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Home 2023 March 16

Daily Archives: 03/16/2023

Developing the Brokerage Role of National Mapping Agencies

By
Ingrid Vanden Berghe
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Developing the Brokerage Role of National Mapping Agencies

In a Geospatial World column a year ago, Ingrid Vanden Berghe exposed her ideas on the geo-information brokerage role that she believes mapping agencies are well placed to take on and is being adopted by the National Geographic Institute (NGI), Belgium. This brokering works in two ways – outwards to provide government information publicly and inwards to ensure that government has the data it needs. This year she explained to John Kedar, Contributing Editor, GW, how this transformation is progressing, and in particular how partnerships and solutions are central to being an effective broker.

Transformation to the brokerage role requires new behaviors if the full benefits are to be realised. Most important amongst these, in addition to the implicit brokerage role as a ‘data and map provider’, NGI is positioning itself as a strategic partner with its key customers. The biggest partner initially is defense but NGI is also developing partnerships with those meeting other high government priorities, such as the emergency services, security services and those focused on solutions for the climate crisis. This takes brokering beyond data to the provision of solutions to partner problems.

The emergency services often operate and integrate assets across boundaries. NGI has worked with the emergency services to bring a consistent base map that meets their needs with a standardised emergency grid index and thematic symbology. It’s not just the big issues though, NGI won an IT-award in December for establishing a tool for firewomen and firemen to rapidly print specific mapping to ensure improved coordination between field and command centers – everyone operating with the same information.

Partnership works in other ways too. In addition to better data and supporting integration, NGI conducted a tender for, and procured, Google API licences and technical services on behalf of the police. This idea is taken further to whole of government procurement of geospatial data and licences, although sometimes big ministries are in the lead, for instance the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

NGI is changing its relationship with its biggest customer, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), by supporting the Ministry improve its capacity to benefit from geospatial data and technology. MOD and NGI intend to sign a partnership agreement to formalize this. It will include placing NGI employees into the Ministry of Defense, removing the need for the Ministry to recruit and retain small numbers of specialists. As a result, NGI is closer to its partner, better understands defense challenges and can build a pool of customer- centric staff with experience of wider user systems, potentially benefitting other ministries. It is good for geospatial careers too, as the arrangement provides young people with customer-facing development combined with long-term progression that would otherwise be denied in a small specialist team. The recruitment of military reservists amongst NGI-staff, building experience in peacetime but deploying with the military in crisis, is another option being explored. In these examples, the partnership can be seen to be tripartite, MOD, NGI and the individual.

It’s not all plain sailing – the broker role has challenges. Firstly, securing the ‘factory’ when producing and serving data is relatively easy but NGI is now grappling with the more difficult security challenge of working interactively with multiple partners. Secondly, NGI has a responsibility not to implicitly lock partners into particular technology vendors, instead looking for openness and modularity in solutions. Overall, though, through its brokerage approach focussed on solving users’ challenges whilst still responsible for the basics, NGI is becoming even more relevant to the Belgian Government, business and people.

Ingrid Vanden Berghe is the Administrator General of the National Geographic Institute in Belgium

Top ISRO Launches to Watch Out in 2023

By
Geospatial World
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Top ISRO Launches to Watch Out in 2023

In 2023, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India’s space agency is all geared up to have dedicated missions to the sun, the moon, and the maiden human space flight. Here are ISRO’s top space missions slated for the year ahead.

Also Watch: Indian Geospatial industry is an integral part of global market: Sanjay Kumar 

Resilience, Rapid Response Key to Future of EO

By
Prof. Dr Marco Beijersbergen
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Resilience, Rapid Response Key to Future of EO
Prof. Dr Marco Beijersbergen

Geospatial data collection was quite centralized in the past – just a few missions and a handful of instruments and satellites were engaged in observation through a centralized system. Only a few big countries in the world were able to collect this.

Nowadays, a large number of companies are offering satellite constellations as a commercial market offering. This means there is a rise in demand for satellite data, and due to increasing competitiveness, there are multiple providers for similar data types, such as what is made available by cosine.

With new technologies and systems such as drones and space apps, we get data more rapidly and can also process it on board. Resilience and reliability are already in effect as we move from one big satellite to constellations. Smaller satellites give more redundancy along with data continuity.

