The GEXTRECS project reaches its halfway point with promising results

On January 31, the GEXTRECS  project held its Mid Term Review (MTR) meeting at GMV’s headquarters in Tres Cantos, Madrid. 

GEXTRECS is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme, which aims to define and demonstrate an end-to-end GOVSATCOM service supporting crisis management. Coordinated by GMV, the project focuses on integrating satellite communication solutions with other EU space program components like Galileo and Copernicus. GEXTRECS will prototype and test these solutions in real-world scenarios, including cross-border land and maritime emergencies.

The MTR was dedicated to summarizing the first year of the project. Key highlights included conducted training sessions, land and maritime demonstrations, and the first Stakeholders Workshop. Technical aspects and lessons learned were also shared with the attendees.

Among the achievements celebrated were the successful land and maritime demos, positive feedback from the project officer, and a strong starting point for the final GEXTRECS demonstration scheduled for the end of 2025. The project also saw significant engagement from end-users to potentially use the GOVSATCOM-Hub in the final demo.

Looking ahead, the project will focus on further developing the Dynamic Planner and Network Balancer, preparing for the final demo and Stakeholders Workshop #2, and utilizing a temporary connection to the G-HUB infrastructure for a more representative final demonstration. Efforts will also be made to carry out dissemination and exploitation activities, starting with a conference in Sitges from February 26-28, where Almudena Sanchez, Business Development Manager R&D Programs from GMV, will present the GEXTRECS project.

GMV is playing a crucial role in the GEXTRECS project. In addition to coordinating an eight-partner consortium, the company is developing the Dynamic Planner and GNSS receivers using OSNMA (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) and Public Regulated Services (PRS) from the Galileo constellation, along with the GMV IBPL algorithm for secure positioning. Within the scope of the project, GMV is also focused on dissemination and exploitation tasks, planning clustering events for the year, and coordinating communication activities.

The event, which was a success, featured the participation of the main project partners, including Flavio Sbardellati, Project Officer and Head of the Governmental section at EUSPA.