Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EO-ALERT (Next Generation Satellite Processing Chain for Rapid Civil Alerts)
Période du rapport: 2019-01-01 au 2021-11-30
The EO-ALERT project addresses the problem of the delivery of Earth Observation data products to End Users with a high throughput. This throughput is measured in EO-ALERT as the latency (i.e. time elapsed) between the satellite observation and the moment that the Earth Observation data product is available to the End User on ground. In current civil satellite systems, this latency is at best in the order of 15 minutes to 60 minutes globally, and in many systems is significantly more, in the order of several hours to days. In EO-ALERT, the goal is to reduce this latency down to 1 minute, leading to the provision of Earth Observation data products with very low latency (almost-real-time). To do this, EO-ALERT proposes the combination of edge-computing and global persistent communications. The project defines and develops the next-generation EO data processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves optimised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite, with the aim of delivering the EO products to the end user with very low latency (almost-real-time, < 1 minute). In this architecture, priority is given to the generation and transfer of the Earth Observation data products to ground, over the transfer of the basic sensor raw data, through on-the-fly reconfigurable of the on-board data handling and communications links.
Low latency in the provision of Earth Observation data products is of importance always. It is particularly important in specific scenarios, such as Disaster Monitoring and Civil Security, where the is a need to respond to the observed event as quickly as possible. This can save lives and also serves generally to limit the impact of extreme events on the civil population and infrastructure. The provision of very low latency (almost-real-time) Earth Observation data products also enables the use of Earth Observation products as part of the operations and monitoring in real time of remote assets, such as off-shore wind farms and reservoirs. It is expected that, as Earth Observation data products are increasingly provided with very low latency (almost-real-time), approaching the goal of 1 minute, End Users will include such products in their operations, and applications will grow to exploit this data such that is becomes an intrinsic part of civilians daily lives and operations.
The specific objectives of the EO-ALERT project are:
- Identify and define, based on market needs, an innovative EO data and processing chain for next generation satellites
- Design, develop, prototype to breadboard and verify the next-generation EO data and processing chain key technologies
- Verify the key EO data & processing chain technologies as an integrated chain in the HW bench
- Experimentally validate and evaluate the key technologies as an integrated data and processing chain using EO sensor data acquired for the project
- Position the technologies in the EO market for exploitation in coming European and international EO programs
Low latency in the provision of Earth Observation data products is of importance always. It is particularly important in specific scenarios, such as Disaster Monitoring and Civil Security, where the is a need to respond to the observed event as quickly as possible. This can save lives and also serves generally to limit the impact of extreme events on the civil population and infrastructure. The provision of very low latency (almost-real-time) Earth Observation data products also enables the use of Earth Observation products as part of the operations and monitoring in real time of remote assets, such as off-shore wind farms and reservoirs. It is expected that, as Earth Observation data products are increasingly provided with very low latency (almost-real-time), approaching the goal of 1 minute, End Users will include such products in their operations, and applications will grow to exploit this data such that is becomes an intrinsic part of civilians daily lives and operations.
The specific objectives of the EO-ALERT project are:
- Identify and define, based on market needs, an innovative EO data and processing chain for next generation satellites
- Design, develop, prototype to breadboard and verify the next-generation EO data and processing chain key technologies
- Verify the key EO data & processing chain technologies as an integrated chain in the HW bench
- Experimentally validate and evaluate the key technologies as an integrated data and processing chain using EO sensor data acquired for the project
- Position the technologies in the EO market for exploitation in coming European and international EO programs
The project has now reached it completion at the end of November 2021.
