Technological advancements in precision agriculture have enabled farmers to improve their productivity effortlessly. Remote sensing is one of the most important technologies used in this field. Here are 5 important applications of remote sensing used in precision agriculture.
Also Watch: How AI is Transforming Remote Sensing Applications
Space is an integral part of our daily lives. It provides crucial solutions and support for monitoring, early warning, and emergency response in case of catastrophic events.
Space inspires, protects future generations, and shapes our economic growth.
We need to understand that safety of space assets is crucial. The European Space Agency (ESA) is working to ensure that European space-based services are secure and that Earth’s orbital space is responsibly managed.
The recent ESA Council at ministerial level decided to strengthen Europe’s space ambitions, with a record-breaking, new budget envelope of 16.9 billion euros.
One of the core ambitions is secure connectivity. The Council reached a provisional agreement on the Regulation establishing the European Union’s space-based Secure Connectivity Programme for 2023-2027, aimed at deploying the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS2).
ESA’s FutureNAV program will strengthen and ensure the safety of the Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) system. Through this program, we will be able to respond to future trends and the needs of satellite navigation in the field of PNT.
ALSO READ: EU Space Strategy for Security and Defense
The rise of commercial use of space is transforming the space industry worldwide. ESA supports the European space industry and fosters commercialization.
Satellite navigation, secure telecommunications and integrated applications, transportation, weather and climate monitoring, and other diverse security related applications have promising commercial markets and revenue models. This is where Europe wants to position itself and it’s something that we are excited about.
Bolstering innovation is one of our priorities – the more innovation, the stronger we become. Innovation can come from newcomers, startups, and the space ecosystem’s legacy players.
We need to understand that safety of space assets is crucial. ESA is working to ensure that European space based services are secure and that Earth’s orbital space is responsibly managed
We have got the ESA ScaleUp program that aims to make Europe a hub for space commercialization by providing business incubation, business acceleration, intellectual property, and technology transfer services to new companies while ensuring that business ideas scale-up in new marketplaces and attract private and institutional investors.
Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity will handle in the coming decades. One of the ESA’s “Accelerators” – Space for a Green Future, is our response to the global environmental crisis. Under this, we are constructing a Digital Twin of Earth. Earth observation data will be combined with in-situ environmental measurements and AI to provide an accurate representation of the world’s past, present and future changes.
Another initiative is delivering critical data and information that can help us assess scenarios for policy implementation and reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and support its Green Deal.
ESA Member States have once again agreed on the importance of ESA’s Earth observation programs. This includes funding for FutureEO, ESA’s world-leading Earth science, research, and development program that harnesses innovation and develops pioneering missions while fostering innovative ways of using Earth observation data.
With the current geopolitics and the paradigm shift on the space ecosystem, the future provides an opening for many opportunities.
We are committed to work with our international partners to ensure safe, sustainable, and clean space. Space is being integrated into our daily life more than ever, and even though it looks big, it’s a limited aspect.
(Dr. Heriberto Saldivar is the Head of Foresight & Strategy Dept., ESA HQ Paris. The views expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author.)
Cognitive Space and Terran Orbital announced in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven automated mission management, with the onboarding of the Terran Orbital-built GeoStare SV2 spacecraft onto Cognitive Space’s CNTIENT® software platform.
A dual-use, Earth Observation and Non-Earth imaging (NEI) spacecraft owned and operated by Terran Orbital, GeoStare SV2. It features a novel compact optical payload that can collect medium-resolution images in day and night.
The CNTIENT platform is a SaaS AI-driven suite of modular services which augments the ground segment of constellations. By leveraging Machine Learning (ML) in a scalable cloud computing environment, CNTIENT balances order priority, fleet, spacecraft and system resources and constraints to optimize collection planning and link management.
CNTIENT helps constellation operators unlock the true potential of their fleet by understanding the capabilities of each spacecraft and the entire constellation.
CNTIENT seamlessly connects system behavior to business KPIs – satellite capacity, data latency, revenue fulfillment or other requirements. In doing so, CNTIENT frees mission operators from collection planning tasks so that they can oversee the constellation at the fleet level.
Both Earth Observations and NEI collections are handled through the CNTIENT platform, proving the flexibility of the overall system. The GeoStare SV2 spacecraft serves as a ground for new technologies that will be applied to Terran Orbital’s broader fleet of spacecraft that it manages for customers.
