The EU project combines Galileo authentication and Blockchain – Inside GNSS

In 2022, a number of new projects funded by the European Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA) were launched, which use space technology to support the EU’s Green Deal. One of these projects, Space4Green, will develop a new software solution integrating Galileo OSNMA signals and Blockchain, to support reliable exchanges between users in agriculture and other sectors.

The new project is coordinated by Integrasys, a Spanish company specializing in engineering and production in the telecommunications and broadcasting market. The company has described their proposed solution as a business-to-business (B2B) platform for digital data sharing that supports automated verification of data reliability, including time, location and, through Internet of Things technology, asset identity.

EUSPA project manager Vojtech Fort told Inside GNSS: “In today’s world, with so many exchanges and transactions taking place everywhere and all the time, it is important to focus on trust between suppliers, partners and customers. These exchanges must be reliable, precise and agreed upon by all participants.”

Powerful mixture
Blockchain is an exciting and powerful technology that is being used in more and more areas of activity to enable reliable, automatic transactions. So far, however, it has not been used to incorporate transaction location and time data without human intervention. Under Space4Green, the new Galileo OSNMA (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication), connected to other transaction details via blockchain, will provide authentication of location data.

OSNMA allows users to verify whether the position message is actually being sent by a genuine Galileo satellite or by a potentially malicious source. OSNMA is embedded in the Galileo Open Service and is freely available to users worldwide.

The Space4Green solution, which will be accessible via smart devices and mobile platforms, will serve a variety of users and provide automated certification that a transaction or exchange has occurred at a specific location and time.

Fort said Space4Green could have a powerful impact on the farming industry, contributing to the EU’s goal of making agriculture more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Combined with Earth observation data, notably provided by the EU’s Copernicus system, the new solution will help farmers and their customers keep track of crop and livestock origins, transactions and movements.

“We want to see, to know if something is produced in an organic way,” said Fort. “For example, we want to be sure that a product that is supposed to come from an organic farm has really come from an organic farm. We want to know how long a product has been in transit. Space4Green focuses on this type of traceability of products and services.”

Similarly, in the fishing industry, Space4Green can support the monitoring of sustainable practices and ensure compliance with the common fisheries policy, but it will be applicable in all kinds of other sectors as well, where goods and services must be exchanged safely and verifiably.