Orolia, the world leader in Resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) solutions that improve the reliability, performance, and safety of critical, remote, or high-risk operations, has been selected to be part of the European Commission’s SERENITY project. This project will define the Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) Two-Way Communication (TWC) service, including a service demonstration in mid-2022 with a new Orolia SAR beacon and the Cospas-Sarsat operational chain. The SERENITY consortium is led by Telespazio France and includes the French Space Agency CNES, Thales Alenia Space France, Orolia, and Pildo Labs.
The TWC service will bring the SAR/Galileo service to a new level by enabling two-way communication between compatible distress beacons and the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC).
The RCC will be able to provide rescue teams with key information regarding the nature and conditions of the distress situation. This new service will improve the efficiency of rescue team actions by enabling them to deploy adequate resources and assets faster, based on the information received from the distress location.
This new functionality will complement the latest Galileo Return Link Service (RLS), which allows users in distress to receive an automatic acknowledgment that their signal has been received, thus reducing panic and reassuring users.
With its second-generation portable aircraft beacon, the Ultima-S, Orolia is one of the world’s first manufacturers to offer SAR beacons equipped with Galileo RLS. As part of the SERENITY project, Orolia will design and develop the new SAR beacon demonstrator to provide the TWC service, in coordination with the Search and Rescue community.
The SERENITY consortium has prepared an online User Consultation Questionnaire for all military and civilian beacon users, as well as members of Search and Rescue Units.
“Orolia has a long history of developing Search and Rescue solutions, including the development of Galileo services,” said Alain Bouhet, Product Manager at Orolia. “We are honored to be selected by the European Commission for this new SAR/Galileo project to improve global search and rescue missions.”