EagleView, a provider of aerial imagery for property insurers, announced a collaboration with Mike Holmes Inspections.
Mike Holmes Inspections will utilize EagleView Assess and its drone-based damage analysis and digital image capture technology to help improve the quality and efficiency of roof inspections for property insurance claims.
The collaboration creates a network of qualified roof inspectors across Canada who are trained and equipped with EagleView technology and who can be utilized by insurance companies to inspect a property for an insurance claim.
EagleView Assess is a drone and software solution that lets inspectors examine damage to or the condition of a roof without needing to spend time on a roof. Now being introduced to Canada, EagleView Assess has been in the market in the United States for the past year and has seen growing adoption among roof inspectors, independent adjusters, roofing contractors, and insurance companies.
Autonomous truck company Gatik announced a commercial collaboration to transport customer orders within Kroger’s Dallas distribution network.
Under the collaboration, Gatik’s medium-duty autonomous box trucks will transport fresh products from a Kroger Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) in Dallas, Texas, to multiple retail locations. Gatik’s autonomous trucks each feature a cold chain-capable 20’ foot box designed to transport ambient, refrigerated and frozen goods quickly, safely and efficiently.
The collaboration involves consistent, repeated delivery runs multiple times per day, seven days per week across Kroger’s Dallas distribution network. It unlocks the advantages of autonomous delivery for Kroger’s customers, increased speed and responsiveness when fulfilling e-commerce orders, reduced costs, and dedicated capacity across the supply chain’s middle mile. The operations will launch in Q2, 2023.
Gatik’s autonomous middle mile solution will help support Kroger by meeting customers’ immediate needs whether they shop online or in-store, providing access to goods faster and more reliably than ever before.
Rocket Lab announced that it will launch a pair of satellites on a dedicated Electron mission for BlackSky through global launch services provider Spaceflight during a launch window opening March 22, 2023, UTC.
The mission, named “The Beat Goes On,” will launch two of BlackSky’s Gen-2 Earth-imaging satellites from Pad B at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand and will bring the total number of satellites delivered by Electron to orbit to 159. Electron will deliver the satellites to a circular 450KM orbit, which will bring the total number of satellites in BlackSky’s constellation to 16.
As a secondary mission, Rocket Lab plans to recover Electron’s first stage after it parachutes back to Earth and splashes down in the ocean. Rocket Lab’s recovery team will retrieve Electron using a customized vessel and transport the stage back to Rocket Lab’s production complex for analysis. Data from this recovered stage will inform Rocket Lab’s ongoing recovery and reuse program.
Rocket Lab founder and Chief Executive Peter Beck says, “We’ve now delivered 9 satellites to orbit for BlackSky since our first launch for them in 2019 and we’re grateful to have been entrusted with their mission once again. Counting down to another mission just six days after a successful launch from LC-2 in Virginia is no mean feat and testament to our team’s experience and dedication to delivering response launch.”
The pair of high-resolution, multi-spectral, Gen-2 satellites to be launched on Electron will expand BlackSky’s network in space and its offering of real-time geospatial intelligence and monitoring services.
BlackSky combines high-resolution images captured by its constellation of microsatellites with its proprietary artificial intelligence software to deliver analytics and insights to industries including transportation, infrastructure, land use, defense, supply chain management, and humanitarian aid.
ATL Partners announced the formation of LightRidge Solutions, a portfolio company focused on the development, design and production of small, affordable, high-performance space and airborne sensors and payloads for vital national security needs.
LightRidge is comprised of GEOST, LLC, a leading provider of high-end space payloads acquired by ATL in 2021. More recently, LightRidge acquired Ophir Corporation, which develops and manufactures advanced airborne laser radar sensors, in late 2022.
LightRidge is led by Bill Gattle, a 35-year industry veteran with experience successfully leading significant space and airborne businesses. Mr Gattle was previously the President of L3 Harris Technologies’ Space business where he led L3 Harris Technologies’ breakout in next-generation national security space programs.
“When we acquired GEOST in 2021, we started a process of building out an enterprise that provides time-critical knowledge to our customers through affordable, yet small, powerful and increasingly autonomous space and airborne sensors,” said Mike Kramer, Partner at ATL Partners and Chairman of the Board of LightRidge Solutions.
