GERMINAL (Connectivity: Enabling next generation NAV/COM Hybrid Terminal), a two-year project co-funded by EUSPA (European Union Space Program Agency) with the goal of developing communications and navigation solutions, held its Kick-Off Meeting (KOM) in July 2024. In terms of communications, GERMINAL will allow terminals to use different infrastructure elements and bands to provide communications in segments such as aviation and the maritime domain, among others. 

In terms of navigation, GERMINAL will enable terminals to use the novel LEO-PNT signals (low earth orbit satellites for positioning, navigation, and timing).  The final product will consist of a prototype IoT receiver, which will have a purely software-based approach, and a unified hybrid user terminal (UHUT) prototype that will be able to process several different signals using a set of signal processing units, including5G signals.

GMV, as project leader, will coordinate all work between the consortium members and EUSPA, bringing its expertise in navigation with signal hybridization (GNSS, 5G, LEO-PNT and LEO-SOP) as well as IoT devices with low energy consumption requirements. GERMINAL will benefit from synergies with other LEO-PNT developments also carried out at GMV.  Most of the work is expected to take place in Spain.

The project’s KOM was held in hybrid format at EUSPA’s European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), located in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid. The consortium is led by GMV and includes the Madrid Institutes for Advanced Studies (IMDEA) and Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) as partners. The meeting covered all general aspects of the project’s development, as well as some points regarding the next steps.