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Satellite remote sensing may support the monitoring of water quality during dredging activities for the installation of new off-shore infrastructures.

The use of traditional monitoring techniques (sampling at sea, measures, laboratory analysis) are certainly effective, but they presents logistical and operational inconveniences and long processing times, often incompatible with the need to obtain in real-time the information collected. Furthermore, field observations and measurement, although frequent, are not able to provide a complete and exhaustive spatial answer to describe all the phenomena in progress.

It integrates traditional methods with daily collections of high-resolution satellite images over the area of interest. All the monitoring phases are accurately planned: the programming of the satellite acquisitions, the data collection, the ingestion and processing. Within a few hours this method provides accurate and validated information, useful for the quantitative and spatial definition of the entity the phenomenon of dispersion of sediments during dredging operations.

See also the presentation by SAIPEM SpA and Planetek Italia at Coast ESONDA Expo 2014
See more at

(August 2014) The innovative KSAT light network has been developed primarily for the rapidly emerging smallsat market. Offering significantly reduced service prices, the new network still retains the market leading characteristics of the existing higher specification KSAT large antenna network:

  • Unequalled geographical locations with the Arctic and Antarctic sites enabling polar orbiting satellite contacts on 26 out of 28 possible passes per 24 hours: KSAT pole-to-pole
  • Mid-latitude sites for low-inclination orbits and extremely low latency polar orbit downloads
  • Small aperture S- , X- and Ka-band capable antenna systems
  • Optical fiber data backhaul from all sites, except TrollSat (Antarctic) which uses a high-capacity satellite link
  • The entire network is operated from the KSAT Tromsø HQ Network Operations Center (TNOC)

Low cost – but not low quality: KSAT light antennas are deployed at existing KSAT sites with a proven and highly reliable, rugged and well maintained infrastructure. Customer interfaces, centralized through the Tromsø TNOC are handled by the same friendly and efficient, can-do staff that has managed to turn more than 65 government and commercial satellite operators worldwide into loyal and satisfied business partners.

KSAT scheduler:

Coinciding with the launch of KSAT light, a new web-based and interactive pass scheduling application is being rolled out. KSAT scheduler allows a customer to schedule his selected passes himself, choosing from a clear presentation of pass opportunities corresponding to his satellites’ TLEs and requiring no further action from that point on. The system will allow for late changes or scheduling of additional passes just hours before the event.

Rolf Skatteboe, KSAT CEO: ”A large part of KSAT’s current success is based on being close to our market, our customers and to be willing to go the extra mile to find a good solution for every one of them. It has become obvious that the market is changing with the emergence of operators and satellite designs that do not require the very high performance of the current network and who will trade some performance for significantly lower service prices. The KSAT light network currently being deployed is the result of discussions with a large number of smallsat customers and we are confident that it will fit the business plan requirements of this important market segment.”

KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services) is the world’s leading provider of polar orbiting satellite ground station services, currently involving in excess of 16 000 monthly satellite passes on behalf of more than 70 missions. Our ground station sites are ideally placed for low latency TT&C and data download with three near-polar stations at Svalbard and Tromsø (Arctic) and TrollSat (Antarctic) as well as four mid-latitude stations in Hartebeesthoek (South Africa), Mauritius, Dubai and Singapore. The sites are populated with a large number of antenna systems operating in the S, X, Ka and UHF frequency bands. All the stations are remotely operated from our Tromsø HQ control center and benefit from terrestrial fiber connections for fast and secure data backhaul to the customers (high-capacity GEO satellite connection from TrollSat).

For more information on KSAT Light please contact Stig-Are Thrana, tel. +47 922 18 304, mail stiga@ksat.no

(September 2014) A new Reseller Agreement was signed with Digital Globe, Inc. (DG) and European Space Imaging, GmbH (EUSI), granting KSAT access to all their earth observation satellites.

This Agreement enhances KSAT’s strategic partnership with Digital Globe and EUSI, and is important to KSAT, as a provider of Multi-Mission Services from a vast number of Earth Observation Satellites.

Contacts
Jan-Petter Pedersen: +47 776 00 260
Stein H. Støver: +47 776 00 284
Source

(September newsletter)

This issue features the:

  • MEOS™ Antenna – 5 m X/S/L band
  • Phase Two 26GHz Telemetry Receiver development
  • MEOS™ Sentinels / S-1 Collaborative Ground Station (CGS)
  • Near Real-Time SAR (NRTSAR)-Core
  • MEOS™ Capture HRTG Test capabilities

*nMEOS™ NAS – Network Attached Storage

in addition to the upcomming events, latest contracts, newest upgrades and latest information from Kongsberg Spacetec.

You will find it here

Cambridge, ON- September 30th, 2014—exactEarth today announced that it has been awarded a C$19.2 million contract by the Government of Canada to provide extensive advanced Satellite AIS data services.

This contract covers a period of 18 months and supersedes and significantly augments the existing AIS data services contract that had been in place since 2012 with the Canadian Space Agency and Department of National Defence. The superseded amount is C$1.8 million, making the net new order booking C$17.4M.

