Future of Commercial Remote Sensing

GIF 2010 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 (February)

(Editor’s Note: As part of coverage leading up to the International Commercial Remote Sensing Symposium, Geospatial Intelligence Forum asked the chief executive officers of several companies in the field, who are scheduled to participate in a panel at the symposium, to offer their views on the future of the commercial remote sensing industry. Following are their statements.)

TURNING TO SPACE TO SOLVE EARTH ISSUES

THE EASE OF DELIVERY OVER THE WEB HAS RESULTED IN A GREATER DEMAND FOR AND INCREASED USE OF GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY.

BY MATT O’CONNELL

The future of commercial remote sensing is bright. The world is increasingly aware that geospatial information can help solve many of the problems we face, including issues of international security.

People who use commercial imagery want three things: information (not just pixels) that is timely and accurate, easy access to that information over the Web and the highest resolution available. A recent example of the need for timely and accurate location-based intelligence and for easy access to information over the Web is the use of our imagery to help respond to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti.

We were the first to provide imagery at no cost to many relief and government organizations responding to this humanitarian crisis, including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the United Nations. We collected and posted new GeoEye-1 satellite imagery of Haiti to Google within 12 hours of the earthquake. Several thousand square kilometers of half-meter ground resolution imagery are accessible through a special Google site at www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/geoeye.html. Imagery products helped governments and relief agencies more quickly understand the extent of the damage around Port-au-Prince to make better decisions about relief and recovery efforts.

The Haitian relief effort exemplifies the trend toward Webdistributed information, where a customer’s imagery, products and other information technology are hosted in cyberspace, rather than on company servers or desktop hard drives. The ease of delivery has resulted in a greater demand for, and increased use of, geospatial technology. Web delivery eliminates our users’ need for investment in specialized infrastructure, while providing them with a seamless way to integrate and manage their data so they can make smarter, faster decisions.

We’re investing a considerable amount of time and energy in developing Web services that will deliver imagery and imagery products faster and facilitate the creation of advanced information services based on imagery. We’re also developing more and more information products and services. As the number of satellites increases and the market becomes more sophisticated, people are increasingly interested not just in the pixel, but in what you can do with the pixel.

Finally, another trend we’re seeing is that the global market is eager for even higher-resolution imagery. GeoEye-1 offers the highest resolution of any commercial imagery satellite, 41 centimeters to the U.S. government and half-meter resolution to commercial markets. We’re building GeoEye-2, which will have a ground resolution even better than GeoEye-1. Many of our commercial customers want sub-half-meter resolution imagery, and we’re talking with the U.S. government about selling sub-halfmeter resolution imagery to them.

There are tremendous opportunities for geospatial information on the Web and in location-based applications. We see growing demand in the energy, transportation and infrastructure sectors. Many markets will find that satellite imagery, at halfmeter resolution, is a cost-effective means of monitoring their assets, especially when combined with imagery collected from aircraft.

Now that people are aware how useful remote sensing imagery is, they want more of it. I expect the industry will see more opportunities for growth as more people turn to space to help solve real world issues here on Earth. ♦

Matthew O’Connell is chief executive officer, president and director of GeoEye.

LEAPING AHEAD IN DATA QUALITY

FOLLOW-ON MISSIONS NEED TO ENSURE DATA CONTINUITY, WHILE EXPLOITING THE ADVANCES IN SENSOR TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESSING TECHNIQUES.

BY JÖRG HERRMANN

The last two decades have seen an unprecedented development in the satellite-based Earth observation industry. The combination of an increasing number of operational satellites, the higher resolution of the acquired data and the advances in the processing techniques have enabled a wider adoption of satellite data and the development of a diverse range of products and applications.

The current missions have proven that Earth observation has a considerable commercial potential. Now both operators and service providers need to develop follow-on missions that on the one hand ensure data continuity, while at the same time exploiting the advances in sensor technology and processing techniques to ensure another leap ahead in regards to data quality, in terms of resolution, accuracy and coverage.

