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(March 2015) The Italian Space Agency (ASI) recently announced a tender to stimulate industrial research programs in small to medium enterprises.

A consortium produced by TRE (prime contractor), Imageo and the University of Florence received the highest score for its COSMOPLUS project. The project competed among 15 other proposals in the subject area: “Earth navigation and observation: how to improve exploitation of national and European satellite platforms”.

Examining the state of art of InSAR applications, COSMOPLUS (Continuous Observation from Space by Means Of different Platforms Used in Sinergy) aims to overcome limitations in monitoring surface deformations with satellite radar data, to further develop their commercial capabilities.

COSMOPLUS will address:

  • The use of multi radar platforms to create a redundant and reliable system, enabling an artificial contraction of acquisition intervals and guaranteeing a higher number of image acquisitions over the same area of interest (AOI).
  • The Optimization of the processing system for a regular update of displacement information.
  • The identification of standard procedures for the integration of InSAR with conventional measurements.
  • The creation of an integrated monitoring system (satellite + in-situ), which enables an early warning system, also using prediction models.

Source

The principal objective of the SUCE project is to define a concept and architecture, and provide the prototype permitting to retrieve an optimal EO image product sets suitable for user defined mapping and monitoring activities avoiding both manual filtering and transfer of useless data.

The SUCE Engine aims at providing users with the ability to perform suitability analysis on archived datasets based on metadata, return suitable results (as metadata maps), analyse potential gaps & allow modifying the criteria, and finally use the metadata to directly download archived dataset needed for defined mapping product.

End-to-end use case scenarios and associated requirements are being identified in order to define SUCE architecture at system level and the software requirements and architecture engineering at subsystem level. Three general use cases and their combinations are presumed:

  • single image retrieval
  • seamless spatial coverage
  • temporal coverage

EO product metadata analysis will be the subsequent task. Each of the repositories established by the Earth Observation (EO) data providers permitting the access and the download of selected satellite imagery shall be identified and analysed.

The core development activity is represented by the SUCE prototype design. It includes implementation, verification and deployment of the system architecture with the aim to provide a scalable and modular SUCE Engine. The entire software development process follows an open source approach. The prototype validation and evaluation will cover three scenarios: validation against use cases, validation based on simple use cases built on top of simulated metadata and validation involving end-users.


SUCE GUI mockup

SUCE project is led by GISAT as prime contractor and it is supported by Advanced Studies and Research Center (ASRC) as subcontractor. This 18-months project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) through the GSTP programme.

Gisat provides wide range of geoinformation services based on Earth Observation technology. It focuses on operational application of satellite mapping to monitor various aspects of our environment and development of dedicated web based platforms for geoinformation analysis and assessment
Web // E-mail // Tel:+420 271741935 // Fax: +420 271741936

GISAT has got a new contract with the World Bank to provide further consultation services for its web based exploration platform PUMA – the Platform for Urban Management and Analysis.

PUMA, originally developed with focus on needs of the East Asia and Pacific Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management unit of the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice (GPSURR), will evolve into the global platform supporting the bank activities in the context of the World Bank Global Urban Growth Data initiative. The objective of the Global Urban Growth Data initiative is to develop harmonized, comparable urban reference datasets and populate them with selected standard information on historical spatial expansion of cities, disaggregated demographic information over urban districts based on census data, and other relevant socio-economical and environment data. The core of the current GISAT’s assignment is therefore to expand use and utility of the PUMA platform to serve for such public and global use, include key global and regional urban data and ensure the sustainability and evolution of PUMA for day-to-day World Bank operations.

PUMA is a web based geospatial software platform developed using GISAT WebTool framework to support the World Bank urban development practice in exploring and analyzing integrated spatial data. PUMA adapts open-source software and allows users with no prior GIS experience to access, explore, visualize, analyze and share urban spatial data from a variety of sources in an interactive and customizable way.

