(from KONGSBERG Blog published on 28 mars 2017 by Hege Skryseth) Finally, the day is here, the day we have been looking forward to and working towards since 2014. Kognifai is here.
Kognifai has the ability to create change in the industry.
What is kognifai™?
Usually, I would introduce kognifai™ by saying it is an open, innovation-driven platform that will accelerate digitalization within KONGSBERG and simplify the business transformation journey for our customers. And that is definitely true. However, I think Kognifai is much more than this short, rather technical description allows for. And even though it is an accurate and truthful description, you may be asking yourself what it actually means. Even I sometimes find it hard to wrap my head around the world of possibilities Kognifai creates.
Let me explain: A digital platform is often compared to a smartphone which you can adapt to your specific requirements by downloading the apps that fit your needs. However, Kognifai opens for more possibilities than merely offering a range of apps.
I see it more like a combined workshop and digital marketplace: It already contains a large variety of applications from a range of companies, which users can access and subscribe to as they see fit, but developers from large and small companies can – and do – use it to develop and collaborate on new applications. Moreover, all applications on the platform are integrated in a way that allows users to collect, store, combine, analyze and apply the data they generate.
Ottobrunn, 17/02/2017 – Airbus Defence and Space, the world’s second largest space company, has signed a contract with Space Administration at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to develop and build all components of the German contribution to the German-French Earth observation mission MERLIN. MERLIN will measure the methane content of Earth’s atmosphere to improve our understanding of global warming
The German Aerospace Center and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) are jointly developing this challenging mission on behalf of the French and German governments. With this step, Europe’s two largest space-faring nations have resolved to seek a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that influence Earth’s climate.
As the industrial prime contractor on the German side, Airbus in Ottobrunn, near Munich, was commissioned by DLR to develop the payload and the payload ground segment. As the industrial prime contractor for CNES, Airbus in Toulouse is responsible for the overall system, the satellite platform and integration of the instrument.
“By developing MERLIN through DLR and CNES, France and Germany are making an important contribution to better understanding the causes of climate change,” said Dr Michael Menking, Head of Earth Observation, Navigation and Science at Airbus Defence and Space.
Starting in 2021, MERLIN (MEthane Remote sensing LIdar missioN) will deploy a LIDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) instrument to monitor the methane content in Earth’s atmosphere from an altitude of around 500 kilometres, and additionally make possible the first-ever global map of concentrations of this critical greenhouse gas.
Highly precise global measurement and mapping of methane concentrations in the atmosphere is only possible from space, as it requires continuous, large-area observation. Key areas such as tropical wetlands, rain forests and sub-Arctic regions are extremely difficult to survey without satellites.
To date, the methane concentration in the atmosphere has been measured from Earth observation satellites that use solely “passive” instruments. These utilise the sunlight scattered by the Earth’s surface to determine the content of trace gases (such as methane) in the atmosphere. They depend on daylight and only produce optimum results when skies are clear.
The MERLIN mission will be the first to use an “active” LIDAR instrument developed in Germany. It is equipped with an on-board light source (the laser) and can thus measure at night and even through thin cirrus clouds. The instrument emits two short light pulses at two slightly different wavelengths. As one wavelength is absorbed by the methane and the other is not, this difference between the two back-scattered signals can be measured and the methane concentration can be determined with unprecedented precision.
With the aid of data on wind speeds and directions, scientists around the world will be able to convert these values into global methane flow maps and determine the actual regional effects of methane. A better understanding of the global methane cycle is urgently needed in order to reliably predict changes in climate and pursue effective climate protection.
As of February 8, researchers, developers, and commercial users can access four unique satellite imagery datasets through the Planet Platform:
PlanetScope : RGB and NIR bands (3.7 m spatial resolution), captured by Planet’s Dove constellation
RapidEye : RGB, NIR and red edge bands (6.5 m spatial resolution), captured by Planet’s RapidEye constellation
Sentinel-2 : 13 spectral bands – RGB and NIR bands (10 m); six red edge and shortwave infrared bands (20 m); three atmospheric correction bands (60m spatial resolution)
Landsat 8 : 11 spectral bands – Panchromatic band (15 m); eight visible, near-infrared, shortwave infrared, and atmospheric correction bands (20 m); two thermal infrared bands (100 m spatial resolution)
Ingesting this data was no easy task. Planet would like to extend a special thanks to USGS and ESA who have generously made Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 data publicly available, and to AWS and Google as well, for hosting the imagery.