Towards enablement

We are seeing space applications – the satellites and the instruments – becoming more of a commodity. It also means that there are multiple parties that can offer solutions. Over the last few years, making space-based infrastructure and geospatial data accessible to everyone has become salient.

In the coming years, there will be many more applications using geospatial data, not just limited to the classical geospatial information that people are familiar with.

For instance, if we examine the climate problem, it’s crucial that we build up space infrastructure. cosine is working to make that possible by building up the capabilities, and our customers are building up the capacities.

We demonstrated last year that we cannot only process the image data in orbit but that we can actually also apply Machine Learning algorithms to it.

Fast processing

There’s a need of rapid response systems so that we can get access to data in a few hours. This means on-board processing, which translates into miniaturization and commoditization.

An important trend we are witnessing is more standard instruments. Our company is manufacturing hyperspectral instruments that are small enough to fly on a constellation and
swift in response. With in-orbit processing and the short timescales, there will be abundant real-time information for disaster mitigation related to fire hazard risks, oil spills, and more.

In the coming years, there will be many more applications using geospatial data, not just limited to the classical geospatial information that people are familiar with.

Market shift

Over the previous few decades, the business model has changed towards creating solutions. The focus for companies is on building a system that actually provides a solution, not just an abstract amount of data that other people can work on. It enables direct value for the end-user.

Instead of focusing on huge missions that cost billions of dollars and are managed by large industrial conglomerates, paid by the governments, the business model has shifted towards
building up services, and applications, and providing concrete information and actionable insights that people are willing to pay for.

At the same time, we also see that in the current business models, the government is an important customer, as well as a key player with strategic interests. This is not just limited to Earth Observation.

For climate change, there are completely commercial use cases as well. But also for many of the business cases, the governments are actively involved.

Bottom line is that investors are looking for demonstrable business cases, which give ample wriggle room to the company to charge for the services they offer. In 2023, the opportunity is to start building up real operational systems.

(Prof. Dr Marco Beijersbergen is the founder of cosine, a space company celebrating its 25th anniversary. The views expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author.)

Geespace demonstrating its Ambitions For Future Mobility

By
News Desk
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Geespace demonstrating its Ambitions For Future Mobility

Geespace demonstrated their Future Mobility Constellation construction plan and gave a talk concerning how “Aerospace Technology Empowering Future Mobility” at the Munich SatNav Summit.

The theme for this year’s Munich SatNav Summit is GNSS- Empowering Mobility For Air, Land, Sea… And Beyond! Representatives from around the world shared ideas and discussed issues such as the development status and trends of the three global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GALILEO and BDS) as well as regional navigation satellite systems.

Geespace is a Shanghai-based unicorn enterprise in commercial aerospace, focusing on satellite manufacture and application. According to its website, Geespace is building the Future Mobility Constellation, and has already successfully launched first 9 satellites into orbit in June 2022.

This company owns a satellite MegaFactory, which realizes a daily production of one complete satellite. Geespace is a subsidiary of Geely, a Chinese car giant that owns globally recognized brands such as Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, Lynk&Co, Zeekr, Farizon Auto (Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicles) and so on.

It is worth noting that Geely’s total global car sales exceeded 2.3 million in 2022. This is representative of the successful technological transformation and global outreach of China.

This year Geespace, at Munich SatNav Summit, participated in the session of “Positioning, Navigation and Timing from Low Earth Orbit”, and made a special report, sharing its technological innovations and the global application possibilities of the Future Mobility Constellation. Geespace plans to complete deployment of 72 satellites by 2025, which will be the first phase of the constellation, providing satellite data application services across the globe.

Royce Geo Supports NGA’s Economic Indicator Monitoring Program

By
News Desk
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Royce Geo Supports NGA’s Economic Indicator Monitoring Program

Royce Geo Supports NGA's Economic Indicator Monitoring Program

Royce Geo announced its continued support of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) Economic Indicator Monitoring (EIM) contract. Royce Geo is helping NGA revolutionize GEOINT tradecraft by leveraging Royce’s CURVE Cloud Operating Environment featuring CURVE Workbench to seamlessly incorporate open-source and commercial satellite data along with advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities.

