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Home 2023 May 17

Daily Archives: 05/17/2023

Geospatial Technologies for Sustainable Palm Oil Production

By
Sim Choon Cheak
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Geospatial Technologies for Sustainable Palm Oil Production

With an eight billion population and growing by the second, there is a pressing need to balance food production with population growth and at the same time ensure sustainable agricultural practices to protect the environment and the communities.

At Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) we recognized the importance of employing geospatial technologies to enable sustainable plantation management practices. These technologies enable informed decision-making regarding planting, harvesting, and crop growth monitoring hence reducing environmental impact, and promoting efficient resource optimization.

The launch of Crosscheck in 2019, an open-access digital tool, which allows everyone to trace the sources of SDP’s fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and crude palm oil (CPO) across all geographical locations, covering all their business units and 1,105 mills in Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. This is achieved through a combination of information points such as a supplier’s location, land cover, and forest loss analysis. The platform helps identify deforestation-risk-prone areas and safe sourcing zones, which are used to guide sourcing decisions and identify suppliers that require further engagement.

Technological Intervention

Without the advent of remote sensing technologies via satellite and drone imagery, maintaining an accurate inventory of about eight hundred million oil palm trees spanning four countries proved to be an incredibly challenging task. SDP leveraged such technology to identify and georeferenced the planted palms, monitor palm health, and accurately assess nutrient requirements at individual palm levels. This enables precise optimization of fertilizer usage and other best agricultural practices, including pests and disease control. The ongoing research program, including collaboration with academia and technology providers, is aimed at further improving the efficiency of remote sensing technologies for oil palm plantations.

Remote sensing technologies are vital in enabling accurate and timely identification of deforestation-risk-prone areas and safe sourcing zones. With such functions, the platform enables industry stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding sustainable sourcing practices

Terrain and hydrology modeling technologies have also contributed significantly towards responsible land use practices in SDP. With these technologies, SDP can identify areas of low productivity and high erosion risk hence enabling the company to develop customized measures for soil conservation, water management, and land rehabilitation.

Enhancing satellite imagery with machine learning algorithms enables the prediction of palm oil production levels with a high degree of accuracy.

This information can help companies make informed decisions about pricing, supply chain management, and forecasting financial performance. It is also important for SDP to use remote sensing technologies to track changes in land use around oil palm plantations, such as deforestation or land conversion for other agricultural purposes, due to its capacity to support the Crosscheck platform, which guides sourcing decisions and identifies suppliers that require further engagement.

Remote sensing technologies are vital in enabling accurate and timely identification of deforestation-risk-prone areas and safe sourcing zones. With such functions, the platform enables industry stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding sustainable sourcing practices.

Putting on Platform

Spatial Data Management and Rapid Analytics (SMART) is an interconnected web and mobile-based GIS platform that is used to address critical business challenges and facilitate better collaboration across the palm oil production value chain. Its objective is to create SDP’s Geospatial Big Data ecosystem that enables stakeholder engagement using an integrated location intelligence platform to improve operational insights and efficiency towards the implementation of Agriculture 4.0.

The use of geospatial technology has enabled plantation managers to have a better understanding of their plantations, such as identifying the most suitable areas for planting or understanding the slope and soil types of various parts of their plantations. It also allows managers to monitor plantation activities such as harvesting and irrigation, enabling them to optimize their resources while reducing their environmental impact.

Furthermore, geospatial technology facilitates precision agriculture in which the use of GPS and sensors guide farmers in planting, harvesting, watering, fertilizing crops, and identifying areas that require further attention. Overall, geospatial technology provides plantations with critical information that can lead to more efficient and sustainable management practices.

Tachyus announces Contract with US Firm for Emissions Management

By
News Desk
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Tachyus announces Contract with US Firm for Emissions Management

Tachyus announced a contract with Lime Rock Resources (Lime Rock) for Aurion, its cloud-scalable, comprehensive GHG emissions management platform.