Please, find more about the World Bank PUMA at puma.worldbank.org

Gisat provides wide range of geoinformation services based on Earth Observation technology. It focuses on operational application of satellite mapping to monitor various aspects of our environment and development of dedicated web based platforms for geoinformation analysis and assessment
Web // E-mail // Tel:+420 271741935 // Fax: +420 271741936

CS experts are recognised by both the French and international scientific communities and they bring adapted technical solutions to every need or evolution in the fields of Earth Observation.

These experts are aware of the latest technological innovations in their domain. The use of free and open-source software (FOSS) has been growing in the IT world for the past fifteen years. It constitutes a real opportunity for cost, time and risk reduction in the development or integration of applications. CS SI is currently leading the development of Orfeo Toolbox (OTB for CNES) and, for ESA, the Sentinel Toolbox Exploitation Platform (STEP) for all Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Toolboxes.

Thanks to its open architecture with standardized interfaces, the GeoStorm Innovative Collaborative Platform is a perfect solution for the main base of the future European & Open Engine for Copernicus. In addition this solution could also be used for the future Ground Segments for European & National programs. Geostorm, integrating OTB and ESA Sentinel Toolboxes, could be very attractive for Copernicus Core System Evolutions and National Collaborative Ground Segment.

Developed by CS-SI, Geostorm provides a solution for Data product dissemination & Access with total independence of the data center and brings, through its Innovative Development Environment (IDE) a web-framework for the development of:

  • New image processing chains
  • New collaborative data products
  • Innovative tools & applications/services

(Munich, Nyala, Khartoum, March 2015) GAF AG has successfully accomplished the extensive fieldwork programme in its Darfur Natural Resources Mapping and Database Project carried out for the Darfur Land Commission (DLC). It is the so far largest comprehensive and most up-to-date inventory and capacity-building project on the natural resources and ecological potential of this 500,000 sqkm Saharian/Sahelian region.

A wealth of Earth observation and existing data served as base for preparation, recent field data and Darfur wide mapping including change detection at different scales will deliver now accurate planning data for regional development measures. The field data collection started in 2011 and has been continued over several dry and wet seasons up to end of January 2015. Thematic areas covered are Geology and Minerals, Water Resources, Geomorphology and Soils, further Ecology, Biology and Biodiversity, Land Cover and Land Use and the changes in these over the past decades, and finally Socioeconomic Conditions and Livelihoods in selected population centres. The fieldwork was carried out by expert teams by topic and region or state, involving at peak times well over 120 national and international staff to fulfil the enormous task.

Eng. Mohamed Abdulrahman Mudalal, DLC Commissioner states: “We are first of all very satisfied that we were able to entirely complete the ambitious fieldwork programme and could even add in specific thematic aspects, this despite the security challenges we have seen the past years. The first analysis shows very promising results. They will allow considerably better management of resources and for a targeted rural and urban development of the region.”

About DLC

The DLC was established in 2007 as an integral part of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA) to address traditional and historical issues of land tenure and to review natural resources management. TDRA, the interim authority for the Darfur region of Sudan, was created earlier under the terms of the Darfur Peace Agreement (signed in 2006) and since 2012 has been replaced by the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) under Chairman Dr Tijani Sisi.

The DRA is defined by the Darfur Peace Agreement as being the principal instrument for the implementation of that agreement in cooperation with the Sudanese Government and the support of international partners. The DRA is tasked with enhancing the implementation, coordination and promotion of post-conflict reconstruction and development projects and activities in Darfur and is responsible for the cooperation among the five Darfur states.

About GAF

The company is based in Munich, Germany and has developed to a leading European Geo-information and consulting solutions provider with a high reputation. GAF today delivers turn-key projects in natural resources management, water and environment, agriculture, forestry and climate change, renewable resources, mining and geology. Over the past 29 years, GAF has been active with over 500 projects in more than 100 countries worldwide. The company is part of the Telespazio Group, which belongs to Finmeccanica and Thales, two European technology leaders. The Darfur NRDB project is a beacon project to illustrate GAF’s broad and deep geo-information consulting activities in Africa, where the company has covered nearly the whole continent and many prominent natural resources and biodiversity hot-spots.
Further information is available at http://www.gaf.de

GAF is pleased to announce the acquisition of a contract to design and implement a new mining title-cadastre and registry system for the Republic of Tajikistan. The client and beneficiary is the Department of Geology under the State Committee for Investments and State Property Management.

