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In the framework of the POR FESR 2007-2013 (Regional Operational Programme of the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013) Puglia Region has approved SHIRA Program Agreement. SHIRA Program is focused on the study of a high-resolution thermal infrared Earth Observation satellite and the design of a Data Fusion Centre located in Puglia.

The project is entirely managed and realized by a Consortium of Apulian Companies with a consolidated experience in Earth Observation fields: Mel Systems Srl, MerMec SpA, Planetek Italia Srl, Sitael Aerospace Srl, VVN Srl, and IMT srl.

SHIRA High-resolution InfraRed Satellite Application, the name of the space mission, will operate in the thermal infrared frequencies, a bandwidth not very used by the current satellite missions.

The thermal infrared band, sensitive to temperature and humidity, is useful for applications related to environmental monitoring, agricultural monitoring, urban planning, analysis of heat waves and climate change, monitoring of natural disasters (volcanoes, forest fires, coastal flooding) and in the field of maritime and border surveillance.

The second strong element of SHIRA project is the design of a Data Fusion Center (DFC). The DFC is a centre that integrates multiple Earth Observation data acquired by satellite and aerial platforms and ground sensors. The operative goal of the DFC is the provision of value-added services and products able to support all public and private companies and regional administration involved in the environmental monitoring and security.

According to the directives of Apulian Aerospace District Development Plan, the Data Fusion Center will be one of the main regional instruments that will integrate the highest scientific and industrial local excellences, becoming the major regional infrastructure for aerospace research and development.

The implementation of a Data Fusion Centre located in Puglia is compliant with the actions indicated in the Programmatic Agreement between the Puglia Region and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) that prompt the realization of a local centre for the integration and interpretation of remote sensing data collected by satellite and in situ sensors.

According to the European Directives focused on safety and environmental monitoring (eg. Europe 2020, the Water Framework Directive, etc.) both the new mission SHIRA and the innovative services provided by the Data Fusion Center will contribute to the periodic operational monitoring activities which all EU Member States are bound. SHIRA program, therefore perfectly meets the European technological and political trends in the space and environmental fields.

Contact: Planetek Italia s.r.l.
Via Massaua 12, I-70132 Bari
Tel.: +39 0809644200 Fax: +39 0809644299
buonavoglia@planetek.it – http://www.planetek.it

News about: Java Software Engineers, Spacemetric Netherlands BV, Nigeriasat-2 commissioning, Video management systems to Swedish Army.


(6 October 2011) Seeking Java Software Engineers with video focus

Spacemetric is looking for developers to create our next-generation video management systems. See more at Careers

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(3 October 2011) Open for business in the Netherlands

Spacemetric has announced the opening of a new subsidiary in the Netherlands, Spacemetric BV, with offices in Zwolle in the eastern part of the country. The new company will carry out sales & marketing of the Keystone Image Management System, with a focus on the defence and security sectors, while technical activities will concentrate on enhancing of Full Motion Video capabilities.

Bob Moll, CEO of the latest Spacemetric venture, pointed out, “The Netherlands is in the middle of Europe and is well placed to serve the emerging markets for defence and civilian applications of video imagery. The aim is to build upon our track record with the Swedish Armed Forces and offer these capabilities to a broader market.”

There is a booming demand for image-based surveillance and monitoring technologies. Video data is a popular source in defence applications used increasingly on unmanned aircraft systems. There is also interest in such techniques in the civilian security sector, particularly for investigation and enforcement, both from manned and unmanned aircraft.

Contact: Bob Moll, CEO, Spacemetric BV, E: bm@spacemetric.com, T: +31 85 8881064

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(23 August 2011) Support to Nigeriasat-2 commissioning

The launch on 17th August 2011 of the Nigerisat-2 satellite designed and built by SSTL in the UK sees the commencement of Spacemetric’s commissioning support activities for the imaging payload. This involves detailed in-orbit calibration of the geometrical properties of the imagery from Nigeriasat-2 to ensure high-accuracy products to customers.

The Nigeriasat-2 satellite joins the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of satellites coordinated by DMC International Imaging. Spacemetric has supported all of the DMC satellites so far, delivering DMC-enabled Keystone systems for DMCii, for Deimos Imaging in Spain and most recently for NASRDA in Nigeria. The system installed at NASRDA will store and process all of the imagery acquired there from the Nigerisat-2 satellite.

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(30 July 2011) Video management systems to Swedish Army

Spacemetric has delivered video management systems to the Swedish Army that will manage imagery from the new Örnen tactical UAVs.