Under the new contract the full exactAIS® data service is made available to all Canadian government departments and is expected to be used for a wide range of applications including but not limited to wide-area maritime surveillance and security, customs and border protection, Arctic vessel traffic monitoring, fisheries and environment monitoring as well as Search and Rescue.

“We are very pleased that the Government of Canada has recognized the fundamental importance and value of AIS data to the management, surveillance, security and safety of global maritime traffic,” said Peter Mabson, President of exactEarth. “Since the Government of Canada first adopted the exactAIS® service in 2010 their usage has grown exponentially – both in terms of number of users and number of applications. This is not only indicative of the value provided by this service but is also a testament to the quality and reliability of the exactAIS® data service. exactEarth’s data service is currently being provided to more than 40 countries and we are committed to continuing to provide leadership in service quality and customer support to all of our customers around the world.”

About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth, based in Cambridge, Ontario, is a data services company providing the most advanced information on global maritime traffic available today. Our premium service, exactAIS, delivers an unrivalled view of the recognized maritime picture at a global scale. Offering fully secure data in a variety of industry standard formats and delivery methods, exactEarth’s data provides real value for a wide range of operational maritime applications delivering operational efficiencies, enhancing security, safeguarding the environment, and assisting in saving lives. exactEarth is jointly owned by COM DEV International Ltd (TSX: CDV) and HISDESAT Servicios Estratégicos S.A. For more information, visit our website at www.exactearth.com.

About Hisdesat

Hisdesat was founded in 2001 as operator of government services by satellite to act primarily in the areas of defense, security, intelligence and foreign affairs. Since 2005, the company provides secure satellite communications to government agencies of different countries and is currently developing new satellites in two areas: Earth Observation and Information of the worldwide maritime traffic by satellite (AIS). More information: www.hisdesat.es

For further information:
Araceli Serrano
PR Communications Manager
Tel: +34 91 4490149
aserrano@hisdesat.es

On 17 September, 38 sub-Saharan immigrants, including three babies and eight women, were rescued from a boat adrift on the high seas to the south of Motril (Granada, Spain). According to Salvamento Marítimo (The Maritime Rescue Service) the search for the boat was “complicated” due to the huge area to be scanned. Nonetheless the SAGRES program, used in conjunction with satellite images, was decisive in finding the tiny boat with the immigrants in distress.

The GMV-coordinated, FP7, maritime safety project called SAGRES (Service Activations for GRowing Eurosur Success) supports the pre-operational test and deployment of high-time critical, intelligence-driven maritime surveillance components.

This particular activation (as one of the last activations within the project) was planned in advance with cooperation with Frontex, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders, defining a limited area within the Mediterranean Sea for a limited period of time: 16-09-2014 evening. The activation defined a set of exercises with the aim to further tests the capability of Earth Observation (EO) imagery to support maritime surveillance within specific operational environments.

The challenging trial was organized with the cooperation of Spanish authorities where it was planned to involve a patrolling vessel in the West Mediterranean Sea. The goal was to detect a small target (non-metallic target with a length < 10 m) by combining the processing of EO images with cooperative reporting streams.

However, on 16.09.2014 afternoon an urgent call to search for a boat with migrants was received and the asset was forced to join the mission.

Luckily, the operational search zone was not far away from the area designed for the trial. Thus, SAGRES and Frontex decided to use the ordered image, a Synthetic Aperture Radar image acquired by the RADARSAT2 satellite sensor in Ultra Fine mode with 3 m of resolution, to support the mission.

The image was processed in less than 3 h from the acquisition time. The ship detection report pointed out the presence of a potential target of interest cruising to the North. The report was immediately passed to Frontex, who passed away to the Spanish Authorities. The coordinates of the detection were used to delimitate the search zone and this permitted the location of the boat on the morning of 09.17 ,5 NM far away from the position reported by the satellite image.

Thanks to the rapid intervention of the Spanish authorities, the 38 migrants (including 8 women and 3 babies) on-board were rescued and saved their lives.

The contribution of SAGRES has been essential as the EO-based ship detection permitted reducing the initial huge area and this eased the search mission. This success case shows how EO technology can support high time critical maritime surveillance and how this technology can be used to save lives at sea.

Source

Gisat has been contracted by the Czech State Agricultural Intervention Fund to deliver services related to remote sensing control of agricultural subsidies in the Czech Republic in 2014.

The control is done according to the EU guidelines using high resolution and very high resolution satellite imagery. Selected subsidy schemes and environmental measures are subject of the control. The contract covers the whole control process: orthorectification and processing of the satellite and airborne data; photo-interpretation of satellite and aerial images with the use of LPIS data; database processing of the results and final map compilation. The project also includes providing of consultancy services related to the on-the-spot control implementation and cross-compliance issues.

The winning of this prestigious tender confirms our leading position among the national EO based service providers. At the same time it will allow us to continue in close collaboration with the Czech administration in the domain of agriculture monitoring with remote sensing.