Lime Rock’s implementation of Aurion will help the oil and gas company establish a GHG baseline, and monitor, forecast, and report carbon emissions across all of its assets. This demonstrates Lime Rock’s commitment to corporate responsibility initiatives, including further mitigating its carbon footprint across its operations and enhancing its environmental, social, and governance disclosures.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Lime Rock to assist them in meeting their carbon reduction goals; Aurion will allow them to estimate the impact of their operational decisions on emissions and allow the team at Lime Rock to achieve their emissions goals,” said Matt Elbert, CFO of Tachyus.

“We look forward to utilizing the Aurion platform to measure, report and forecast the GHG emissions associated with our operations more accurately. This is expected to assist us in efficiently reducing our emission intensity, and to accurately quantify the reductions that we achieve,” said C. Tim Miller, President & COO of Lime Rock Resources.

Aurion addresses the growing need for the oil and gas industry to minimize GHG emissions by helping companies like Lime Rock to streamline GHG accounting, monitoring, and forecasting future emissions with robust, tested, and reliable approaches.

The platform provides transparency to all calculations making the accounting and reports thoroughly and easily auditable across all assets.

CesiumAstro Welcomes Hinrich Woebcken as Senior Executive Advisor

By
News Desk
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CesiumAstro Welcomes Hinrich Woebcken as Senior Executive Advisor

CesiumAstro has teamed up with Hinrich J. Woebcken, general partner at Trousdale Ventures and former president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America.

Woebcken will serve a dual role, working with CesiumAstro to refine its vision for connected mobility and supporting the company’s adoption of automotive mass manufacturing best practices.

Mr. Woebcken’s 30 years of industry experience contributing to the digitization and electrification of automobiles and profound understanding of automotive manufacturing efficiencies will benefit CesiumAstro as the company builds communications payloads for space, air, and ground platforms.

As senior executive advisor, Mr. Woebcken will bridge CesiumAstro and automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to support the future of connectivity.

“GPS, satellite radio, and cellular connectivity has revolutionized the consumer’s automotive experience over the last two decades,” said Woebcken. “Satellites will fuel the next leap in connectivity and CesiumAstro’s technology is well-positioned to unlock new potential in the automotive industry.”

The need for multiple layers of always-on connectivity will continue to grow as automobile-based sensors proliferate and data generated increases. As a complement to 4G and 5G wireless systems, satellite communication provides redundancy to enable greater vehicular productivity and autonomy. Accessible anywhere in the world at compelling costs compared to cellular, low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations will combine with low-latency, terrestrial connectivity to provide global infrastructure for secure access to data and decision-making.

“Secure and reliable communications are expected—and required—to enable next-generation services on-the-move,” said Shey Sabripour, founder and CEO of CesiumAstro. “Worldwide, there are 1.4 billion automobiles on the road, and they are rapidly becoming smart, software-defined systems in need of robust, redundant connectivity.”

CesiumAstro will also utilize Mr. Woebcken’s supply chain and manufacturing expertise as the company adopts best practices for commercial-scale production, the key to reducing costs and increasing access as satellite connectivity becomes commonplace.

Honeywell, Arcadis Partner-up to Help Reduce Carbon Footprint

By
News Desk
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Honeywell, Arcadis Partner-up to Help Reduce Carbon Footprint

Honeywell and Arcadis have announced a collaboration to provide tools and services that help optimize energy use and carbon emissions in commercial buildings worldwide.

With an initial focus on five projects in various locations worldwide, the companies will jointly offer a range of end-to-end solutions to help clients and customers expedite progress toward their carbon-reduction goals.

For Arcadis and Honeywell, this relationship strengthens the efforts that both organizations are making to help clients that are committed to improving outcomes related to ESG. The relationship is not exclusive, and both companies expect to add additional collaborations to enhance their offerings in this space.

Data from the World Economic Forum suggests that approximately 80% of today’s buildings will still be standing in 2050 – which means the challenge of controlling escalating energy use, particularly in older buildings, to meet carbon-reduction targets will increase over the coming decades.

Many building owners and operators lack the expertise and technology to monitor and optimize energy performance, making it harder for them to initiate change in their organizations. Honeywell and Arcadis offer unique but complementary services to address these shortfalls and will work with clients and customers to map a path toward lower carbon emissions, while also improving resilience.