Under EIM, Royce Geo and other approved vendors provide NGA with advanced technology solutions to monitor global activity and deliver insights into economic impact, trade trends, natural impacts, and international commerce trends. The program has provided a successful preview of how the NGA and the broader Department of Defense (DOD) and Intelligence Community (IC) can harness commercial data and technology solutions to deliver more actionable intelligence with less demand on analyst resources.

Royce Geo’s proprietary solutions automate and scale advanced analytics to make sense of disparate geospatial, signal, human, open source, and cyber intelligence data streams to support national security. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, CURVE coordinates, understands, resources, and visualizes millions of data points to enable leaders to make informed decisions and initiate actions on the battlefield in seconds.

Beyond Gravity’s Lynx computer for faster data processing

By
News Desk
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Beyond Gravity’s Lynx computer for faster data processing
The Lynx single board computer is designed for a long life in any satellite orbit (e.g. 15 years in geostationary earth orbit) or spacecraft trajectory. Copyright Beyond Gravity

The Beyond Gravity Lynx computer for satellites is 250 times more powerful than regular onboard computers. The Lynx computer provides capability to process data already in orbit instead of processing it on earth – saving time, energy, and cost.

The Lynx computer can process all images for suitability and only transmits valid images. It is a single-board computer, designed for critical tasks in a harsh radiation environment, with flexible communication, interface, and mass storage capabilities, all in 6U Space VPX form factor.

The processing capability is provided by the quad core ARM processor delivering more than 30.000 DMIPS, and onboard flash storage, rated for 15 years in low earth orbit and beyond.

In addition, Lynx includes a powerful FPGA (field-programmable gate array) for flexibility in communication, interface, and processing capability. The Lynx’s computer power and flexibility allow it to perform as both the primary satellite flight computer and/or payload computer solution.

Anders Linder, Executive Vice President Division Satellites at Beyond Gravity said, “We have a computer that matches the requirements for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in space development programs. Lynx computer opens up a world of AI opportunities.”

EU Space Strategy for Security and Defense

By
Meenal Dhande
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EU Space Strategy for Security and Defense

In the current geopolitical context of increasing power competition and intensifying threats, the European Union is taking action to protect its space assets, defend its interests, deter hostile activities in space, and strengthen its strategic posture and autonomy.

For the first time, the Commission and the High Representative have developed a Joint Communication on a European Space Strategy for Security and Defence. 

The Strategy is a direct implementation of the EU Strategic Compass adopted less than a year ago and which defined space, together with cyber and maritime, as contested strategic domains, the security of which must be ensured. It provides for a set of actions covering the following strands.

Security and Defense
Credit: EU

A shared understanding of space threats

The Strategy outlines the counter space capabilities and main threats in space that put space systems and their ground infrastructure at risk, building on a common definition of the space domain. To increase the common understanding of threats across Member States, the High Representative will prepare a classified annual space threat landscape analysis at the EU level, drawing on Member States’ intelligence.

Resilience and protection of space systems & services in the EU

The Strategy proposes strengthening the resilience and protection of space systems and services in the EU. For this purpose, the Commission will:

  • Consider proposing an EU Space Law to provide a common framework for security, safety, and sustainability in space that would ensure a consistent and EU-wide approach.
  • Set up an Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) to raise awareness and facilitate the exchange of best practices among commercial and relevant public entities on resilience measures for space capabilities.
  • Launch preparatory work to ensure long-term EU autonomous access to space, addressing, in particular, the security and defense needs.
  • Enhance the technological sovereignty of the EU by reducing strategic dependencies and ensuring the security of supply for space and defense in close coordination with the European Defence Agency and the European Space Agency.

Additionally, there is a plan to expand the existing space threat response mechanism, already in use for Galileo, to all space systems and services in the EU. The Strategy also proposes appropriate access to space domain awareness information through relevant national space commands to characterize inappropriate behaviors in orbit and protect EU assets.

Also Read: Reinforcing European Defense

Governmental service for Earth Observation (EO)

The Strategy also purports to launch two pilots. As a result, the first will be to deliver initial space domain awareness services building upon the capacities of Member States.

