Alcatel Named Prime
Contractor for SCORE
(15 April 2004) Alcatel Space
has been chosen by the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) consortium as the prime
contractor for the European research and development project SCORE (Service of
Co-ordinated Operational Emergency & Rescue using EGNOS).
The SCORE project will run for 24 months, and is budgeted at
Euro 2 million, including Euro 1.1 million financed by GJU.
In the
scope of this project, which integrates positioning data from EGNOS and Galileo
- Europe's planned satellite positioning system - Alcatel Space will lead a
European consortium in setting up emergency call positioning (regulation E112)
and rescue force guidance services during accidents or natural disasters. For
example, if a fire breaks out in a shopping centre, a person in danger could
automatically send his exact position via a cell phone in real time (call code
E112), even from inside a building. Fire-fighters and police forces with PDAs
could easily and precisely locate the place where the disaster has struck and
determine which accesses remain open, be effectively guided to the person to be
rescued, and easily co-ordinate their positions and actions.
This
solution is made possible by two major factors. First, the use of EGNOS
(European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), which provides fast,
accurate positioning data via an assistance data server operating through the
GSM/GPRS networks. Secondly, an innovative algorithm embedded in the chips used
in mobile phones and PDAs.
The introduction of these technologies for
emergency services will support the precise, automatic and fast positioning of
people in danger, while more effectively guiding rescue teams. The service will
operate even inside buildings, where signals are highly attenuated, and takes
just a few seconds, compared with several minutes for GPS receivers.
(source: Alcatel Space)