“I am excited by the opportunity to partner with ATL and introduce LightRidge’s existing affordable, high performance and small space and airborne sensors and payloads to new markets, technologies and missions,” stated Bill Gattle, Chief Executive Officer of LightRidge.
“Together, LightRidge, GEOST and Ophir will offer the power of scale, operating synergies and access to capital for research and development and other investment needs.
We are realizing our vision of providing affordable yet small, powerful and increasingly autonomous space and airborne sensors, space electronics and C4ISR solutions that provide time-critical knowledge for operational advantage.”
LightRidge’s newest acquisition, the Ophir Corporation, is a leader in high-performance airborne advanced laser radar sensors. Those sensors are entrusted as mission-critical systems on some of the most treasured military aircraft, including the B-2 stealth bomber and operate in remote, extremely challenging environments.
LightRidge’s operating unit GEOST provides affordable, high-performance space payloads in small sizes, weights and power. Disruptive in novel technical, business and cost approaches, GEOST’s solutions are enabling distributed space architectures.
EOS Data Analytics (EOSDA), a provider of AI-powered satellite imagery analytics, is now listed in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), to help more large-scale businesses reach sustainable practices in agriculture with space tech.
With the inclusion of EOSDA, AWS Marketplace users all over the world are now able to find, purchase, deploy, and manage the following company’s products and custom agritech solutions:
These products will be presented as seven different offerings to address a spectrum of AWS Marketplace customers’ needs and drive the digital revolution in agriculture and related industries, from consulting and banking to telecom and logistics.
“It’s a pleasure for us to have our products present in the AWS Marketplace. This milestone enables us to reach out to more potential customers in our target markets and, with the help of AWS, boost the smart tech adoption in the agriculture industry across the globe. We are sure such expansion of our presence will allow us to scale our growth and make space tech a global driver of sustainability among a number of industries,” says Rim Elijah, VP of Sales at EOS Data Analytics.
Initially, the preserve of governments and academia, space has rapidly transformed itself into a viable business proposition. It’s imperative both for our society and security. We can no longer live our daily lives as we know it without space.
Shumpeter’s ‘creative destruction’ is defined as the decay of long-standing practices, procedures, products, or services followed by more innovative ones. Space provides one of the most disruptive technologies for innovation and change. Space technology and its applications are on the path of transition from a standalone system to becoming a part of everyday life.
Initially the preserve of government and academia, space as a sector is rapidly evolving into a viable business proposition.
Earth observation (EO), positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), and data analytics delivery over the Cloud is now dominated by industry players. Though globally government remain the single largest buyer of the space-based products and services, it can be seen that they are now increasingly being subsumed by new users or industries.
Primarily, space applications were used by military under government control. Private industry was used as defense contractors. While the civilian benefits of space communications and broadcasting were realized long ago and commercialized through private entities, EO from space and satellite-based navigation took longer to realize their commercial potential.
Initially, they were government-funded systems like NOAA, Landsat, IRS, GPS, GLONASS, etc. Private industry promoted the downstream applications of the services these satellites provided.
The commercialization of upstream activities like satellites and sensors began in the US around 1994 when Space Imaging was authorized to build and launch high-resolution EO satellites. The first commercial EO satellite was IKONOS-2, launched in 1999. Since then, Maxar has emerged as a major player after a series of acquisitions and mergers.
Tony Frazier, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Public Sector Earth Intelligence, Maxar, sees a market opening up with “a ‘buy first, build last’ mentality for procuring geospatial imagery, analytics, and related products and solutions. While the pace of this trend varies from country to country, it reflects on the maturity of the commercial geospatial sector worldwide and the increasing willingness of government agencies and militaries to put trust in proven commercial providers like Maxar to supplement their capabilities”.
In Europe, ICEYE, and in the US, Capella Space are prominent synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data provider that use SAR satellite constellations. Payam Banazadeh, Founder & CEO of Capella Space sees an uptick in government agencies and local and international humanitarian groups interested in accessing commercial SAR capabilities, especially in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, to monitor the conflict and inform critical decision-making. “Commercial companies, like Capella Space, are uniquely positioned to create more direct and reliable access to the critical information needed for governments to meet their mission and business objectives”.