The other will be for a new EO governmental service as part of the evolution of Copernicus and complementing existing assets.

Space-based EO is a key enabler for security and defense, as proven by the EU Satellite Centre in the context of Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.

Though Copernicus delivers security services, it has not been designed to comply specifically with defense requirements. An EU Earth Observation governmental system would benefit from reliable, resilient, and continuously available situational awareness to support the EU’s and its Member States’ autonomous decision-making and action. As part of the evolution of Copernicus, an initial service will be put in place by the end of 2024.

The Strategy proposes exploring options allowing the EU to complement existing national, commercial, and European satellite imagery infrastructure.

Benefits to SMEs and start-ups

The Commission will incentivize collaborative work between space and defense start-ups and SMEs. Activities such as hackathons, challenges and matchmakings, In-Orbit-Validation, and Demonstration will be synergized to foster cooperation between space and defense start-ups.

Speaking on the Strategy, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, said, “For the first time, we are putting forward a strategy that will pull together all our tools to protect EU space assets and ensure that everyone can benefit from space services.”

While the Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, commented: “Space plays a vital role in both our economic and security interests, but it is also an increasingly contested arena with competing interests vying for dominance. The EU’s new strategy marks a paradigm shift, aimed at bolstering our resilience in and from space. It bridges the gap between space and defense, breaking down silos and strengthening our flagship programs in space for security and defense purposes.”

NOAA Selects Woolpert for Hydrographic Survey

By
News Desk
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NOAA Selects Woolpert for Hydrographic Survey
These data, collected by Woolpert for NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, will serve several missions in years to come, including navigation, inundation modeling, floodplain analysis, and coastal resilience.

Woolpert has been selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to perform hydrographic surveying and collect bathymetric data for hydrodynamic modeling in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The $5.5 million award with a $1.4 million option, funded in part by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is being administered through NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey hydrographic services contract.

Having highly accurate, up-to-date data enables us to predict and respond to our changing world.

This project will focus on 615 square nautical miles and include portions of the Potomac, Rappahannock, James, and York rivers, which in some areas have not been surveyed for more than 50 years.

Woolpert will mobilize five hydrographic survey vessels, or nearly a quarter of its fleet, equipped with multibeam and side-scan sonar systems out of the firm’s East Coast hydrographic hub in Charleston, S.C. Vessel locations will be displayed in real-time via a customized GIS dashboard to enhance situational awareness and provide real-time progress and information throughout the project.

These data will serve several missions in years to come, including navigation, inundation modeling, floodplain analysis, and coastal resilience. Hydrodynamic modeling will help forecasters and decision-makers:

  • Update NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey nautical charts and services to support safe navigation.
  • Determine the timing of rapid river stage increases and decreases, as well as the duration of high water, inundation, and drought.
  • Predict the movement of oil and hazardous materials along the heavily industrialized James River.
  • Determine site suitability for oyster restoration reefs in the Hampton River.
  • Support flow models that gauge temperature and salinity distributions in the Rappahannock River, which is home to a thriving oyster industry.
  • Provide data to support the hydrodynamics of the Potomac River’s reservoir and dam infrastructure.
  • Inform best preservation practices for NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary at Mallows Bay in the Potomac, so the sanctuary can better operate, conserve, and promote its maritime historic and cultural resources.

Woolpert Program Director and Certified Hydrographer Dave Neff credited NOAA for this highly efficient and effective use of federal funding to address critical and overdue infrastructure needs.

“This is an outstanding use of taxpayer dollars because it is all about improving public safety, advancing the blue economy, and preserving the environment for decades to come,” Neff said. “Having highly accurate, up-to-date data enables us to predict and respond to our changing world so we can make informed decisions and build toward a better tomorrow.”

True Digital Twin, Building Blocks for the Metaverse?

By
Geert De Coensel
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True Digital Twin, Building Blocks for the Metaverse?
Geert De Coensel, Co-Founder & CEO, Merkator, Belgium

People have forgotten that geospatial technologies and solutions have been around since the early 70s. Thanks to the maturing IT and engineering tools, geospatial is now at the forefront. The market has noticed this too and geospatial innovations are everywhere today. Practically, no single IT solution can ignore the ‘where’ component anymore.