The TerraSAR-X-2 program currently under development at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Astrium GmbH and Infoterra GmbH is such a follow-on mission, taking radar satellite technology to a new level by improving the resolution to 0.5 meters, incorporating fully operational polarimetry as well as an optimization of the ground segment to enable near real-time service. A similar paradigm shift is the new RADARSAT constellation, which ensures C-band data continuity while adding new applications through a constellation approach. The initial system of three small satellites is scalable to six satellites— highlighting another trend that sees an increased flexibility of the programs making them more responsive to future requirements.

In the next decade, more than 200 Earth observation satellites are expected to be launched by government and commercial operators, according to a recent study, enabling the development of improved and novel space-based applications, as well as the advancement of existing applications. Thus, for instance, the upcoming launch of TanDEM-X will open up a new era of globally available high quality Digital Elevation Models (DEM). Together with the already operational TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X will form a high-precision radar interferometer and acquire the data basis for a global DEM of an unprecedented quality, accuracy and coverage.

A further distinct trend will be the continued vertical integration of the commercial remote sensing industry, as satellite operators and data distributors expand their business to supply services across the entire geo-information value-chain. Through the creation of the Spot Infoterra Group, for example, a service provider was created that commercially distributes both optical and radar remote sensing data. Leveraging its assets and experiences, the group can offer end-to-end solutions in a wide range of application areas.

As in the past, the areas of homeland security, defense and environmental monitoring will continue to be the key drivers of the commercial remote sensing industry. In the context of climate change applications, the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation initiative, which encourages developing countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation, can be seen as a landmark program shaping the way how the remote sensing industry can support international climate change and environmental protection projects. Monitoring of tropical forests or other environmental parameters from space provides a reliable and systematic collection of data over vast areas for a sustained period, and will play a critical role in the success of such programs. ♦

Jörg Herrmann is chief executive officer of Infoterra GmbH.

REMOTE SENSING TRANSFORMATION

SOLUTIONS EMPHASIZE RAPID UNDERSTANDING OF LOCATION AND CHANGE THROUGH AGILITY, SPEED OF REFRESH AND DELIVERY, AND EASE OF USE.

BY JILL SMITH

When seemingly intractable crisis situations such as Haiti arise, rescue and relief teams need to rapidly understand what is changing in their environment, use that understanding to shape decisions on effective actions, and then detect resultant change to shape further activity. The core foundation for this is rapidly delivered GEOINT from diverse classified and unclassified sources, including commercial satellites to an increasing extent.

In the confusion of Haiti’s shattered communities and infrastructure, relief workers used pre- and post-earthquake satellite imagery to help identify where immediate aid was needed, and then to plan (and re-plan) life-saving logistical operations taking into account aftershock threats. Armed with the insight, decision makers were able to determine how best to deploy their life-saving resources.

GEOINT, delivered to a wide variety of government and nongovernment organizations, provided key answers to what had changed and was changing on a daily basis. From change detection to mapping routes for rescue and relief operations to assessing the changing human landscape, commercial satellite imagery helped answer critical questions that ensured success for those involved in the relief task.

DigitalGlobe is proud to lead in the provision of essential high resolution, accurate and near real-time imagery to an expanding range of commercial and government customers. We understand the importance of GEOINT that exploits the combination of GIS, imagery and imagery intelligence to provide the foundation for further intelligence and information fusion. Done well, GEOINT provides vital insight into what is changing and leverages increasingly powerful change detection techniques to facilitate deeper understanding of challenges; richer decision making, including better assessment of alternative courses of action; and, critically, detailed measurement of effects to drive further focused activity.

For military forces, stability and security missions pose increasing intelligence and operational challenges. DigitalGlobe recognizes that the agility and speed of our constellation and access systems are key to meeting the voracious intelligence needs. With October’s launch of WorldView-2, DigitalGlobe has the most agile constellation of commercial high-resolution satellites that collect more than 500 million square kilometers of imagery annually, while providing intra-day revisit.