Modernisation of the Mining Cadastre of the Republic of Tajikistan

The overall project objective is improving governance in the mining sector by establishing a transparent system for granting and managing mineral permits. The efficient and reliable administration of such titles is considered to be a key factor in increasing investment and growth in the Republic of Tajikistan’s mining sector.

In practical terms, the project involves implementing a rule-based, computerised management system with GIS functionality that caters for the entire life cycle of mineral titles. The system must also ensure that the title administration procedures comply with the relevant laws and regulations. The implementation will be accompanied by institutional and technical capacity building activities within the cadastral organisation. The resulting improved and transparent administration of mining titles is expected to make the mining sector more attractive to private sector investment, to exploration and mining companies.

The project has a duration of two years and is embedded in the “Tajikistan Private Sector Competitiveness Project” funded by the World Bank/International Development Association (IDA). This was launched as a response to Tajikistan’s request for assistance in developing its mineral sector. It will result in the introduction of best practices and will strengthen the contribution of Tajikistan’s mining sector to economic development in the country.
The assignment is well-suited to GAF, as the company has more than 20 years of experience in the institutional and technical establishment and reorganisation of mining cadastre authorities. This includes the provision of associated consultancy services and cutting-edge software solutions. GAF’s comprehensive experience and skills in the field of mining, land management and agriculture cadastres and registries is underlined by the fact that it has implemented more than 2000 cadastre-application installations in the public and private sectors. GAF’s software unit consists of more than 40 software programmers, developers and testers.

About eMC+

eMC+ is GAF’s framework for providing mining cadastre authorities worldwide with a complete package of products and services. Using the eMC+ framework as a basis, GAF can create tailor-made and maintenance-friendly solutions for each individual client. As it is web-based, it works in an intranet setting as well as over the internet. The application’s source code can also be made available to the client, thereby ensuring that the solution can be used sustainably beyond the lifetime of the implementation project. The system is based on FOSS (free and open-source software), which ensures that no additional costs are incurred for 3rd party licenses and their maintenance. Thus the total cost of ownership is fully transparent and there is no vendor lock-in.eMC+ increases institutional capacity and efficiency by providing a comprehensive mineral tenure management

About GAF AG – Germany

GAF AG is a leading solutions-provider with an international reputation as a skilled provider of data, products and services in the fields of geo-information, spatial IT and consulting for private and public clients. Over the past 29 years, the company has been active in more than 500 projects in over 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The company is part of the Telespazio Group, which belongs to Finmeccanica and Thales, two European technology leaders. GAF is currently performing mining governance and consulting projects in a number of countries, including Morocco, Mongolia, Nigeria, Laos, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan.

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 | www3.gaf.de/emcplus/

DEIMOS-2, the Very High Resolution fully private Spanish satellite, is now a Copernicus Contributing Mission in the new Data Warehouse phase of the Copernicus Space Component Data Access, coordinated by the European Space Agency. On February 27, the Copernicus GIO Emergency Mapping Service was activated following the Ebro River flooding events, near the town of Zaragoza, Spain. Elecnor Deimos delivered DEIMOS-2 acquisitions from 25th and 26th February over the affected area, less than 4 hours after the emergency activation, at a resolution of 75 cm. Elecnor Deimos fast response and reactivity, coupled with the capabilities of DEIMOS-2 satellite, demonstrated the suitability of the mission for Copernicus users.

On April 1st, 2015, DEIMOS-2 joined the fleet of Copernicus Contributing Missions in the new Data Warehouse phase of the Copernicus Space Component Data Access (CSCDA), coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Copernicus is the new name for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme, previously known as GMES. This initiative is headed by the European Commission (EC) in partnership with ESA. The programme is designed to provide accurate, timely and easily accessible information, to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change, ensure civil security and support effective policy-making for a more sustainable future. Copernicus offers a unified system through which vast amounts of data are supplied into a range of thematic information services. These services fall into six main categories: land management, marine environment, atmosphere, emergency response, security and climate change.