Emerging technologies such as AI, and ML are accelerating the processing power for analyzing, correcting, and augmenting different types of geospatial data. Today, Merkator actively uses AI for change detection over vast and complex vector and raster datasets. A trending example of the fast expanding AI capabilities in early 2023 are engines such as ChatGPT, which have the potential to accelerate several areas of geospatial automation.

The real building blocks for Merkator are software, data, and services

Customers no longer want too many different vendors rather they count on stable partners that have the expertise in both the applications and the surrounding data.

Software is useless without data and vice-versa. One of the several reasons Merkator acquired Belgium-based GIM is to cater to customers who want end-to-end solutions. Now we can create a perfect triangle we call– SDS (software, data, services) facilitating the key building blocks for real geospatial solutions.

For example, Belmap tells where customers live, work and shop. It provides insights on energy and sustainability questions and integrates more than 50 data geospatial sources offering the most complete and accurate 3D Digital Twin of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg at present.

Emerging technologies such as AI, and ML are accelerating the processing power for analyzing, correcting, and augmenting different types of geospatial data.

For smart cities and infrastructure-related automation such as telecom fiber design and extending the electricity grid, we count on workflow-driven solutions like MarlinDT and Eaglebe. For instance, Eaglebe supports more than 170 local Belgian authorities in permitting public space for relocation, roadworks, and events.

Users no longer want an always changing ribbon interface and a pack of buttons in an application. A workflow-driven solution pushes the user to follow strict guidelines for both geospatial data creation and attribute related data entry. It really contributes to improved data quality as user errors are reduced to the absolute minimum. In the coming months, we will add AI capabilities to raise the bar even further.

Potential of true Digital Twin

If something is ‘broken’ in the real world it needs to be fixed. Digital Twin-enabled workflow solutions accelerate the repair or engineering of any infrastructure.

Digital Twin is a key building block of concepts such as the Metaverse. However, these environments will only be useful if the data is accurate and monitored or updated in real-time. This is where Marlin Digital Twin comes into play.

I see a huge investment of Digital Twin in the infrastructure sector, whether it’s water, oil & gas, electricity, or telecommunications. The infrastructure sector sits at a collision point of global disruptions, including shifts in capital availability, evolving social and environmental priorities, and rapid urbanization. Our geospatial network inventory is ready to cater to the unstoppable infrastructure demands of our human species.

(Geert De Coensel is the Co-Founder & CEO of Merkator, Belgium. The views expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author.)

HERE Technologies, Iteris Partner to Create Smart Mobility Solutions

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News Desk
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HERE Technologies, Iteris Partner to Create Smart Mobility Solutions

Iteris to Integrate Additional HERE Technologies Capabilities into Iteris’ ClearMobility Platform.

Iteris and HERE will provide contextual awareness to solve dynamic, real-world traffic needs for public agencies via Iteris’ ClearMobility Platform, using precise, enterprise-grade maps and real-world digital representation models. The new partnership agreement strengthens a nearly 10-year relationship between the two companies.

As a result, map content and data provided by HERE and visualized through ClearGuide will provide actionable insights to various users, including transportation engineers, transportation planners, infrastructure operators, and roadway construction teams.

“We are excited to reinforce and broaden our collaboration with HERE Technologies,” said Will Cousins, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Iteris. “As part of the new five-year agreement, we are expanding our emerging safety and mobility applications to help public agencies address the critical priorities of the National Roadway Safety Strategy and support federal, state and local officials who are ensuring roadways are both safer and less congested.”

Currently, more than 50 government agencies, municipalities and commercial entities use ClearGuide to improve safety and mobility by turning large amounts of complex transportation data into insights for smart, data-driven operations and planning decisions.

Iteris will display the HERE Map, including speed limits, lanes, and mile markers in ClearGuide, providing customers with high-quality map data. ClearGuide will also incorporate HERE Traffic products, including HERE Real-time Traffic and HERE Traffic Analytics data, to provide accurate traffic information.

Further, Iteris may utilize HERE’s best-in-class platform services to allow a distinct path for ClearGuide to meet more customer requirements moving forward.

