ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10067
Open Date: 18/01/2021
Closing Date: 30/04/2021 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 19.1AP.10
Prog. Ref.: IAP Phase 3
Budget Ref.: E/0520-01D – IAP Phase 3
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+FI+FR+GR+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE+GB
Tender Type: C
Price Range: KEURO
Products: Non Space Procurement/Services
Technology Domains: Others
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Downstream Business Applications Dept.
Division: Study and Project Management Office
Contract Officer: Ferreol, Audrey
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 18/01/2021
Update Reason: Tender issue

Learning from the experience collected thus far through dialogue with industry, SatCom operators participating in the 5G Task Forceand other stakeholders, there are some well-recognised opportunities brought by the advent of the new 5G communication networks. Among them:1) Boost the societal impact of space-based applications, addressing new use cases and user communities through either integration of 5G SatCom and terrestrial networks and/or combining utilisation of space technologies/data and 5G networks.2) Enhance thecurrent space capabilities, leveraging on the unprecedented performances enabled by 5G networks. Particularly, in the domain of satellite navigation, functionalities such as authentication, positioning accuracy, service reliability and traceability could be improved with respect to state-of-the-art solutions by exploiting 5G connectivity, thereby enabling novel service concepts in a number ofvertical sectors.At the same time, also perceived as essential is the need to engage at an early stage with user communities, to provide compelling cases evidencing the role of space and 5G. In this context, ESA has initiated a dialogue with user communities and stakeholders that can take advantage in their respective verticals of the opportunities enabled by the utilisation of 5G networks integrated with space assets. Last year, ESA began a collaboration with the Economic Board Groningen (EBG), with the objective of supporting the development of space-based applications leveraging on 5G communications in the areas relevant to a rural environment, such as agriculture, healthcare, environment, transport and energy. Industry has responded to the call for proposals issued by ESA inSeptember 2018 with innovative solutions addressing some of the use cases put forward by stakeholders of the Groningen region. Such proposals also involve terrestrial telecommunication operators (e.g. KPN), thus demonstrating the benefits of the integration of space with 5G to the wider community.Following these encouraging results, ESA has reached agreements with other actors, and in particular, has signed three Memoranda of Intent (MoIs) for pursuing space-based activities making use of the 5th generation of communication networks. The MoIs have been signed by Roma Capitale; by the University of LAquila/Abruzzo Region/Municipality of LAquila; by the Municipality of Torino. All the MoIs set forth the Signatories common objectives focus on providing entities with the opportunity to pursue innovative space-based applications developments leveraging on the deployment of the latest generation of mobile communication. A number of application areas are identified to be of specific interest to the local user communities and economic/societal context. They are typically relevant to the city environment, such as transport, security, artistic heritage enhancement, and structural health monitoring. ESA has discussed each of these thematic areas with the concerned stakeholders in L’ Aquila , Roma and Torino with the objective of defining relevant use cases that can showcase, in an operational context, the benefits of using spacein conjunction with 5G, at the same time leading to commercially sustainable services to the benefit of the local communities. The high-level objectives of such calls will be: stimulate submission of proposals by industry and institutions to study, develop and demonstrate applications based on space and 5G addressing the use cases subject of the thematic calls. Address the needs identified by the local stakeholders and user communities, therefore show-casing the value that the proposed services can have in terms of societal impact. Demonstrate space and 5G enabled innovative services and systems, leveraging on the early deployments of 5G infrastructure. Bring to surface the untapped potential enabled by the exploitation of the new 5G networks capabilities to augment space assets performance, and/or by the utilisation of space as a compleement to 5G networks in the identified application thematic areas.