Getting on the S-band Wagon for crossing borders — Exploiting satellite communication for sustainable ITS services

East-European border crossing presents a major challenge for land transportation in Europe and neighbouring countries. In this paper, we discuss a number of factors that make border crossing a complex problem to solve and how it affects both businesses and individuals. In spite of the abundance of ITS solutions, their limitations have restricted their adoption by businesses in Europe that operate across the East-European border. We present the SafeTRIP system architecture, which by exploiting the capabilities of the S-band communication, has the potential to overcome those limitations and offer not only hope but new opportunities. To conclude, we discuss the strengths of the SafeTRIP platform which make it suitable to meet the East-European border challenge by offering an economically sustainable and eco-friendly solution.