On February 14, 2017, Planet successfully launched 88 Dove satellites—the largest satellite constellation ever to reach orbit. This is not just a launch (or a world record, for that matter,) for Planet this is a major milestone. With these satellites in orbit, Planet will reach its Mission 1: the ability to image all of Earth’s landmass every day.
The night of February 14 was the culmination of a huge effort over the past 5 years. In 2011 Planet set itself the audacious mission of imaging the entire Earth land area every day. They were convinced that armed with such data, humanity would be able to have a significant positive impact on many of the world’s greatest challenges. Planet calculated that it would take between 100-150 satellites to achieve this, and they started building them. After this launch, Planet operates 149 satellites in orbit. They have reached their milestone.
It has taken a minor Apollo project to get there! Behind the scenes Planet has miniaturized satellites; learned how to manufacture them at scale; constructed the world’s second largest private network of ground stations; custom built an automated mission control system; created a massive data pipeline able to process the vast amount of imagery collected; and developed a software platform that lets customers, researchers, governments and NGOs access imagery quickly. Each of these has been a significant undertaking in and of itself—and together it represents a major systems engineering project. This is not to mention the non-engineering efforts from raising capital, receiving regulatory licenses, booking launches, and building a base of hundreds of partners that use the data to solve their needs. Without a doubt, the single largest driver behind this record-breaking success is the unrelenting dedication of the Planet team.
Here are some additional facts and figures regarding this launch:
The 88 Dove satellites (collectively known as “Flock 3p”) rode aboard a PSLV rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India
This leads to two world records: a record for the most satellites ever launched on a single rocket; and a record for the largest private satellite constellation in history, totaling 149 satellites in all
This is Planet’s 15th launch of Dove satellites and second aboard India’s PSLV. The launch of Flock 3p comes off the successful launch of Flock 2p on the PSLV in June 2016
After deployment, all 88 satellites will be autonomously commissioned in batches. It is expected that Flock 3p will enter normal imaging operations in about three months
Each of the Flock 3p satellites—our 13th build—sports a 200 mbps downlink speed and can collect over 2 million km² per day
On March 10, 2017, Planet released Planet Explorer Beta, an online tool that lets users browse geospatial data through time and see change across the globe. In short, Planet has introduced a time axis to maps.
Planet operates 149 satellites—the largest fleet in human history—giving us the capacity to collect a new image of everywhere on Earth’s land area every day. Most satellite imagery online today is years old. Planet’s imagery is different—it’s being constantly updated. With Planet Explorer Beta users can for the first time browse and see change month by month across the whole planet: every port, every farm, every forest, every city.
Here is what Explorer Beta looks like:
Navigate the globe through space and time
The goal of Planet Explorer is to enable users, both commercial and humanitarian, to browse the imagery we have and understand how it can meet their needs. We hope this will lead to more commercial partnerships and ensure humanitarian benefits are enabled. We also hope it will change the way people think about satellite imagery.
What is surprising is that in nearly every image we collect, when we compare it to a previous image, we see some level of change: a reservoir level drains, a tree is cut down, a field is harvested. People think of the Earth as static because we’ve been trained on static maps. In reality, Earth has never been static; it’s always changing and imagery of our planet should reflect that.
Explorer Beta is available publicly and, with no login, users can see regional and global change month-by-month or quarterly as they browse our global Timelapse Basemaps. Each basemap is made from over 2 million satellite images automatically processed and stitched together. At 3-5 meter per pixel, users can see a tree, a road or a ship, but not people or license plates; the goal is to see broad-scale change.