DEIMOS-2, with a mass of 300 kg and over 2 meters long, is a very-high resolution (VHR) multispectral satellite which produces pan-sharpened images with a resolution of 75 cm per pixel. Its advanced imaging camera acquires panchromatic and 4-band multispectral images over a 12-km swath (which can be increased to 24 km in its wide-area mode), with a sustained production capacity in excess of 150,000 km2/day. DEIMOS-2 is also capable of acquiring single-pass stereo pairs, which allows creating 3D models of the imaged area. Launched in June 2014, it is the first Spanish Earth Observation VHR satellite, and it is owned and operated by Elecnor Deimos

On February 27, the Copernicus GIO Emergency Mapping Service EMS-Mapping) was activated following the Ebro River flooding events, near the town of Zaragoza, Spain. Elecnor Deimos delivered DEIMOS-2 acquisitions from February 25 and 26 over the affected area, less than 4 hours after the emergency activation, at a resolution of 75 cm. Elecnor Deimos fast response and reactivity, along with the agility capabilities of DEIMOS-2 satellite, demonstrated the suitability of the mission for Copernicus users.

The Copernicus GIO Emergency Mapping Service provides all actors involved in the management of natural disasters, man-made emergencies and humanitarian crises, with timely and accurate geospatial information derived from satellite imagery and complemented by available in-situ and open source data. The emergency service has a worldwide coverage and is provided only upon activation by authorized users, in all phases of the emergency management cycle.

Elecnor Deimos
Elecnor Deimos is Elecnor’s technological area that specialises in engineering solutions in the aerospace, information systems and telecommunications sectors. Its main business areas are remote sensing, aerospace and defence systems, air and maritime navigation, satellite systems.
www.elecnor-deimos.com

Elecnor
Elecnor develops projects involving infrastructure, renewable energies and new technologies. It has 12,500 employees and operates in over 40 countries.
www.elecnor.com

Figures:


Ebro River flooding, Zaragoza, Spain. DEIMOS-2 75cm pansharpened image acquired on March 2, 2015.


Detail of the Ebro River flooding, Zaragoza, Spain. DEIMOS-2 75-cm pansharpened image acquired on March 2, 2015.


Detail of snow covered skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, New York, USA. DEIMOS-2 75cm pansharpened image acquired on February 24, 2015.

© Euroconsult. Paris, Washington D.C., Montreal, Yokohama, February 26, 2015 – According to Euroconsult’s newly released research titled Prospects for the Small Satellite Market, a total of 510 small satellites, or smallsats (meaning nanosats, cubesats, microsats and minisats) are to be launched in the next five years, a two-third increase in the average number of smallsats per year versus that of the past decade. This total includes 14 constellations of different sizes and capabilities that represent a total of 140 satellites.

75% of the 510 satellites to be launched during the next five years will be for government civil and defense agencies. Growth in government demand will be stronger than in the commercial world where a total of 130 satellites are expected.

“Large constellation projects such as those announced in 2014 by OneWeb and by SpaceX in association with Google have not been included in our forecasts/scenarios for launch by 2019,” said Rachel Villain, Principal Advisor at Euroconsult and Editor of the report. “Large constellation projects could, however, represent a very significant component of launches over the following five year period (2020-2024).”

The market value of these future 510 smallsats is estimated at $7.4 billion (at 2014$ prices to develop and launch the satellites). Market growth will remain strong (+17% vs. the past five years) as the small decrease over time in prices and in launch masses (for satellites greater than 50 kg) is offset by more satellites to be launched.

The U.S. is by far the most active country in smallsat deployment with almost half of the 620 satellites launched in the past 10 years; it will remain the largest country for smallsats over the next five years, with Europe as the second-largest region. Russia, China and Japan have each launched a similar number of smallsats over the past 10 years; the average number of smallsats to be launched in the region per year over the next five years is estimated to be lower than in the past five years. Growth in Asia outside the three space powers above will be strong as more countries launch small satellites for two main reasons: National sovereignty and security, and technology acquisition. Finally, four countries are at the forefront of smallsat development in the Middle East, whom together have launched or will launch 27 satellites, i.e. about half of the total of the MEA region.