Source

GeoVille is pleased to ANNOUNCE THE PUBLIC RELEASE OF THE Water Observation and Information System (WOIS) which can be downloaded after registration here

The WOIS provides a significant capacity to produce a comprehensive suite of water related information products based on a variety of satellite input sources. Development and Implementation of the WOIS in Africa was funded by the ESA Data User Element (DUE) project TIGER NET within the TIGER Initiative.

The recent publication in the Special Remote Sensing Issue on Earth Observation for Water Resource Management in Africa provides the scientific background and in depth insights of the various processing chains.

Providers of logistics services face a lot of challenges: fierce competition, relentless cost pressures, ever-increasing energy prices, stringent emissions legislation and the requirement for accurately-measured carbon footprints.

This can put a lot of strain on such organisations, so in order to provide assistance in this respect the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Schenker is developing a transport and logistics solution together with T-Systems and GAF AG. This delivers real-time data based on satellite navigation, earth observation and satellite communication technologies.
The project is funded jointly by the European Space Agency‘s Integrated Application Promotion (IAP) programme (http://artes-apps.esa.int/) and Deutsche Telekom.

Cutting CO2 emissions and saving fuel
The main objective of the solution that is being developed is to help drivers achieve an eco-friendly driving style. Rapid near real-time feedback allows the drivers to adapt their behaviour accordingly.
A smartphone app makes use of GPS to capture information about location, speed, acceleration and driving times, including breaks and stoppages. Based on the specific freight, vehicle weight and predefined reference profiles, this data can be used to calculate the precise fuel consumption, which is then integrated into the parameters for the route. The logistics company and the driver immediately receive the same metrics via a T-Systems server.

To enhance the accuracy of the results, GAF is implementing high-quality Digital Elevation Models based on satellite earth observation images to achieve an even more precise calculation of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.
This leads to reductions in emissions and also saves fuel, which helps to reduce the overall costs for the providers of logistics services. An additional benefit is that an efficient driving style also reduces the amount of maintenance required on the vehicles and thereby helps to increase their periods of active usage.

Tracing and Tracking
So is the driver forecasted to arrive early, on time or late? Using information from satellites, the solution provides information at all times about the exact location of the driver and the vehicle’s load, thereby enabling dispatchers back in the office to provide accurate updates to customers. Furthermore, interruptions to the journey are clearly recorded. Have perishable goods been kept refrigerated? Is the vehicle at a secure, guarded parking area or a remote road-side lay-by? The technology provides the head office with an around-the-clock bird’s-eye-view of all potential threats and total cost transparency.

Tracking of humanitarian transports
A satellite communication channel will be available in particular for the provision of humanitarian logistics services. This will help the logistics provider when entering disaster affected areas that lack mobile telephone communications and in which route infrastructure may also be damaged. Earth observation data can be used to identify destroyed infrastructure and traversable routes.

In the case of shipments with high security requirements, a satellite-based communications network can also be used instead of the terrestrial network to ensure a reliable tracking. An example of such a case is the transportation of valuable goods.

GAF_PR_Efficiency_Management_09-2014.pdf

A European consortium headed by GAF AG has been contracted by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to implement the latest element of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service’s Local Component: the Riparian Zones Project.

The project team mainly consists of four experienced European service providers: GAF AG (Germany), INDRA (Spain), Metria (Sweden) and GeoVille (Austria). The consortium has signed a 3.7 million € framework service contract with the EEA and conducted a successful project kick-off in Copenhagen in July 2014.

As part of the Copernicus Initial Operations, the consortium will provide mapping, modelling and consultancy services to EEA in order to provide a consistent and very-high resolution delineation and characterisation of the riparian zones of major and medium-sized rivers for most of Europe and Turkey (i.e. the 39 EEA member and cooperating countries) for the first time ever. Based on optical 2.5m spatial resolution satellite imagery, the consortium will produce three separate riparian data layers by mid-2015:

  • very-high-resolution land cover/land use mapping within a riparian buffer zone;
  • fine-scale spatial delineation of riparian zones based on a GIS modelling approach, incorporating various geo-information layers and the latest scientific research;
  • and delineation of small green linear elements as part of the European green infrastructure.

Additionally, the consortium will provide consultancy services to EEA in relation to these three data layers.By focusing on riparian zones, which are among the most sensitive ecosystem and biodiversity hotspots in Europe, the project will enable a systematic assessment of freshwater ecosystems and riverine habitats. It will serve as a complement to the pan-European Land component (CORINE Land Cover (CLC) and High-Resolution Layers (HRL) on land cover characteristics) and to the other Local Component project, i.e. the Urban Atlas. Among other things, it will also provide support to the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and the related Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) as well as the associated green infrastructure and restoration objectives, the Habitats and Birds Directives, the Water Framework Directive and the European Floods Directive.

In this project, GAF AG is responsible for the overall project management as well as for creating the very-high resolution land cover / land use product for Central Europe and the British Isles. Additionally, the company will be implementing the Riparian Zones Delineation for all EEA-39 countries and be responsible for consultancy coordination and overall quality management.

GAF Riperian