INMARSAT NAVIGATION VENTURES LIMITED

Their core work

Inmarsat Navigation Ventures Limited is the research and innovation arm of Inmarsat, one of the world's leading commercial satellite operators, focused on applying satellite communication and navigation infrastructure to aviation. In the H2020 context, they contributed operational SATCOM expertise to SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) programs aimed at modernizing European air traffic management. Their core offering is integrating satellite-based data links — including LDACS, GBAS, and multi-link architectures — into the future aeronautical communication and surveillance infrastructure that will replace today's VHF/radar-based ATM systems. As a commercial satellite operator with live global infrastructure, they bring industry-grade constraints and real-world interoperability knowledge that no academic or pure-research partner can replicate.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the first project, PJ14 EECNS (2016–2019), no granular keywords are recorded, suggesting a broad, enabling role in establishing the foundational architecture for integrated communication, navigation, and surveillance systems. By the second project, PJ14-W2 I-CNSS (2019–2023), the keyword fingerprint becomes very specific: LDACS, ATN-IPS, GBAS, SATCOM, multi-link, and ADS-B — all technologies at the operational boundary between satellite infrastructure and ATM standards. The trajectory is clear: from high-level CNS system design toward the concrete protocol and integration layer where Inmarsat's satellite assets directly interface with future European airspace systems.

Inmarsat Navigation Ventures is moving deeper into the standardization and integration layer of next-generation aeronautical communications, positioning itself as a commercial infrastructure provider for the post-VHF aviation data link ecosystem.

How they like to work

Inmarsat Navigation Ventures participated in both H2020 projects exclusively as a third party — never as a coordinator or standard participant — meaning they contributed technology, data, or expertise without receiving EC funding directly, likely under a sub-contracting or in-kind arrangement. This third-party model is characteristic of large commercial operators who cannot commit to the administrative burden of full consortium membership but whose proprietary infrastructure is essential to the research. Their 63 unique partners across 22 countries from just 2 projects reflects the unusually large consortium structures of SESAR JU programs, not an organically broad network built across many independent collaborations.

Through two SESAR projects, Inmarsat Navigation Ventures has exposure to 63 unique partners spanning 22 countries — a figure driven entirely by the multi-partner architecture of SESAR Joint Undertaking programs, which routinely include 30–60 partners per project. Their actual bilateral collaboration depth is harder to assess from this data alone.

What sets them apart

Inmarsat Navigation Ventures is one of very few entities that can bring live, operational global satellite infrastructure into a research consortium — not just modelled or simulated SATCOM, but real network assets against which protocols can be validated. This makes them a uniquely credible partner for any consortium that needs to demonstrate real-world interoperability between ground-based ATM systems and satellite communication layers. For SESAR follow-on programmes or Horizon Europe aviation projects requiring a commercial satellite operator's involvement, they are a natural and difficult-to-replace partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PJ14-W2 I-CNSS
  The more technically detailed of the two projects, it covers the full stack from satellite positioning (GBAS, alternative PNT) to data links (LDACS, SATCOM, ATN-IPS) to surveillance (ADS-B), making it the clearest evidence of Inmarsat's integrated CNS contribution to future European airspace.
• PJ14 EECNS
  As the Wave 1 predecessor in the same SESAR project family, it established the foundational CNS integration work that the I-CNSS project then advanced, showing continuity of Inmarsat's involvement across the SESAR research cycle.