The new video management systems represent a significant milestone for Spacemetric since it further expands the customer base and technical capabilities of the Keystone system. The new systems support the storage, real-time playback and map-based visualisation of STANAG-compliant Full Motion Video. They also support other resources such as satellite data and reconnaissance imagery in the same an integrated environment. Two systems have been provided through SAAB as part of the delivery of a turnkey UAV capability.

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The International Charter The International Charter aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through Authorized Users.


Each member agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and thus is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property.
In the alert issued by the ICSMD to evaluate the effects of Hurricane Irene on the east coast of the U.S. and Canada, Deimos Imaging has provided 5 DEIMOS-1 images of the affected area from different dates, before and after the disaster.

The following figures shows the images provided by DMI:

11 August

20 August

30 August

BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group, the international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has announced a partnership with Tension Technology International (TTI) to develop improved functionality of the OPTIMOOR mooring analysis computer programme.

OPTIMOOR is an easy-to-use tool for use by vessel and terminal personnel, as well as port designers and naval architects. It uses the OCIMF recommendations and procedures and includes OCIMF wind and current coefficients for tanker moorings.

The new module will draw on BMT ARGOSS’s high quality specialist engineering consultancy and operational and web-based services in the fields of Ships, Ports, MetOcean data and the dynamic response of vessels. It will allow OPTIMOOR to make accurate predictions in locations exposed to high wave energy and make OPTIMOOR even better suited to simulation of ship-to-ship transfers and exposed mooring locations.

Han Wensink, Managing Director of at BMT ARGOSS comments: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with Tension Technology International and are pleased that BMT ARGOSS’s expertise in the fields of MetOcean data and the dynamic response of vessels will be used to improve OPTIMOOR.”

Nick O’Hear, Chairman of Tension Technology International continues: “Current trends are towards mooring and trans-shipment in more exposed locations where wave action is a major consideration. By calculating the response to wave activity in the time domain, BMT ARGOSS will help to bring an enhanced level of accuracy to OPTIMOOR that will add considerable value to our customers.”

Related Links:

BMT ARGOSS
BMT Group
Tension Technology International

Indra has led in Spain the Heat Islands European project oriented to study the benefits of using Earth observation satellite imaging to study the climate in urban areas.

The project, which just concluded, has the objective of using information for the benefit of prevention and management of heat waves in cities. Besides this, it seeks to increase energy efficiency and adequate city planning to mitigate the effect of heat Islands. This phenomenon consists of heat accumulation in urban areas whose cooling process is considerably slow and thus affects living conditions and energy consumption.

The project promotes integration of different information sources, specifically, images taken by Earth observation satellites, in order to provide the necessary means for the local governments to enhance the cities’ environmental policies.
The city councils of Madrid and Seville took part in the study in the role of users, along with the local governments of nine other European cities (Athens, Bari, Brussels, Budapest, Lisbon, London, Paris and Thessaloniki).

Thermal maps of Madrid and Seville

For the study, thermal images of Madrid and Seville were taken on different dates and times. The temperature maps, created using these images, help locate heat islands and allow studying their thermal patterns.
The study showed differences up to 3 and 4 degrees between downtown and non-urban areas. It was also confirmed that heat islands retain the heat which is more obvious at night.

In addition to this, energy efficiency was also studied taken into account the thermal patterns of building roofs. For such purpose, thermograms were taken in a 6-hour span which showed the poor performance of metallic or asphalt roofs.

On the other hand, flat roofs containing gravel for isolation showed an improved thermal pattern. Furthermore, it confirmed the positive effects of green areas or the absence of traffic on the urban environment.

The study proves that Earth observation satellite images allow an easy and cost-efficient analysis of heat patterns of large urban areas in comparison with other means.

The project was developed by a consortium of European companies, institutions and universities (Indra-Spain, VITO and EUROSENSE-Belgium, NOA-ISARS and LAP-AUTH-Greece, Planatek-Italy and Edisoft-Portugal). The conclusions were presented at the end of the project in September, 2011 and in coordination with the European Space Agency (ESA/ESRIN).

Earth observation

Nowadays Earth observation systems are a key element to monitor climate change, protect the environment, forecast weather phenomena and improve the citizens’ safety.

Indra is currently involved in some of the most significant projects in Europe, for instance: the SMOS programme (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) which helps understand the planet’s water cycle or GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment & Security), intended to provide autonomy to Europe in Earth observation.

