๐ Tender Overview
Grant agreement ID: 101327212
EC signature date
22 October 2026
Start date
1 November 2026
End date
31 October 2029
Funded under
Digital, Industry and Space
Objective
FALCON provides a high-TRL solution based on EGNSS, IoT and drones for supporting accurate indoor-outdoor localization of first responders in extreme crisis operations, such as firefighting. Firefighters are exposed to some of the most challenging and dangerous situations, leading every year to casualties that could have been prevented with an accurate localization system available. Fire stations worldwide are seeking a reliable localization solution that is no longer in research and prototype stage, but mature enough for use in the field. FALCON builds on several previous R&D projects, especially on the seminal work of AIOSAT, where we developed key hardware, software, algorithms and communication protocols. Field trials with these sub-systems showed that the biggest remaining challenge is to achieve the performance required by end-users, especially in the Point of Departure and the transitions outdoor-indoor. There is a clear need for higher-accuracy EGNSS-based positioning, as well as innovative approaches for limiting the inherent drift of sensor-based tracking. One technology alone is not sufficient to handle all these practical problems. In order to be successful, FALCON integrates thus multiple technologies: (1) Galileo HAS and OSNMA for high accuracy of outdoors positioning and increased cybersecurity; (2) wearable sensors for dead reckoning; (3) drone-based surveying for dynamic increase of positioning accuracy; and (4) UWB relative ranging between firefighters and anchors (truck and drone) for correcting drift. To ensure applicability in a wide range of scenarios, the system is adapted and tested together with firefighters from five countries. Three major iterations of field trials are planned across several urban and industrial configurations, from the underground, inside buildings and old cities, to industrial sites and city outskirts. The expected end TRL is 8, with a high commercial potential.
