Taiwan second in European satellite navigation race

ITRI South, the southern branch of the nonprofit high-tech research facility, took second place with Shadow Guide — a guiding solution to help people enjoy their trip. It was one of 289 entries from 18 regions across the globe.

Taiwan alone had 48 entries, or 16.6 percent of the total, the highest participation rate of any country in the competition.

The competition began in the European Community in 2004. Originally, participants of the competition were limited to EU country, but Taiwan last year became the first country from Asia to compete in the event.

The competition encourages innovative satellite navigation applications and aims to combine the satellite navigation application services sector with Galileo, the European Satellite Navigation System.

“Shadow Guide” is a navigational device which can be encased into a package the size of a wrist watch and its monitoring capability can extend up to several kilometers, ITRI said in a statement.

In addition to a single direction display function, it enables multiple users in a group to communicate with one another.

Chung I-cheng, a deputy engineer at ITRI South, said with the use of the Galileo satellite free of charge and FRS (family radio service), “Shadow Guide” is expected to be applied to leisure trips by integrating satellite positioning technology -- something which will reduce the cost of traditional GSM (global system for mobile communications) navigation systems.

The Galileo system's higher accuracy and wider coverage enables it to provide multiple value-added applications and create new industries and more job opportunities, according to the statement.

ITRI expects Taiwan's companies to maintain their advantage and strengthen the development of innovative applications so that Taiwan will become a key link in the global satellite sector's supply chain, the statement said.

Taiwan's competitive edge lies in its niche in ODM and OEM, including such fields as semiconductor chip sets, modules, system integration, and terminal products.

European companies, on the other hand, are specialized in critical components and software capability such as geographic information system (GIS) map databases, navigational engine software, and other innovative applications.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs initiated cooperation and exchange with EU satellite industries in 2006.

The EU began building the Galileo satellite system in 2002, and expects to launch the system in 2013. It will be the world's third system of the kind after the United States' GPS and the former Soviet Union's GLONASS.

Apart from the “Shadow Project,” ITRI's Information and Communications Research Laboratories(ICRL) also won the competition's special topic award among 66 teams with its Travmate, which helps travelers connect with locals and make new friends.

The special topic race was sponsored by NAVTEQ -- the leading Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data company in the world.

ICRL entered its “TravMate -- Stay connected with locals and new friends on trip, “ and seized the top spot for excellent design.

TravMate integrates satellite positioning and pedestrian navigation technology, ICRL explained in a news release. It enables a foreign tourist to access local socializing networks so that the tourist can interact with local friends and overcome cultural and language barriers and access local services such as dining, accommodation, transportation and recreation, etc.

NAVTEQ gave the idea the highest mark because it matches the theme of LBS (location-based service) and has a high potential for commercialization.

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