For building owners who have already set goals and made pledges to reduce carbon footprint across their portfolio, the collaboration will deploy a software suite that applies milestones to document progress with tailored insights and data-led reports that showcase these efforts to internal and external stakeholders.

Honeywell and Arcadis will also formulate strategic goals for organizations that do not have access to asset- or device-level energy performance data.

Arcadis brings a deep background in evaluating business impacts across programs and portfolios. It assesses ESG risks for companies by developing current-state assessments that analyze technical and financial scenarios to measure impacts across energy and climate, materials and waste, and buildings and infrastructure. Arcadis also helps to build owners include other ESG goals in the design of their real estate assets, such as climate adaptation, biodiversity, and inclusivity.

“The strength of Arcadis is our ability to help clients identify where change can have the most impact in their organization when it comes to their energy use and carbon footprint,” said Alan Brookes, chief executive officer, Arcadis. “By working with Honeywell, we can take that insight and provide an end-to-end service from planning to execution and ongoing maintenance to allow clients to reduce the energy use within their building portfolios and demonstrate the value of their investment to key stakeholders.”

Honeywell brings decades of experience in developing smart-building technologies that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-enabled software to enhance control systems with sensor-driven analytics, occupancy tracking and predictive maintenance. The company also offers service solutions that help building owners fund improvements as operating expenses instead of capital investments.

“By combining our ready-now advanced building controls software with Arcadis’ expertise in sustainability assessments and roadmapping, we can develop plans for customers that meet both their short-term need to manage energy use and their long-term aspiration to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Billal Hammoud, president and chief executive officer, Honeywell Building Technologies. “By drawing on our respective strengths, we can deliver more efficient and effective sustainability solutions for buildings.”

Documenting and reporting sustainability efforts will only increase in importance as more and more regulatory actions are enacted. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), for example, requires all large and listed companies to disclose information on risks and opportunities related to ESG issues and their impact on the environment.

Through collaborations such as this one, Arcadis and Honeywell are creating an ecosystem of third-party solutions and complementary services to help clients and customers worldwide reduce their energy consumption and carbon emissions.

GEOINT to Play Crucial Role in Emergency Response, Says New Survey

By
Richa Tyagi
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GEOINT to Play Crucial Role in Emergency Response, Says New Survey

Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) data is growing exponentially. Technologies are evolving faster than an organization can manage. Where will this moment lead to? What kind of preparation does the workforce need? And how best can the emerging technologies be used?

MeriTalk, a public-private partnership focused on improving the outcomes of government IT, and the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), a nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to promoting GEOINT tradecraft, did a survey of 100 GEOINT stakeholders within the Federal government, state and local government, and higher education. The study is underwritten by Hitachi Vantara Federal and Rubrik.

The study, “GEOINT: Surveying the 10-Year Horizon,” asked them to envision the next decade of geospatial intelligence in terms of workforce, technology, and processes.

The study explores:

  • Current GEOINT capabilities and efforts
  • Priorities for the next decade of the tradecraft
  • Anticipated challenges
  • Recommendations for preparing the GEOINT workforce

Only 39 percent of survey respondents were very confident in their organization’s data-driven decision-making, and fewer than one in three gave their organization an “A” in meeting five technology objectives set out by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to achieve its 2025 target state. Those technology objectives include treating data as a strategic asset, building with customers in mind, and bringing artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and high-performance computing into the GEOINT mainstream.

Nevertheless, three in four are optimistic about the future of GEOINT, and 98 percent have taken at least one step to prepare for future GEOINT advancements. For example, nearly half have evaluated relevant computing, network, and/or storage needs.

More Utilization of GEOINT Data

Improving the ability to adopt and work with emerging technologies is the No. 1 priority for GEOINT organizations over the next 10 years, respondents said. In particular, 84 percent feel organizations must accelerate the adoption of AI-enabled GEOINT capabilities to speed mission outcomes. However, only 37 percent currently have a formal strategy for adopting the GEOINT workforce to AI – showing no significant change from 2020.

“The GEOINT revolution is upon us,” said Lacy Cooper, Principal of MeriTalk. “Technology is evolving rapidly, data is growing exponentially, and GEOINT missions are increasingly complex. This study is a roadmap to the investments in people, technology, and processes that will enable the GEOINT community to address some of humanity’s biggest problems.”