The company also undertook several porjects of this type for the Spanish Ministry of Defence and different Autonomous regions and institutions in order to support the cadastre registry, study employment of the soil, forest exploitation, hydrology, detection of wastes into the ocean , etc.

Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to investment in R&D with nearly € 500 M during the last three years. In 2010 revenues reached € 2,557 M of which a 40% came from the international market. The company employs more than 31,000 professionals and has clients in more than 110 countries.

Source

The Souris River, which snakes through the center of the northwestern North Dakota city, after being swelled by heavy spring snowmelt and rain on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, reached record levels on June 22nd, 2011 and last month overran most of the city’s protective levees and flooded more than 4,000 homes. More than 11,000 people were forced to evacuate, a quarter of the city


North Dakota Guard has been battling floods since April. Nearly 2,000 North Dakota soldiers have been involved at some point. On Friday, July 1, 850 soldiers were on duty in Minot.
The e‑GEOS Emergency Team has prepared a map of the flooding using COSMO-SkyMed imagery.
The map shows the situation in the area of Minot, North Dakota. The extent of the flooded area was generated by e‑GEOS Emergency Team from the semi-automatic analysis of a COSMO-SkyMed Image acquired on 26/06/2011. Main roads and infrastructure are shown on the map and a Landsat image serves as background.

Below, before and after imageery from IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites, ©GeoEye, Inc. Click on images for full-resolution versions.

This one-meter resolution image was taken by the IKONOS satellite on May 30, 2009 and shows the Souris River in Minot, North Dakota before severe flooding occurred in June 2011. This half-meter resolution image was taken June 25, 2011 by the GeoEye-1 satellite and shows the flooded Souris River and surrounding neighborhoods in Minot, North Dakota

Source eGEOS

First Activation – Rosalia D’Amato

On April 22nd, 2011 the vessel Rosalia D’Amato was attacked by pirates in the Arabic Sea.
The Italian bulk carrier, with a crew of 21 – 6 Italians and 15 Filipinos – was on its way to Iran from Brazil when it came under attack, approximately 365nm Southeast of Salalah, Oman.

Triggering entity: Italian Coast Guard

  • e-GEOS was activated by the Italian Coast Guard (specifically the Head of Operational Centre, I.M.R.C.C. – Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre – , Captain Leopoldo Manna and his staff Walter Conti and Dario Cau) in the framework of the G-MOSAIC Rapid Gespatial Reporting Service to monitorthe vessel route using both optical and radar satellite images.
  • e-GEOS immediately planned and acquired Cosmo-SkyMed and IKONS images along the expected route provided by the IT Coast Guard, detecting the vessel in different locations.

Second Activation – Savina Caylyn

Event description:
On February 8th, 2011 the vessel Savina Caylyn was attacked by pirates in the Arabic Sea.
On May 6th, 2011 the vessel was moved toward another port
Triggering entity: Italian Coast Guard

  • e-GEOS was activated by the Italian Coast Guard in the framework of MARitime Security Service project (MARISS), and continued its activity within G-MOSAIC Rapid Gespatial Reporting Service to monitor vessel route using both optical and radar satellite images.
  • e-GEOS immediately planned and acquired a Cosmo-SkyMed and GeoEye images along the expected route estimated by e-GEOS on the basis of information provided by IT Coast Guard, detecting the vessel in different locations.

24 /7 /2011

This map was produced by the G_MOSAIC Rapid Geospatial Reporting Service (RGR).
The location of the “SAVINA CAYLIN” vessel and of other vessels is reported in different times on july 24th – 26 th , 2011. The location of “SAVINA CAYLIN” VESSEL CLOSE TO THE Somalian coast has been provided as an external information by the Italian Coast Guard. The vessel position is stationary. Some other vessel has been identified close to the Somalian coast, Detailed zoom boxes provide a closer view of the detected vessels, exploiting the high resolution of the GeoEye image (0,5 m), IKONOS (1m and COSMOSkyMed Spotlight image (1m). Image analysis was performed by eGEOS.