The work performed during the project covers:
- the definition of the Earth Observation (EO) scenarios, that are used to motivate and define the User requirements on the system
- the definition of the requirements on the next-generation EO data processing chain
- the design of the next-generation EO data processing chain, including its sub-elements and their unit testing
- the implementation of the EO data processing chain, in a representative test bench, covering the complete chain from the payload raw data through to the End user receipt of the EO products
- testing of the EO data chain, demonstrating global latencies for SAR and Optical below 5 minutes, and in many cases below one minute
- verification and validation of the EO data processing chain
- an experimental validation campaign, which for the maritime scenario, employed a ship contracted for the SAR and Optical observations and included an insitu measurements
- an external independent evaluation of the results, impact and performance of the EO-ALERT architecture and data chain
- the presentation of the EO-ALERT project, concept, architecture and outcomes to the EO community and stakeholders
The main results achieved during the project are:
- confirmation of the EO-ALERT concept and architecture feasibility
- verification and validation of the EO-ALERT almost-real-time EO data chain, in operationally relevant EO scenarios
- demonstration by test that almost-real-time (< 1 minute) global EO product latencies are achievable for both SAR and Optical VHR payloads, under mircosat SWaP constraints
- engagement with the EO community and dissemination of the project results
The work performed during the project covers:
- the definition of the Earth Observation (EO) scenarios, that are used to motivate and define the User requirements on the system
- the definition of the requirements on the next-generation EO data processing chain
- the design of the next-generation EO data processing chain, including its sub-elements and their unit testing
- the implementation of the EO data processing chain, in a representative test bench, covering the complete chain from the payload raw data through to the End user receipt of the EO products
- testing of the EO data chain, demonstrating global latencies for SAR and Optical below 5 minutes, and in many cases below one minute
- verification and validation of the EO data processing chain
- an experimental validation campaign, which for the maritime scenario, employed a ship contracted for the SAR and Optical observations and included an insitu measurements
- an external independent evaluation of the results, impact and performance of the EO-ALERT architecture and data chain
- the presentation of the EO-ALERT project, concept, architecture and outcomes to the EO community and stakeholders
The main results achieved during the project are:
- confirmation of the EO-ALERT concept and architecture feasibility
- verification and validation of the EO-ALERT almost-real-time EO data chain, in operationally relevant EO scenarios
- demonstration by test that almost-real-time (< 1 minute) global EO product latencies are achievable for both SAR and Optical VHR payloads, under mircosat SWaP constraints
- engagement with the EO community and dissemination of the project results
The EO-ALERT project is expected to provide the next-generation EO data processing chain that progresses well beyond the state of the art in the throughput of EO data products to the End User. In particular, the proposed flight segment architecture moves optimised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite, and is both novel and new. Furthermore, this architecture facilitates the provision of Earth Observation data products with very low latency (almost-real-time), reaching the goal of 1 minute. This represents a very significant reduction in latency, considering current civil capabilities in the order of 15 minutes to several hours, e.g. Copernicus on-demand latency requirement of 15 minutes.
The project proved through ground testing the next-generation EO data processing chain, that can provide Earth Observation data products in under 5 minutes, reaching the goal of 1 minute, and hence with very low latency (in almost-real-time).
The architecture was proven in hardware tests, using real high resolution EO data, reaching TRL 4/5. As such it is ideally positioned for exploitation in upcoming European satellite missions, both private and public.
The impacts of this new flight segment architecture are expected to be most evident in the short term, in missions where very low latency is a key enabler, such as for Disaster Monitoring and Civil Security. The novel flight segment architecture is also expected to have an impact on missions where classical raw data chain transfer to ground represents a severe bottleneck, such as upcoming constellations of satellites and cubesat/microsat missions, which often generate more data than can be transferred to ground.
More generally, the architecture is expected to have an impact in EO missions where responsiveness and autonomy are of prime concern.
The project proved through ground testing the next-generation EO data processing chain, that can provide Earth Observation data products in under 5 minutes, reaching the goal of 1 minute, and hence with very low latency (in almost-real-time).
The architecture was proven in hardware tests, using real high resolution EO data, reaching TRL 4/5. As such it is ideally positioned for exploitation in upcoming European satellite missions, both private and public.
The impacts of this new flight segment architecture are expected to be most evident in the short term, in missions where very low latency is a key enabler, such as for Disaster Monitoring and Civil Security. The novel flight segment architecture is also expected to have an impact on missions where classical raw data chain transfer to ground represents a severe bottleneck, such as upcoming constellations of satellites and cubesat/microsat missions, which often generate more data than can be transferred to ground.
More generally, the architecture is expected to have an impact in EO missions where responsiveness and autonomy are of prime concern.