Commercial companies are playing an increasingly larger role in space. NASA has been leading the charge with commercial cargo and crew programs as well as its initiatives to replace the ISS with commercial space stations. The Space Development Agency, a division of the US Space Force, has been pertinently acquiring commercial technology to build the agency’s Transport Layer.
It’s noteworthy, while SAR has been available in the government sector for decades, it hasn’t always been as easy to operationalize and scale at the rate it can be now.
Given the impact of climate change on the industry, private players are also eyeing commercial meteorological satellites. GHGSat is detecting greenhouse gases essential for climate change studies. On the other hand, Planet has shaken the market with its constellation of small satellites for optical sensing. Hawkeye 360 provides a new twist to ELINT satellites by integrating RF transmission detection with geolocation.
Commercial companies are playing an increasingly larger role in space. NASA has been leading the charge with commercial cargo and crew programs as well as its initiatives to replace the ISS with commercial space stations. The Space Development Agency, a division of the US Space Force, has been pertinently acquiring commercial technology to build the agency’s Transport Layer.
Dylan Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Voyager Space sees that, “governments are also leveraging commercial satellites and technology for several use cases, including Earth observation and national security.” He opines that “most people would be amazed to learn how many commercial companies are investing in space-based assets. The ‘space race’ of the 21st century now has dozens – perhaps hundreds – of players, and with that comes the need for a different way of looking at collaboration”.
AWS Director of Aerospace and Satellite, Clint Crosier says, “commercial organizations are developing new space technologies and driving innovation across various mission areas. Many of the 70-plus space agencies around the globe are looking to leverage this innovation to solve future mission requirements more quickly for space-based missions that directly benefit citizens and protect natural resources.”
Organizations like Ursa Space rely on AWS to maintain a catalog of over 10 million SAR satellite images which is used by government customers, first responders, and other users to easily find relevant information within minutes.
European countries are also opening up the commercial space sector for some time now through different European Union (EU) authoritative bodies.
“For the last 18 years, commercial space companies have been contracted by the Joint Research Council (JRC) to centralize the provision of imagery for the different countries. From 2023 the countries will need to rely on the commercial space sector to supplement Sentinel imagery for verification purposes,” indicates Skye Boag, Marketing Manager, and Maria Hochleitner, Sales Manager, European Space Imaging.
Emmanuel Pajot, Secretary General at EARSC observes “Governments and international organizations like the ESA have been working on transferring routine EO activities like procurement of data and services to commercial entities. Driven by the increasing demand for EO data and services, private companies are also developing their EO capabilities by launching their satellites and developing new technologies.”
The commercial EO industry is expected to grow through EU policies aimed at opening a level playing field to support the promotion of the private sector. ESA’s ScaleUp program is for making Europe a hub for space commercialization by providing business incubation, business acceleration, intellectual property, and technology transfer services to new companies while ensuring that business ideas scale up in new marketplaces and attract private and institutional investors.
In India, an independent agency, IN-SPACe was created to regulate and promote building of routine satellites, rockets and commercial launch services through native companies. Dr.
Vinod Kumar, Director – Promotion Directo- rate, IN-SPACe & Executive Secretary – ASI, Department of Space, Govt. of India concurs, “There is a paradigm shift from government to the involvement of many diverse space actors who are carrying out activities in up-stream, mid-stream, and down-stream.”
Technologies
The transition from sovereign to commercial is powered by the emergence of new application areas through the evolution of new user communities. It is an interplay of technological advances, emerging needs, and enabling policies.
Apart from new sensors on board satellites and satellite constellations, there are many advanced developments in data usage. Edge computing on satellites can reduce on-ground data curation and efficient bandwidth usage for data transmission.
The use of data ensembles, originally restricted to the oil & gas industry and meteorologists, is now becoming a common practice in many fields ranging from agriculture to urban planning.
There’s huge amount of EO data and an increasing awareness among non-space companies about the benefits of EO. Technological advancements, lower operating and launch costs, are also encouraging companies to participate in the space industry.
Cloud storage and computing is another technology impacting geospatial data and service delivery. This enables the ensemble approach by providing analysts with data aggregation, and AI/ML tools. The analysts, in turn, can provide easy access and insights to users who are not experts in geospatial analytics.