“A key part of the HERE mission is to enable a digital representation of reality to radically improve the way the world moves, lives and interacts, and to help customers and developers power applications that can plan ahead, react with speed and increase road safety,” said Miranda Ashby-Annoon, Senior Director of Public Sector Sales at HERE.

The ClearGuide solution is a key component of Iteris’ ClearMobility Platform, the world’s most complete solution to monitor, visualize and optimize mobility infrastructure continuously.

ClearMobility applies cloud computing, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, advisory services and managed services to help ensure roads are safe, travel is efficient, and communities thrive.

Comtech Successfully Tests and Validates 5G Connection Over Satellite

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News Desk
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Comtech Successfully Tests and Validates 5G Connection Over Satellite

Comtech announced a collaboration with three global technology leaders: Cloud Signals, Hellas Sat, and Mobile Network Operator (MNO), that the companies successfully tested and validated 5G connectivity over a satellite network in Greece.

During the demonstration, a commercial 5G node was connected to the leading MNO’s 5G testbed network and relayed over a satellite link provided by the Hellas Sat.

“This demonstration showcased our ability to easily blend satellite and terrestrial technologies to deliver 5G capabilities to remote areas that are unconnected or underserved by traditional terrestrial and wireless infrastructures,” said Ken Peterman, President and CEO, Comtech.

“By working with Cloud Signals, Hellas Sat and the leading MNO, we were able to deliver a wide range of 5G satellite-enabled services, which can create incredible value for customers across Greece and bridge the digital divide in disconnected parts of the world.”

Comtech’s technology leadership was a significant enabler for this breakthrough demonstration, which included its ELEVATE Very Small Aperture Terminal solution that delivered high-speed backhaul services for the 5G satellite-based connection.

“After observing a real need for providing 5G network onboard commercial and government maritime vessels, we are delighted to showcase that it can work by successfully transporting, via satellite, an end-to-end live 5G stream with the help of our partners,” said Dr. Christos Papachristos, CEO, Cloud Signals.

“What remains to be done is a commercial cooperation and a market launch for our service.”

Cloud Signals specializes in the development of space technologies and is based in Athens, Greece.

“Satellites play an essential role in helping MNOs serve customers in remote and underserved areas, being a flexible, cost-efficient, scalable, and reliable solution for delivering communication services. In collaboration with our partners, using our Hellas Sat 3 satellite at 39o East, we demonstrated the substantial impact of satellite communications in the advancement of the 5G infrastructure,” said Christodoulos Protopapas, CEO, Hellas Sat.

Hellas Sat is a premium satellite services provider that owns and operates satellites delivering services in Europe, the Middle East, and Southern Africa.

Topcon expands MC-X platform with GNSS option

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News Desk
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Topcon expands MC-X platform with GNSS option

Topcon Positioning Systems has announced the availability of a new global navigation satellite system (GNSS) option for its MC-Mobile compact machine control solution.

This GNSS option allows contractors to easily integrate their compact machines into fleets already powered by GNSS technology.

Murray Lodge, executive vice president and general manager, Topcon said, “GNSS option allows fleet managers to easily integrate compact machines into much larger, more complex workflows, with the same machine-to-machine modularity and ease-of-use that has made MC-Mobile one of our most talked-about products of the last year. Both the local positioning system (LPS) and GNSS versions are made possible.”

The MC-X architecture combines multiple communication technologies, such as the Sitelink3D connectivity platform, support for numerous elevation sensors, IMUs and GNSS receivers, to tailor solutions directly to a contractor’s workflow — maximizing return on investment (ROI) at every phase of an operation.

HawkEye 360’s Sixth Satellite Cluster Begins Operation

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News Desk
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HawkEye 360’s Sixth Satellite Cluster Begins Operation

HawkEye 360 announced its Cluster 6 satellites have begun operation. The rapidly growing constellation can collect up to 24 times per day over a region of interest, as often as once every hour.

The enhanced payloads and an additional ground station optimize the speed for delivering increased quantity and quality of data to customers around the world.

“The continued expansion of our RF-sensing satellite constellation and the addition of our sixth ground station positions HawkEye 360 to serve the increasing demand for global RF-based Intelligence,” said HawkEye 360 Chief Operating Officer, Rob Rainhart.