24 /7 /2011

This map was produced by the G_MOSAIC Rapid Geospatial Reporting Service (RGR).
The location of the Rosalia D’Amato vessel is reported in different dates. The vessel position is stationary. The location of “Rosalia D’Amato” vessel close to the Somalian coast has been provided as an external information by the Italian Coast Guard. Other vessels have been identified close to the Somalian coast, a possible location of storage of vessels attacked by oirates. Detailed zoom boxes provide a closer view of the coastal area, exploting the high resolution of the GeoEye-1 image (0,5m). Image Analysis was performed by e-GEOS

Source e-GEOS

Vito contribution at the International Year Forest, DevCoCast final meeting and APEX campaigns…

Imaging the world’s forests: A joint initiative – travelling exhibition for “International year of forests”

To draw attention to the exceptional heritage being the forests, the United Nations proclaimed 2011 the “International Year of Forests.”
On this occasion a travelling exhibition has been realised jointly by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), the Belgian Science Policy Office and the Université catholique de Louvain.. It aims to show how satellite images can help to better manage and preserve the forests of our planet. If you want more information about the exhibition and satellites images, please visit eoedu

For more information, please contact:
Bart Deronde
e-mail: bart.deronde@vito.be
Tel: +32 14 33 68 21

DevCoCast final meeting

The final meeting of the “GEONETCast for and by Developing Countries” (DevCoCast) project, took place in Antwerp, Belgium, on 12-13 September 2011, with around 40 participants from Europe, Africa and South America.

After nearly three and a half years of hard work, and benefiting from its funding by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), DevCoCast has put in place key elements for the distribution and sharing of Earth observation (EO) data, as well as for their exploitation by users in developing countries, involving them more closely in the GEONETCast initiative.

On a daily basis, more than 400 files were disseminated through GEONETCast, corresponding to an average size of 250 Mbytes per day. All files were delivered to users within an average of 15 minutes. With more than 30 types of Earth Observation products, from almost ten sources, some in Africa and South America, this helped GEONETCast in covering more application thematic (vegetation, agriculture, oceans, fire, severe weather, etc) and GEO Societal Benefit Areas.
At the same time, satellite receivers have been installed in China, Africa and South America to extend EUMETCast, one of the three regional components of the worldwide GEONETCast broadcasting system, pushing also the worldwide data exchange between the EU-African EUMETCast and the Asian-Pacific CMACast systems.

Most importantly, a large group (300+) of users were trained and many more supported through help desks, free software and training material, building on and maintaining EO capacities in the developing countries and putting GEONETCast to effective use in research, education, everyday environmental monitoring and decision making.

Two successor projects will continue this good work: the Europe-Africa Marine EO Network (EAMNET) which is furtheartr promoting the use of marine EO data within the framework of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Africa initiative, and the AGRICAB project, which will further strengthen the use of EO for agriculture and forestry in Africa and contributes to the GEO work plan.

GEONETCast for and by Developing Countries – Final project meeting, Antwerp, Belgium, 12-13 Sept 2011

For more information, please contact:
Tim Jacobs
e-mail: tim.jacobs@vito.be
Tel: +32 14 33 67 10

First APEX campaigns for the European science community

After APEX (Airborne Prism Experiment) was officially accepted by ESA-PRODEX, end of 2010, a next step was taken by organizing imaging flights for the European User Community during summer 2011.
To ensure the APEX data quality, a calibration campaign was organized end of May 2011. For more than one week, a VITO/RSL team performed thousands of measurements at the Calibration Home Base (CHB), hosted at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, to characterize APEX both spectrally and radiometrically.
A first flight campaign organized in June 2011, served mainly the requests of the Belgian and Swiss hyperspectral science communities. APEX was installed on board of a DLR Do-228 aircraft and operated over project area’s in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria. Research topics varied from agricultural/ environmental monitoring, forestry as well as water quality studies. A second measurement campaign started early September and during 3 consecutive weeks, imaging flights were performed over project area’s in Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the G.D. Luxemburg. The flights in Spain and Italy were the first APEX flights in the framework of the EUFAR FP7 project. Flights in Belgium and Luxemburg served the data needs of the STEREO II projects whilst flights in Germany were requested by several universities and research institutes. Image of an uncorrected APEX quicklook in the vicinity of Mantua (IT)

The acquired data is currently being archived and processed at the APEX Processing and Archiving Facility (PAF) hosted at VITO. Depending on the user request the processing includes radiometric calibration and optionally geometric and atmospheric correction. The last datasets are scheduled to be delivered to the users by end of October.

For more information, please contact:
Koen Meuleman, APEX operations manager
e-mail: koen.meuleman@vito.be
Tel: +32 14 33 68 63
http://www.apex-esa.org

Eurosense recent news on monitoring roads in Congo, the GMES Masters, Thermography of Ghent (BE) and Malareo.