Customers across the public and private sectors increasingly demand integrated offerings that give them the insights they need 24/7 and in all weather conditions. That requires combining traditional optical imagery with other forms of intelligence, such as SAR and radio frequency (RF).
In illustrating this, Frazier describes a real-world test: “a camera on a Saab Gripen E fighter jet flying over Sweden captured a live stream of its flight path. Maxar’s Precision 3D Registration (P3DR) compared that incoming livestream to the Maxar 3D Surface Model of the area stored on the jet. By matching scenes in the livestream to the 3D data in real time, P3DR could determine the jet’s precise location, enabling the pilot to navigate and carry out the mission without GPS. The ability to transform satellite imagery into a 3D environment, paired with accurate geo-registration, is a new and powerful tactical navigation capability within GPS-denied environments.”
Then there is a growing popularity of low-Earth orbit (LEO). Space-based assets in LEO support much of the terrestrial infrastructure including utilities, emergency communications, military operations and more. Taylor explains that other technologies that will make an impact sooner rather than later include laser or optical communications between satellites in space – in other words, how the satellites in these vast new constellations will relay information and data to each other efficiently and securely.
Internet from space is another massively disruptive opportunity – this was seen when Starlink became a crucial tool in the Ukrainian war.
There’s huge amount of EO data and an increasing awareness among non-space companies about the benefits of EO. Technological advancements, lower operating and launch costs, are also encouraging companies to participate in the space industry. Thus governments, scientists, and other end-users must sort through huge volumes of data and intelligence quickly and at scale.
In 2022, AWS collaborated with D-Orbit and Unibap to directly address the secure processing of large amounts of satellite data with low latency. Crosier points out, using AWS-developed AI and ML software models in a payload onboard a D-Orbit satellite, real- time data analysis of EO imagery revealed that it helped reduce image size by up to 42 percent, increasing processing speeds and enabling real-time inferences on orbit.
The Cloud makes designing, testing, running, and analyzing space missions easy and affordable. In the Cloud, users can handle a hundred times more data than could be handled 30 years ago and at a fraction of the cost, with enormous processing power accelerating the innovation we see today. With this, companies do not need to build supercomputers or run data centers for their space programs.
For example, Descartes Labs collects huge volumes of geospatial data derived from satellites, aircraft, and other sources and uses AWS cloud technologies like AI/ML, and high-performance computing (HPC) to store, process, and rapidly analyze vast volumes of raw data, and deliver analysis to customers, which helps them make timely decisions about complex issues such as climate change, food security, and the protection of natural resources.
In the Earth Observation industry, resolution, revisit, accuracy, and pricing are important parameters. Boag & Hochleitner share example, “new constellations such as Albedo and EOI Space are coming onto the market next year and offering resolutions of 10-15 cm. This is the highest native resolution (not resampled) the industry has seen to date.” Maxar will launch Legion this year, offering intraday visits so the customer can get multiple images from sun up to sun down over the same AOI.
In terms of pricing, there are new opportunities for a wide range of industries; with many different satellite options, prices are becoming very competitive and will continue to do so as more and more constellations are launched.
Applications
Application is an area that attracts many service providers. The opportunities are limited only by the imagination and innovativeness of the data analysts. Data analysts can use AI and ML to provide simple, intelligent user interfaces, which can provide insights to end-users in many new fields. The increasing availability and affordability of EO data and services also enable smaller companies and startups to enter the market, increasing innovation and scope of application areas.
3D visualization and the resultant emergence of Digital Twins using high-resolution imagery is the next most important application, which is helpful for war fighter training, autonomous navigation, telecommunications planning, gaming, metaverse applications and more. Frazier highlights that Maxar was selected as the prime contractor for the US Army’s One World Terrain (OWT) program, which delivers 3D terrain and information services that support a fully accessible virtual representation of Earth through the US Army network.
According to Banazadeh, there is a massive growth opportunity for commercial applications across a range of commercial industries that can help social sector, NGOs, civil governments and other organizations make informed decisions and assist with humanitarian and environmental action.
Capella Space has launched vessel detection, change detection, and global change monitoring capabilities directly within their image tasking console to offer their customers automated insights into their collected data. They have also opened the door to commercial partnerships with data analytics companies.
This is seen as a major benefit to enabling faster, data-driven decision-making and for commercial users who might not otherwise have been able to leverage geospatial data.
