APPLICATION OF ON-BOARD PROCESSING ON SATELLITES 

Need raised by a Public Administration

Optical observation satellites in the visible and infrared spectrum (V/IR) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) are a decisive support in decision making and risk estimation on matters of common security and defense policy; foreign policy; border protection; monitoring of migratory crises; prevention and support in the event of natural disasters; and cooperation with our allied countries.

Satellite image processing is usually carried out on the ground, after downloading the satellite imagery. The increasing use of applications using satellite data has meant that the volume of data to be processed has grown exponentially. The scale and complexity of the data has outstripped the capacity of infrastructure and network performance, causing bandwidth and latency problems.

Likewise, as almost everything in today's society, the immediacy of application response has become very important, and the speed of processing, the reduction of latency time in the transmission of data to the processing point or the increase in bandwidth have become relevant factors for applications to be able not only to do what they need to do, but to do it in a time that allows decisions to be made in real time.

The technological challenge raised

The main objective of the activity is the development of an on-board processing system for Earth observation satellites using SAR technologies and/or high resolution optical means, based on the data received by the payloads of these satellites.

Techniques based on artificial intelligence can achieve through the processing of images on board the satellite itself the reduction of the volume of data to be transmitted to Earth, improve transmission latency times and, consequently, speed up the decision-making process based on satellite images.

File number: CPP O4/2023 AB (DG/OCIE)

The milestones of the implementation of the initiative of on-board processing on satellites are the following:

• Conclusion- has been published in the PLACSP the conclusion of contracts the CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE of the Implementation of "on" satellite - [March 25, 2024]
• Award- has been published in the PLACSP the award the CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE of the Implementation of "on" satellite - [March 13, 2024]
• Tender- Published in the PLACSP tender of the Pre-Commercial Public Purchase for the development of a prototype software that integrates artificial intelligence on board satellites to reduce the flow of data required to transmit to land and the bandwidth available for the recovery Plan, transformation and Resilience (PRTR): Bidding for the implementation of the innovations on satellites- [October 10, 2023]
• Report of findings of the PCM- has been published in the Platform for Recruitment of the Public Sector report of the conclusions of the preparatory consultation of the market to know the status of the development of technology in the Area of earth observation satellite systems in the framework of the PRTR:Report of findings of the jpc- [June 16, 2023]
• Day of submission of the PCM- It takes place, an online format, day of submission of the preparatory consultation of the market of the implementation of the satellite on board: Agenda and presentations of the day- [January 19, 2023]
• Convening of the Preparatory Consultation of the Market- has been published in the platform for Recruitment of the Public Sector (PLACSP), the resolution signed by the Director General of the centre for technological development and innovation (CDTI), E.P.E. of the convening of the preparatory consultation of the market (CPM) to determine the level of development of technology in the Area of earth observation satellite systems in the framework of the PRTR: Resolution of the PCM in the field of earth observation satellite- [December 23, 2022]

This initiative is funded with funds from the Mechanism for the Recovery and Resilience.