Monitoring the reopening of roads in the democratic republic of Congo with Earth Observation (EO) data:

EUROSENSE presented a paper about “Monitoring the reopening of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo with EO data “at the EARSeL Workshop on Operational Remote sensing in Forest Management in Prague (Czech Republic) on 2nd-3rd June 2011”.

Within the GMES project called G-Mosaic (GMES services for Management of Operations, Situation Awareness and Intelligence for regional Crises), the critical asset working group developed geo-spatial information to monitor human and environmental impact of reopening roads, in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). This paper presents the Earth Observation (EO) derived tools to monitor forest changes along the route between Kisangani and Bunduki/Bondo. Click here to read more about this.

GMES Masters:

EUROSENSE has participated to the GMES Masters Best Service Challenge, a competition aiming to increase the awareness of existing Earth Monitoring Services and their benefits to European citizens with 2 services. More info on these services can be found on following links:

Thermo for Ghent City goes public!

During 2 cold winter nights in February 2011, EUROSENSE executed two flights with a thermal camera covering the entire territory of the city. At the same time, almost 500 volunteers executed temperature measurements in their houses. EUROSENSE processed the thermographic imagery into one geo-referenced map and created by means of the volunteer measurements an interpretation key with corresponding legends. The results have been inserted by the city of Ghent into a web application (in Dutch).

Read more about this on our website!

Thermographic map of Ghent (Belgium); Streets and badly insulated buildings give off heat at night and appear red: foliage and well-insulated structures look blue or green. Thermal colours also depend on the roof shape (flat or slanted), roofing materials, and thermostat settings.

Malareo presented in a poster session on the 7th Tropical Medicine and International Health conference (3/10/2011)

Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Earth Observation (EO), Spatial Modelling and Statistical Analysis are increasingly being recognized as valuable tools for the management and planning of malaria vector control programmes. The EC 7th Framework Programme project MALAREO lead by EUROSENSE compiles a mixed European-African consortium combining years of experience in malaria control with GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) capacity. The project’s main objective is the development and implementation of EO products and capacities within malaria vector control and management programmes in southern Africa.

Read the full abstract of the poster here

DMCii expands rapid 22m satellite imaging service and NEW! NigeriaSat-2 VHR imagery


DMCii expands rapid 22m satellite imaging service


Auckland, New Zealand – detail from 22m NigeriaSat-X image

With the successful launch of the NigeriaSat-X 22m multi-spectral Earth observation satellite, DMCii gains a significant increase in capacity for its rapid response global commercial imaging service.

The launch of NigeriaSat-X, alongside the very high resolution NigeriaSat-2, adds a third 22m imager to the 7-satellite constellation coordinated by DMCii. The latest generation of satellites doubles the number of pixels per hectare and improves the image quality over the current 32m constellation, providing reliable continuity of 650km wide imagery for customer applications.

Dr. S.O. Mohammed, Director General of the Nigerian Space Agency (NASRDA) stated that, “The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) has proved to be both a successful and sustainable way to supply data about the Earth for planning and managing resources effectively. With NigeriaSat-X we enhance the imaging capability of NigeriaSat-1 and provide data continuity, which is very important both for Nigeria and for the other DMC Consortium members.”

Dave Hodgson, Managing Director DMCii, commented, “Our customers welcome the regular addition of 22m imaging capability to the constellation, which provides security of supply and improvements in both quality and frequency of imaging capability. The launch of NigeriaSat-X makes a significant contribution to DMCii’s commercial and humanitarian services.

NEW! NigeriaSat-2 VHR imagery


Salt Lake City – detail from pan-sharpened 2.5m Nigeriasat-2 image

The newly launched very high resolution satellite, NigeriaSat-2, delivers 2.5m panchromatic and 5m 4-band multispectral imagery, with products including stereo imaging and wide area mode. The ability to image strips of up to 2000 km along track is valuable for mapping, and the 80km square wide area mode is perfect for monitoring urban areas or infrastructure on a regular basis. With off-pointing, the satellite can acquire imagery every 1-2 days over selected areas of interest.

In addition the satellite provides 350km wide swath 4-band 32m multispectral imagery to provide data continuity with NigeriaSat-1, but with the addition of a blue band to provide true colour images.

DMCii is the exclusive international distributor for customers in all territories outside Africa and offers the commercial VHR imaging service starting in early 2012 once the calibration and commissioning process is complete.
For further information contact info@dmcii.com or call +44 1483 804299

For further information contact info@dmcii.com or call +44 1483 804299