Undoubtedly, advancements in AI and ML are opening up many new application areas like insurance, financial services energy, shipping, supply chain management, automatic object and change detection over and above the traditional areas like agriculture, forestry, security, etc. Such systems can be used by professionals who may not be experts in geospatial systems but are experts in their domains.
Utilization and development of space is no longer the preserve of the government alone. VCs, and SPACs, along with space associations are playing important roles in the new space era.
Taylor expresses this view when he says, “the set of use cases for commercial users is growing exponentially. A few standout categories are research in biotech, AgriTech, and financial services companies looking at space-based data (like Earth Observation imagery) to predict global markets.”
He further asserts that “a large percentage of the Fortune 100 is actively investing in or at the very least exploring the opportunities that space-based assets can offer from an innovation and competitive standpoint today, and only envision that number growing over the next 5-10 years.”
The drive to innovate both in technology and applications is the realm of innovators thinking out of the box. They are not burdened by legacy, hence can afford a fresh view of space technology and applications. Governments have appreciated the new space drive and provide financial support. They are the main source of funds.
The world is heading for a trillion-dollar space economy – the share of geospatial is about 700 billion dollar – the private sources must step in to reach the target.
Venture Capital (VC) firms are playing an important role in financing the new space companies. They provide seed capital to develop their technologies and market their products and as well as services. VC firms are also playing a pivotal role in identifying new opportunities for growth in the industry and in helping start-ups to navigate the challenges of the new space industry.
“There has been an incredible amount of investment and attention on the new space sector over the last five years, and we’ve seen many companies achieve incredible things, and some others haven’t panned out,” says Taylor. Ultimately, investment in this sector is critical to the future of its growth. Still, it can be challenging for some traditional non-deep-tech VC models because the development cycles are much longer, and their technical sophistication to diligence space-related deals is limited.
While Pajot observes “SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) are becoming increasingly popular for new space companies to go public. This allows new space companies to raise capital and access the public markets more quickly and efficiently than traditionally.”
Boag & Hochleitner strikes a cautious attitude by noting, “In the last three years, we have also experienced several global crises that have resulted in very high-interest rates and extraordinarily high inflation. Investments in the space sector are steadily declining, and some experts believe we are on the verge of a major recession.”
On the contrary Narayan Prasad, CEO of Satsearch says, “One of the key features of any successful space industry ecosystem worldwide has been the hallmark of governments acting as first customers to risky products/services. This enables their maturity to leverage the fruits of success to scale to markets abroad.”
While government support vary by country, he highlights some best practices. For example, the US government has supported NASA by creating special procurement reforms through the NASA Space Act Agreement.
Another interesting example is the use of Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts by the defense establishments in the US, such as the Space Force to provide contracts for immature technology products to come to fruition through procurement support based on their utility.
All the technological developments are leading to a disruption in the space landscape. New entrants in the market are giving competition to traditional companies. They are also challenging the traditional business models by offering new services and creating new markets.
Additionally, these developments are leading to a democratization of access to space data, as smaller companies and organizations are able to launch and operate their satellites, and this is creating new opportunities for innovation and growth in the space industry.
“Because of our global reliance on connected technologies including cell phones, we can no longer live our daily lives as we know it without space. It’s imperative both for our economy and our security, so I think you’ll see all sorts of solutions and organizations getting involved and participating in the space ecosystem,” sums up Banazadeh.
“With all of this opportunity, we see organizations bringing forth innovative and exciting new space missions. At AWS, we work closely with customers to understand their challenges, and innovate to enhance their missions with industry-leading cloud solutions,” says Crosier. However, he also considers the challenges associated with latency, or delay, involved with transmitting space data back to Earth, and operating in a limited bandwidth environment.
Utilization and development of space is no longer the preserve of the government alone. VCs, and SPACs, along with space associations are playing important roles in the new space era. “Associations are playing a key role in promoting the development of the new space industry through activities such as advocacy, education, and networking. They also help to bring together industry players, government agencies, and academia to collaborate on research and development and to identify new opportunities for growth in the industry,” concludes Pijot.
The ever-evolving world challenges and recent geopolitical events have proven how crucial are space-based services and products. The use of space technology for applications that will enhance the quality of life for humankind is on the way to achieving ubiquity.
