOS) and Earth observation (EO). Dr Costa was extensively involved in market assessments for Europe’s satellite navigation system, Galileo ...