Rome, Telespazio, 11 February 2010: 13 companies from Italy, France, Austria and Belgium kicked-off the European Research & Development project SCUTUM, SeCUring the EU GNSS adopTion in the dangeroUs Material transport.

SCUTUM’s goal is to support an EU-wide use of EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) in the transport management of hazardous goods.

In the coming 21 months, the project will implement a best practice approach. The experience of ENI, a leading Italian oil company, operating at international level, presently using EGNOS Open Service to monitor its fleet for the transport of hydrocarbon in Italy, will be extended to two neighbouring countries, France and Austria. In parallel, SCUTUM will enhance the ENI monitoring system by making use of the EGNOS Commercial Service during a large-scale trial involving 100 vehicles in Italy, France and Austria. The authorities involved in the trials (the Italian and French Ministries of Transport) will evaluate the demonstration’s results, and validate the benefits and value of EGNOS-based accurate and guaranteed tracking & tracing services for enhancing safety.

As a successor of the MENTORE project (www.gnsstracking.eu), SCUTUM intends to implement the actions identified in MENTORE by:

• Extending EGNOS national best practices on cross-border basis, as a first step towards a wider adoption in Europe and in the freight transport market
• Operating large scale trials to support standardisation and harmonisation at European level.

SCUTUM will be present at the Galileo Application Days in Brussels from 3 to 5 March 2010. For more information about the project, visit us in Brussels and at www.scutumgnss.eu.

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