ALSO READ: EU Space Strategy for Security and Defense
Digital maps have become an essential tool in various aspects of modern life. Cars need them to navigate safely and efficiently; logistics companies use them to deliver over 5,000 parcels every second globally; and emergency services use them to precisely track first responders.
Given their far-reaching utility, the market for digital maps and location technology is expanding at a rapid rate. According to our analysis, drawing on data from Gartner, S&P Global, ABI, and others, the market is currently valued at around USD 16 to 17 billion. In the next five years, it is predicted to nearly double in value, with the Asia Pacific region emerging as a significant growth driver.
There are two main reasons for this projected acceleration. One relates to technology. Businesses across the Asia Pacific are generating ever larger quantities of location data, while new software tools are helping them make use of it. The other reason has to do with motivation.
Several market trends – from vehicle electrification to autonomous driving, to the clamour for greater supply chain visibility and sustainability – are compelling businesses to integrate location technology into their business systems, operations and applications.
For Asia’s map creators, the sector growth represents an exciting and enormous opportunity, but also a significant engineering challenge. The abundance of spatial data generated by various devices provides fuel for creating real-time digital maps with increasing detail.
However, refining it all into valuable map information is a complex task not least because it comes in so many forms, ranging from overhead imagery and street observations to Internet of Things (IoT) data and traffic information. More than ever, mapmaking is an exercise in big data management.
Fortunately, map creators are rising to the challenge with new technologies and approaches that are transforming the way digital maps are produced, accessed and used.
One key area of investment is in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technologies. To keep pace with the rapid changes happening in the world, map creators are deploying AI models to help with many of the fundamentals of mapmaking, such as spotting road changes, updating speed limits, and predicting traffic.
HERE Technologies’ new-generation mapping technology, UniMap, for example, has trained models to conflate and semantically align different types of data into a single, consistent view of the world. This is a hard problem to solve and involves applying thousands of validation rules to ensure the quality and integrity of the map.
Despite the rapid progress around AI and automation, there will always be human input and creativity needed to continuously push the boundaries of mapmaking – not least in training the AI models themselves.
With map data stored in a unified map catalogue, businesses can easily select and combine the map information they need for a particular use case.
For example, an automaker building a navigation system could start with standard road information and then add parking information, electric charging points, 3D visuals and high-definition lane information.
Moreover, it can choose data for only the geographies it needs. We see the industry moving to a point where multi-layered products like this can be compiled in just a few hours.
Finally, we see a continuation of the trend towards ever more up-to-date and, ultimately, real-time maps. As map creators take advantage of live data from vehicles and IoT devices in the mapmaking process, digital maps will capture the present physical reality like never before.
In this respect, changes detected in the physical reality are visible on the map within 24 hours, with some edits taking just minutes or seconds.
The way maps are accessed will also change. Updates on demand can be streamed on the map, much like Netflix does for TV and film. This is in contrast to the industry’s traditional approach of processing and delivering business data in batches every month or quarter. This kind of map freshness represents a big leap forward for any business building location data applications.
Many emerging applications need deep access to location technology. Automotive markets across Asia are poised for growth. Countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan have become major players in the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) – such as Baidu, Hyundai, and Toyota.
Many governments in the region are also actively supporting the development of AVs and EVs through policies and incentives designed to encourage the growth of this industry. As such, connected vehicles need access to a reliable view of what’s happening around them and beyond the vantage point of their sensors.
At the same time, logistics companies also need access to an up-to-date representation of the world so they can quickly react to unexpected events in the supply chain.
To meet these needs, map creators in Asia Pacific are stepping up the plate and introducing exciting new technologies and approaches to deliver fresh and accurate digital mapping that will become the new standard for mapmaking in the future.
Note: This is a guest blog by Michael Cheong, Senior Director and Head of Global Spatial Data Ingestion & Analytics for Platform Foundation, HERE Technologies.
Merino is introducing 400+ laminate designs through the Merino BIM catalogue in the AID community in India.
This industry first solution would allow the architect and designers to easily access the visual characteristics like color and design of the laminates.
Thus, the Merino BIM catalogue would facilitate an opportunity for the AID community to work more effectively and efficiently on the designs.