Over the next 10 years, respondents said GEOINT will have the biggest impacts helping the US address emergency response and aid during natural disasters (47 percent), health geography (40 percent), climate change (39 percent), and urban planning and development (39 percent).

Need to Fill the Workforce Skill Gap

The workforce skills gap will be the No. 1 challenge for the GEOINT community over the next 10 years, respondents said. Three in four respondents expect their organization to grow their GEOINT talent pool in 2023, and over the next 10 years, critical thinking and data visualization skills will be most in demand.

“Future GEOINT leaders will need to continually learn and adapt to new technologies as they develop,” said Ronda Schrenk, CEO for USGIF. “With as far as GEOINT has come in the past decade, imagine how advanced it will be in another 10 years. Soft skills will also be critical for leaders confronting problems we have only just begun to think about.”

Other key findings include:

  • Sixty-nine percent say their organization has far more GEOINT data than they are able to analyze
  • Data analytics will be the most important technology over the next 10 years of GEOINT development, with 48 percent of organizations planning to invest in it during the next two years
  • GEOINT stakeholders with a formal strategy for adapting the workforce to AI are significantly more likely than their peers to consider themselves ahead of the curve in GEOINT technological advances

ALSO READ: Drones, Cloud, IoT and Blockchain Driving APAC Logistics Industry: HERE Technologies Study

Stellantis to Acquire Equal Stake with Faurecia and Michelin in Symbio

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News Desk
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Stellantis to Acquire Equal Stake with Faurecia and Michelin in Symbio

Stellantis to Acquire Equal Stake with Faurecia and Michelin in Symbio

Faurecia, a company of the FORVIA group, Michelin and Stellantis announce the signing of a binding agreement for Stellantis to acquire 33.3% stake in Symbio, a leader in zero-emission hydrogen mobility. Faurecia and Michelin will remain shareholders with 33.3% holding each.

The announcement is a significant step in the decarbonization of the mobility industry and illustrates Symbio’s technological excellence in hydrogen fuel cell innovations. The addition of Stellantis as a shareholder will boost Symbio’s development across Europe and in the U.S.

“Acquiring an equal stake in Symbio will bolster our leadership position in hydrogen-powered vehicles by supporting our fuel cell van production in France, and it also serves as a perfect complement to our growing battery electric vehicle portfolio,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO.

Symbio plans to produce 50,000 fuel cells per year by 2025, leveraging its Saint-Fons state-of-the-art gigafactory, which will start production in the second half of 2023. In 2022, Symbio announced the implementation of its HyMotive project aimed at accelerating its industrialization and the development of disruptive innovations, a project that will enable the company to reach a total annual production capacity in France of 100,000 systems by 2028 with the creation of 1,000 jobs in France.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Closing is expected in the third quarter of 2023.

EUSI and Airbus partner to provide EMSA satellite imagery service

By
News Desk
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EUSI and Airbus partner to provide EMSA satellite imagery service

EUSI and Airbus partner to provide EMSA satellite imagery service

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has awarded European Space Imaging (EUSI) and Airbus a 24-month contract for the delivery of Very High Resolution (VHR) optical satellite imagery. The integrated service ranked number one among a strong field of competitors to provide all data sets, further evidencing both companies position as European industry leaders in 30 cm resolution imagery.

EMSA relies on optical satellite images as part of its maritime surveillance services to the European Commission and Member States to support a number of functions in the maritime domain such as safety, security, environmental monitoring, and law enforcement. The current framework awarded to EUSI and Airbus will have the possibility to be renewed for two additional periods of 12 months each.

To fulfil EMSA’s imaging requirements, Airbus will be supplying imagery collected by SPOT, Pléiades and Pléiades Neo satellites, whilst EUSI will be supplying imagery from the current Maxar satellite constellation, the new Maxar WorldView Legion satellites once on orbit, as well as other value-added services. Leveraging the satellites’ respective ground stations, the data will be delivered in near real-time to EMSA, enabling fast response times and critical insights to decision-makers.