Source

BOULDER, Colo., April 7, 2015 – Exelis (NYSE: XLS) Visual Information Solutions (Exelis VIS) has entered a new partnership with CloudEO to offer ENVI® image analysis software in a virtualized, cloud environment.

CloudEO teams with geospatial content and software providers, such as Exelis VIS, to offer consumers a unique service that brings together geospatial data, geospatial software, and the processing power of the cloud.

With ENVI software now available on the scalable CloudEO infrastructure, businesses can easily predict software costs for projects, rapidly scale up operations to handle large scale projects and even develop products and services that can be sold to potential customers.

Designed and built by Exelis VIS, ENVI software provides scientifically proven image-analysis results in an easy to use interface — from the geographical information systems analyst who needs to enhance mapping applications for better geographic awareness to the research scientist using imagery to aid in critical discoveries, a variety of professionals use ENVI software.

Through this partnership, anyone can access ENVI software via their desktop while simultaneously taking advantage of the computational capability of working in the cloud. Customers can sign up for as much or as little “time” with the software as they need based on their project requirement.

“With tighter margins and shrinking budgets, this option gives Exelis customers the ability to do more with less,” said Stuart Blundell, general manager and director of sales, Exelis VIS. “Cloud technology offers our customers a new way to increase employee collaboration, create efficiencies, simplify IT management and improve organizational access to information.”

“We are excited about this partnership with Exelis. It brings the power of ENVI to the CloudEO platform and offers our customer’s unparalleled possibilities by combining market leading software and content without the need for any specific hardware,” said Dr. Ursula Benz, member of the Board of Management at CloudEO.

ENVI is available now on the CloudEO store for as little as 189 euros per month. Visit http://store.cloudeo-ag.com/provider/exelis-vis for a complete list of options for a complete list of options

About Exelis
Exelis is a diversified, top-tier global aerospace, defense, information and services company that leverages a greater than 50-year legacy of deep customer knowledge and technical expertise to deliver affordable, mission-critical solutions for global customers. Exelis is a leader in positioning and navigation, sensors, air traffic management solutions, image processing and distribution, communications and information systems; and focused on strategic growth in the areas of critical networks, ISR and analytics, electronic warfare and composite aerostructures. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Exelis employs approximately 10,000 people and generated 2014 sales of approximately $3.3 billion. For more information, visit our website at www.exelisinc.com or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

About CloudEO
CloudEO – the unique portal for all those who create, interpret and use geodata. CloudEO offers to its customers a secure and highly scalable geo infrastructure to develop, produce and market geo services. It brings data, software and processing power together within a private cloud service and a certified hosting environment. Within CloudEO’s geo collaboration platform content providers, software developers, service providers and geodata users become partners within one ecosystem providing affordable geo services for commercial applications. CloudEO has European shareholders and its headquarters are located in Munich. www.cloudeo-ag.com

Exelis Media Contact
Nathan Pinder
(303) 447-5980 (o)
Nathan.pinder@exelisinc.com

CloudEO Media Contact:
Dr. Sonja Sulzmaier
press@cloudeo-ag.com

Source

UK: CGI has been awarded a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide ongoing support services for the Fire Control Battlefield Information System Application (FC BISA) and the Fire Control Application (FCA) system.

FC BISA is a distributed command and control application that helps the British Artillery and Infantry provide accurate and effective indirect fire support to the British Army during operations.

CGI will provide software applications support for FC BISA and the FCA as well as hardware support for the FCA handheld computer platform. The contract builds on CGI’s 12 years of experience in developing and supporting mission critical, operational systems that meet high integrity levels. The applications, which were developed by CGI, automate many operational functions to improve tempo, safety and accuracy and are a critical part of a long-term programme to modernise indirect fire support systems.

Source CGI