The brand has designed an easy and instinctual process to help the AID community access files through its interface:
On introducing another industry first solution, Madhusudan Lohia, Director, Merino Industries Ltd. said, “As a brand, we look forward to connecting with the Architects and Interior Designers and have always taken an extra step in introducing something that is innovative, unique and useful for the industry. With the latest BIM catalogue, Merino is carving a path for the laminate industry to embrace technologically advanced solutions that will eventually help the industry grow. Merino is a brand that has been built on quality and we have a never-ending thrust to provide innovative solutions in times to come.”
Accenture has agreed to acquire an Indian based industrial artificial intelligence AI company Flutura. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.
Flutura, with around 110 professionals specializing in industrial data science services, is expected to strengthen Accenture’s industrial AI services to increase the performance of plants, refineries, and supply chains.
Accenture plans to bring Flutura’s capabilities to clients in the energy, chemicals, metals, mining, and pharmaceutical industries.
With Flutura, Accenture continues to build its data and AI capabilities for clients.
Senthil Ramani, senior managing director and Accenture Applied Intelligence lead for Growth Markets, said, “This acquisition will power industrial AI-led transformation for our clients globally and particularly in Australia, South-East Asia, Japan, Africa, India, Latin America and the Middle East.”
In a conversation with Geospatial World, Dr. Giulia Tessari, Remote Sensing Specialist, Sarmap SA, a Swiss company that is dedicated to implementing tools for processing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data.
Dr. Tessari believes, “India is in a fragile state considering it experiences most of the natural hazards from flooding, earthquakes to landslides. I believe, this is an area where this technology can support and help the decision-makers to improve and to find solutions to make the future sustainable.”
The mission is to develop and provide innovative, sophisticated yet simple customized Earth Observation solutions, dedicated to the generation of digital information of Earth system, ensuring technical advantages and economic benefits.
We generate tools to process SAR data that can help the life of users. Some of the users are expert in SAR processing, while some are just beginners. That is why we create user-friendly application that allows to extract interesting information, especially related to natural hazards. We also train our customers thus actively growing the SAR community.
The data is acquired by satellite missions which we support. We create the tool that can help the user to analyze satellite data and extract information.
The data we release is complementary to optical data. For example in case of floods or volcano eruption, the cloud cover and smoke make visibility poor, but SAR sensors can penetrate the cloud. SAR sensors can also work during night without depending on the sun’s illumination, which helps in to track illegal activities that happen during night and goes untraceable in case of optical sensors. SAR provides a complementary information that needs to be integrated into optical data.
SAR data provides key information which makes it possible to measure the formation with millimetric sensitivity. Best example of this is landslide. These data are of high use in floods as they can penetrate clouds and substitute optical data in many cases when the natural condition does not allow the use of optical data. Besides, it helps in target detection for tectonic movement.
During landslide this data helps in reconstructing the behavior of the formation and we have archival data starting from the 90’s just locally, and for all over the world from 2014. That’s how it was possible to analyze the back history, the pre-event and to have a sort of story of the evolution of the slope. This helps to at least understand where to set a more detailed sensor and create a base map to have all the information happening in Himalayans area or in the Alps, which we are also doing in Switzerland.
The big power like remote sensing data in general can now cover the entire planet. You can work at large scale, integrate different sensor, different information, which makes them one of the most important source of data information to characterize how this climate change is affecting our earth. Besides, it is important to take into consideration how political dynamics are, and they are made aware of the data but if they don’t know how the earth is evolving, it’s hard for them to take any decision.
At present, Sarmap is monitoring Switzerland. We are creating the deformation map of Switzerland and updating it every year. Besides, we are involved in several agricultural projects, and monitoring of drought in India. We are also involved in ones related to hydrology in Africa. We deal a lot with defense clients on target detection.
All the deformation maps that we are creating will be used by experts working on glaciers, on landslides, urban planning so that there should be just one source of information. And any institute can take advantage of this information. The results are going to be shared in the geoportal, from where end users can download the information.
Having an institute at national level, which is coordinating activities, is helping to have a common standard on the way data are provided. Quite often when you fragment too much information, everyone is using different standards, and then it becomes difficult to compare information and to create a general way to spread across different users. The community should be able to use the information in a right way and national mapping agencies need to make sure of that.
The global warming is causing the melting of most of the glaciers around the world and in case of Switzerland’s glaciers, we are accelerating the process of mapping them, but to change the trend, obviously scientists are not enough.
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