Equally, we have established highly responsive cloud computing capabilities that are optimized for GEOINT to allow imagery products and services to be rapidly refreshed and seamlessly integrated into analyst workflows when and where they are needed. This initiative will dramatically drive down the costs and complexity of accessing, managing and producing products and applications by allowing for greater automation of image processing, change detection and information extraction. Agility and speed are the new currencies for satellite imagery, and DigitalGlobe’s Web services and cloud computing initiatives will keep the company at the forefront of the commercial remote sensing industry.

In the future, critical decisions will continue to demand information in real time for decision making. DigitalGlobe will continue to lead the remote sensing transformation by providing solutions that emphasize rapid understanding of location and change through agility, speed of refresh and delivery, and ease of use. In so doing, we will support the increasingly challenging requirements of GEOINT for the broad spectrum of customers, including defense and intelligence, national security, government and enterprise. ♦

Jill Smith is president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of DigitalGlobe.

WIN-WIN SCENARIO FOR EARTH OBSERVATION

THE BEST SOLUTION IS ONE THAT PROVIDES THE GREATEST BENEFIT FOR BOTH THE PUBLIC GOOD AND INDUSTRY.

BY JOHN HORNSBY

To date, Earth observation (EO) has been one field that has evolved steadily over a period of several decades. Beginning with such missions as ERTS/LANDSAT, much of the drive had been from national governments that had a desire to develop space capabilities, while at the same time supporting certain national needs. In Canada, RADARSAT-1 was the first EO mission for a newly formed space agency. Its primary application was for monitoring ice in the Canadian north and to support sovereignty—key applications that are still relevant today.

In recent years, there has been a rapid expansion of missions driven by nations from around the world, and also from the commercial sector. Companies such as DigitalGlobe, GeoEye and RapidEye are examples. Increasing capabilities have moved Earth observation from the scientific realm into main stream operational use. While this should be seen as a positive development, the Earth observation business is experiencing arguably a time of conflicting policies that on the one hand support the industry, but on the other could cause significant harm.

While the expanding number of missions in the world means an expanding business for the satellite builders, the development of the data sales business and businesses focused on the exploitation of Earth observation data are dealing with an ever-changing playing field. Conflict between the science-national-good advocates and those trying to develop a sustainable business is not new.

The controversy around the commercialization of the LANDSAT mission is probably the earliest case in point. There are successful examples of where a public-private partnership has resulted in longterm sustainable programs—one of the best examples being SPOT. In addition, we now have missions such as RapidEye that are entirely financed through a commercial enterprise.

Today, we are experiencing a re-invigorated push for public good, with the basic argument being that the Earth observation business has not demonstrated an ability to be a self-supporting commercial business. The fact that other businesses, such as in defense, rely very heavily on government business does not seem to be relevant. If one steps back from the polarized views, there are many examples that demonstrate a balanced approach that supports both government needs and commercial imperatives is ultimately beneficial to all—the so-called “win-win” scenario.

The rapid improvement of imaging and operational performance has been fueled by the private sector driving to meet the needs the markets have demanded. Higher resolutions, near real-time delivery and rapid tasking are examples. Coincident with this has been the push to relax the regulatory limitations that have faced the industry in an effort to create a level playing field. Having said this, it is difficult for industry to fund science that enables future capabilities. This has been and remains the traditional role of governments and universities.

For the major Earth observation companies worldwide, the business is still dominated by the provision of data products to users, a significant proportion of which are governments. Over the years, many attempts have been made to “provide solutions” or “information” to meet customer needs. This arguably is the greatest challenge the business faces, and yet represents the greatest opportunity. In addition, the sheer volume of data that is now coming from the various missions means that traditional data users require higher level products in order to provide an initial filtering of the relevant information for the user.

The capabilities of missions and acceptance in the marketplace for products and services are the greatest that they have ever been, and represent significant business opportunities. But conflicting policies for different missions represent a real threat and confusion in the marketplace. The best solution is one that provides the greatest benefit for both the public good and industry. Could it follow, then, that allowing government agencies and industry to do what they are both best at, in a win-win scenario, could ultimately enable both to prosper? It’s a thought for the leaders in the business to ponder. ♦

John Hornsby is president of MDA Geospatial Services.

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