In February the Joint Communication Board in ESA approved the addition of a VDES-focused activity to the 2025 ARTES 4.0 Strategic Programme Line “Space Systems for Safety and Security” (4S) Work Plan,.
The objective of the activity will be to support the collaborative efforts of maritime stakeholders in ESA Member States; defining the future VDES (AIS 2.0) reference architecture, technologies and interfaces enabling the federation of multi-operator systems,and at reaching a level of service standardisation and system interoperability between European initiatives.
The activity will require gathering most of the European VDES (SAT & TER) stakeholders at all stages around a common roadmap based on the existing VDES guidelines from IALA. Through three work streams the focus will be on gaps and benefits and a shared reference architecture, regulatory efforts of the VDES ecosystem, and the business potential opportunities, respectively.
A strong focus will be on collaboration between the stakeholders throughout the activity, and the projected outcomes will be delivering not only a summary report but also a reference architecture, technologies and interfaces for interoperability and network sharing, as well as standardisation and regulatory contributions.
The Ministry for Higher Education and Science has allocated funds to support Danish participation in this specific work plan activity, and it is highly encouraged that the Danish industry collaborate on it.
The intended ITT will be issued in May 2025 through esa-star (activity ref. 3A.225) with a baseline cost of EUR 500,000. We will, when we know more, announce this together with details of the application process. Stay tuned through the newsletter and on LinkedIn.