Presented to: Dr. Didier Flament
Citation: For significant leadership in the early definition, development, qualification, and continued evolution of the European GNSS, particularly the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS)
Dr. Didier Flament is senior advisor to head of EGNOS and Galileo Department of Navigation Directorate and SBAS Division at the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2008 he joined ESA as the head of mission and system engineering in the EGNOS project office where he was in charge of the development and qualification of subsequent EGNOS system releases, as well as providing support to the EGNOS operator. He also oversaw the EGNOS system testbed development and the EGNOS V3 (dual-frequency Galileo/GPS generation) definition phases. Under his leadership the division doubled in size and activities; has successfully overseen significant upgrades to EGNOS operation and performance; and EGNOS has grown from a concept to a fully operational system providing service throughout the European airspace poised to deliver a new dual-frequency, multi-constellation service that will have dramatically increased coverage and improved robustness.
Dr. Flament has utilized his expertise to help extend SBAS services globally. Since 2008 he has served as a co-chair of the SBAS interoperability working group which coordinates activities between the world’s different SBAS providers. He has helped to organize 22 international meetings in support of coordinating the planning and operation of the different SBASs. Under his leadership, the IWG has helped to ensure that SBASs are fully interoperable and maintain a common understanding of how to safely provide their services to all appropriately equipped aircraft.
Dr. Flament was in charge of interfacing with the European Commission and national agencies to support GNSS evolution. He led the early assessments of the performance of proposed European complements to GPS, precursor to EGNOS. He was a technical advisor to the Galileo project managers in the initial development phase of Galileo. He also manages the coordination within the ESA Navigation Directorate between EGNOS Division and Galileo Department.
Dr. Flament received his PhD in Electrical Engineering, Electronic, Automatics from Centrale Lille.