EUSI and Airbus are European satellite imagery providers offering true 30 cm satellite data downlinked in Europe. The resolutions and rapid revisit rates from the integrated service operated by Airbus and EUSI are game changers to the maritime sector and will ensure a high level of maritime domain awareness is maintained, thus keeping our seas safer.

VERSES Expands Autonomous Drone Governance Infrastructure

By
News Desk
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VERSES Expands Autonomous Drone Governance Infrastructure

VERSES Expands Autonomous Drone Governance Infrastructure powered by KOSM to Milan, Italy

VERSES AI, a cognitive computing company specializing in the next generation of artificial intelligence, announced the successful completion of its Urban Air Mobility (UAM) demonstrations in Milan, Italy.

As part of Flying Forward 2020 (FF2020), a European Commission-funded special research and innovation project developing Urban Air Mobility infrastructure, and in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Technologies in Health and Well-being of the San Raffaele Hospital (OSR) which is the technological research unit that coordinates the activities of the FF2020 living lab in Milan, VERSES successfully deployed multiple autonomous drones to deliver medicines in the campus and monitor their perimeter against intruders. Utilizing VERSES’ real-time mobility portal, powered by the company’s operating system for AI, KOSM, hospital staff were able to autonomously deliver medicines across campus, and monitor against trespassers on premises.

OSR’s demonstrators aim to include an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) prototype in the hospital’s critical infrastructure for delivery, security, and maintenance, providing video in support of surveillance and other services located at the hospital.

During the demonstrations, the mandated security officers and maintenance appointees can request the drone service to monitor critical areas, while pharmacists can send airlifted medicines to patients in peripheral areas of the campus. These operations are in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and guard the privacy of users. As a result, the system will enable remote human configuration of the most effective system to improve 1) the efficiency and timeliness of health services, 2) expedite maintenance interventions, and 3) accelerate detection of physical intrusions, thus acting as a deterrent to malicious attacks.

San Raffaele Hospital showcased how drone services can be safely integrated in a hospital environment to conduct autonomous operations for delivering valuable resources and maintaining physical safety on-premises. The success of these demonstrations paves the way for implementing even more complex use cases, such as transporting biomedical material among a multitude of clinics, laboratories, and facilities at the country level.

VERSES will continue working with autonomous drone flights operating Beyond the Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) through Flying Forward 2020, a collaborative research project comprised of 12 global multidisciplinary partners focused on developing a new Urban Air Mobility ecosystem within the geospatial data infrastructure of cities throughout the European Union. The 4th and 5th demonstrations in Oulu (Finland) and Tartu (Estonia) are anticipated to take place in Q3 2023.

Ouster announces Expansion of Supply Agreements with May Mobility

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News Desk
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Ouster announces Expansion of Supply Agreements with May Mobility

Ouster announces Expansion of Supply Agreements with May Mobility

Ouster, a provider of high-performance lidar sensors, and May Mobility, a leader in the development and deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, announced expansions to their supply agreements to provide lidar sensors for May Mobility’s autonomous vehicle solutions. These expansions include a binding commitment for a combined purchase of over one thousand Ouster OS1 and Alpha PrimeTM VLS-128 sensors through 2024 to meet demand for new AV deployments starting this year.

“We are rapidly growing our operations and technology and need partners that deliver high-performing, reliable and scalable products to be successful,” said Edwin Olson, CEO of May Mobility. “With Ouster, and now Velodyne under its umbrella, we get a field-tested lidar suite from one supplier, making it even easier to expand and deploy our growing fleet to more communities and businesses.”

Ouster has previously shipped hundreds of sensors to May Mobility for its commercial programs. May Mobility’s vehicles are outfitted with four Ouster OS1 digital lidar sensors for short and mid-range detection and one Alpha PrimeTM sensor for long-range detection, providing surround-view coverage to increase safety and performance.

May Mobility partners with transit agencies, communities and businesses to make transit more sustainable, safe, accessible and equitable for everyone by building AV technology that works in the real world. To date, May Mobility has deployed more than 320,000 autonomy-enabled rides and recently announced the launch of its third-generation autonomous driving system further improving the safety, efficiency and rider satisfaction on the path to driverless commercial operations.