This is a Beta release so it’s not perfect. Planet’s mosaicking technology is cutting edge, but it’s also evolving: users will notice color anomalies and tiling in some of the satellite imagery, and some places where there is no data during a given timeframe. The data available via this browser is for personal, non-commercial uses only — we encourage commercial uses but for that a paid account is required. The browser is optimized for the big screen now–so don’t get out your mobile phones just yet.
And there’s more…once logged in with a free account, users can browse our full set of imagery worldwide. Planet has an average of more than 100 images for any location on Earth’s land surface. Users can browse these deep stacks of images, and see new imagery as it comes down daily. There’s also a tool to compare images from different days to see changes.
With a free account, browse daily imagery and see granular change with the compare tool
At Planet, we believe imagery of Earth should be accessible to everyone, and that every small company, NGO and person, can benefit from access to data about our planet—not just large companies and governments. With zillions of potential use cases, and our open API, our developer community is growing and we look forward to the innovative applications that they come up with next.
We invite you to visit planet.com/explorer and navigate the Earth in space and time!
(Munich, 17 March 2017) GAF has presented the results of the project “European-wide Mobility, Safety and Efficiency Management for Logistics Enterprises” at the ESA Council in Paris.
The solution aims at increasing the energy efficiency of logistics and transport service providers. The project has been conducted by GAF together with the partners T-Systems and DB Schenker and is co-funded by ESA as a demonstration project in the frame of the ARTESIAP programme.
The GNSS-based solution enables near real-time monitoring of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions during trip. For the truck driver, a mobile app gives immediate feedback of the current driving behaviour, allowing him to achieve and maintain an eco-friendly driving style. The logistics service provider has direct access to monitoring services in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, but also for tracking and tracing capabilities that enable monitoring the position of every truck in the fleet at any time.
To enhance the accuracy of the results, GAF has provided a high-quality digital elevation model (DEM) based on satellite earth observation images in order to obtain an even more accurate calculation of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.During the demonstration phase, DB Schenker conducted test trips on a distance in total of about 166,000 km. A considerable fuel and CO2 reduction of up to 11% has been observed. The integration of elevation information from satellite data improved the result again significantly.
GAF AG is a leading solutions-provider with an international reputation for the skilled provision of data, products and services in the fields of geo-information, spatial IT and consulting for private and public clients. Over the past 30 years, the company has been active in more than 1,000 projects in over 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. In addition, GAF is one of the most experienced service providers in the EU/ESA Copernicus Programme. GAF’s direct involvement with Copernicus, formerly GMES, started in 1998, at the same time as the Baveno manifesto was declared. The company is part of the Telespazio Group, which belongs to Leonardo and Thales, two European technology leaders.
To obtain more information, please contact: GAF AG
Daniela Miller
Arnulfstr.199, 80634 Munich
Tel. +49 89 12 15 28-0. Fax. +49 89 12 15 28-79
info@gaf.de | www.gaf.de
(28 March 2017) IDS GeoRadar, the leading provider of slope monitoring radar systems (IBIS) worldwide, and TREALTAMIRA, the worldwide leader in ground monitoring services using satellite InSAR, are pleased to announce a new integrated monitoring service to mine companies, capitalizing on their expertise in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technologies. The integrated use of satellite and ground-based SAR enables mining professionals to extend the concept of safety monitoring in space and time.
TREALTAMIRA and IDS GeoRadar are committed to offering a comprehensive solution to fulfill all mine stability needs, ranging from monitoring large-scale mining operations over hundreds of square kilometers, to specific movements at the pit scale.
Thanks to the large spatial coverage of satellite data, TREALTAMIRA can identify unstable areas over wide areas, also with the ability to extend the analysis of deformation back in time, thanks to the availability of historical archives of satellite images. All mining assets can be monitored regularly and precisely for deformation.
Over the last 8 years, IDS GeoRadar IBIS radars have been installed in hundreds of mines across five continents, providing critical monitoring of fast movement, with a very-short timing response, enabling the implementation of early warning alarms and tracking of slow movement for long term risk mitigation.
Through the analysis of satellite data, mine operators can complement ground-based radar measurements to identify anomalous instability over large areas, to address and properly plan the best monitoring array. The two technologies are complementary, with satellite radars mostly sensitive to the vertical settlement of ground and IBIS to rock face movements of steep walls.