“This latest cluster boosts revisit rates over the mid-latitude regions, enhancing the diversity of our data sets and allowing us to uncover a new dimension of global knowledge into human activities and behavior.”

The commissioning of these three satellites expands HawkEye 360’s constellation to 18 satellites with enhanced data collection in the 15 -18 GHz frequency range. Cluster 6 is our first cluster to enter an inclined orbit, allowing HawkEye 360 to collect more data in high-demand mid-latitude regions.

The company has activated a new ground station in Maui, Hawaii, composed of three antennas with dedicated access to HawkEye 360’s satellites. With six strategically placed ground stations, HawkEye 360 can provide more timely delivery of tactically relevant data to our customers.

“Cluster 6 was placed in an inclined orbit to address the growing demand for RF Intelligence in the mid-latitude regions of the earth. As political and military tensions increase in these regions, the need for tactically relevant data is even more critical to detect, assess, and respond to threats,” said HawkEye 360 Chief Growth Officer, Alex Fox.

“With our new collection modes and frequency coverage, we are expanding our products and services to address the rapidly evolving RF Intelligence needs of our clients.”

HawkEye 360 will continue expanding the constellation to address clients’ increasing demands for RF Intelligence, aiming for a total of 60 satellites (20 clusters of three satellites).

HawkEye 360 anticipates the launch of 3 additional clusters in 2023, with its seventh cluster of satellites slated to launch in April.

AvaWatz announces Investment and Shareholder Opportunities

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News Desk
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AvaWatz announces Investment and Shareholder Opportunities

AvaWatz Company, a decision intelligence technology company that makes robots collaborate with each other, announced the launch of their capital raise campaign. U.S. and International investors can become shareholders in AvaWatz.

AvaWatz uses decision intelligence to make robots collaborate. Their platform transforms robots into teams of ‘cobots’ that get more done, faster, without compromising quality or safety.

AvaWatz’s first market vertical is in the airfield space. There, its platform uses camera and airborne sensors on drones to identify potential debris hazards (even in low-light or harsh weather conditions) for removal.

AvaWatz AI software identifies potential hazards, then transmits the information to the ground crew that quickly locates and removes the debris-providing a significant increase in speed and safety while avoiding human tedium.

Trimble introduces Trimble Siteworks Machine Guidance Module

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News Desk
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Trimble introduces Trimble Siteworks Machine Guidance Module

Trimble introduced the Trimble Siteworks Machine Guidance Module, extending the capabilities of Trimble Siteworks Software from surveying and layout to support on-machine excavator guidance and operator assistance.

With the addition of the new software module, contractors can use the same rugged Site Positioning Systems hardware and software to perform a variety of tasks on the job site, including surveying, machine guidance, in-field design, and reporting.

It is designed specifically for small site and utility contractors. The Siteworks Machine Guidance module gives users the ability to move the system between multiple excavators and jobsites as an accessible and entry-level combination machine guidance and construction surveying solution.

Kevin Garcia, general manager, Trimble Civil Specialty Solutions said, “Contractors can get more done with less training and time, and utilize their personnel for other tasks, while also moving workers out of trenches and away from equipment operating on the jobsite.”

In addition to helping contractors increase efficiency in the field, the new software module enables users to easily share information between the jobsite and the office.

Prepared Partners with NextNav on Vertical Location Intelligence

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News Desk
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Prepared Partners with NextNav on Vertical Location Intelligence

Prepared, the provider of mission-critical emergency multimedia services, has partnered with NextNav Pinnacle to power its z-axis location ecosystem.

Prepared’s software currently enables 9-1-1 dispatch centers to livestream from the scene of an incident. It receives multimedia content, and pinpoint mobile callers’ location data to build real-time, big-picture assessments and improve overall emergency responses.

Through a simple integration of NextNav’s z-axis services, Prepared will bring to its clients a heightened level of intelligence, combining vertical location data and video to amplify on-scene awareness with actionable Height Above Terrain (HAT) data and visualization tools.

For example, in a hypothetical emergency response where someone has activated their camera, responders will gain not only visual acuity but location intelligence of the scene, providing time-critical data as to floor-level intelligence, gaining a much clearer understanding of the environment contributing to citizen and responder safety.