TREALTAMIRA , a CLS group company, is the largest group worldwide providing InSAR satellite data for ground deformation monitoring. The proprietary technology of TREALTAMIRA, developed over the last 20 years, allow the detection of ground displacements with millimeter accuracy. Using multi-temporal satellite radar data TREALTAMIRA offers a time saving and cost-effective solution for mapping ground displacement over wide areas.
IDS GeoRadar, part of Hexagon, is a leading provider of multi-frequency, multi-channel Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Interferometric technology solutions worldwide. The company is committed to delivering best-in-class performance solutions and the pursuit of product excellence, through the creation of application-specific, innovative and cost efficient systems for a wide range of applications including mining, utility, civil engineering, geology and environment management.
(07 April 2017) DHIGRAS successfully demonstrated the integrated use of the new Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 satellites for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Denmark.
DHIGRAS has recently completed a pilot study together with the Danish Agrifish Agency on the integration of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 data within the field of grass mowing and catch crop monitoring. Based on the analysis of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2’s time series data coupled with in situ data, we demonstrated how the timing of grass mowing can be detected using optical as well as SAR satellite data. The pilot project was supported by the Danish Agrifish Agency;
‘At Danish Agrifish Agency, we are very excited and optimistic about the increased opportunities that come with the Sentinel satellites. The possibilities for using EO data within the agricultural control are significantly increased and combined with the use of state-of-the-art methods and complex processing the applications are promising’,
– Sanne Eskesen, Project Manager at Danish Agrifish Agency
Within the control of catch crops, the timing of ploughing is relevant for the Paying Agencies. DHIGRAS demonstrated during autumn 2016 how Sentinel 1 data can be analysed to detect ploughing and the timing of ploughing in Denmark.
A continuation of the 2016 activities in close cooperation with the Danish authorities are ongoing, as DHIGRAS recently won a competitive ITT for nationwide CAP control in Denmark. This work is now moving on to demonstrate how the coupling of Sentinel 1/ Sentinel 2 / Landsat 8 data and machine learning algorithms can map crop types and screen for homogeneity within field parcels. The results of the crop classification will be used operationally as part of the control procedure in 2017. During autumn 2017, the work will continue with monitoring of catch crop as well as monitoring of agricultural practices such as harvesting and ploughing.
GEO Secretariat helped the GEO community to organize and respond to the Call for Collaborative Data Innovations launched by the Global Partnership on Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) and the World Bank last year.
Recently the result was announced. Ten projects were funded and DHIGRAS together with the University of Twente and the European Space Agency have been funded to develop a project on Wetlands Monitoring with Earth Observation Data. The Lead Organization is Ramsar Center for Eastern Africa and the location will be Uganda.
The objective of this activity is to explore the potential of earth observation (EO) satellite data for taking stock of and monitoring wetlands, a vital component of the global water resources ecosystem. This activity will pilot design and development of a user friendly digital system for use by the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment, to enable national authorities to generate spatial time series statistical data for taking inventory and monitoring national wetland resources train the government on its use and produce a roadmap for scaling to other countries of East Africa. This is a unique attempt to demonstrate the potential of satellite-derived EO data to provide a full national wetland inventory in Uganda, which has been a pilot country for monitoring of SDG Target 6.6.
The Copernicus Data Hub, referred as SWEA, is a system in Sweden for long-term storage and distribution of imagery from the Sentinel satellites of the European Copernicus programme for Earth Observation. Following the successful acceptance, Spacemetric is seeking new ways of introducing the Copernicus Data Hub in other countries as well as adapting it for the upcoming DIAS procurement from ESA.
The SWEA system is operated by Spacemetric and is deployed in a cloud environment provided by Interoute. It has a high availability and is scalable to meet both the growing volumes of Copernicus data and the expanding user community.
In accordance with the SWEA project plan, the delivery was achieved seven months from the contract start.
“Arguably, SWEA is the most functionally rich Collaborative Ground Segment yet implemented, and we are very pleased to have reached this acceptance with SNSB.” Mikael Stern, Spacemetric CEO