Farmers traditionally keep a close eye on their fields, but a new IAP-led project seeks to build on their vigilance with monitoring from space.

The TalkingFields initiative is now showing how to combine satellite observation with satellite navigation to benefit European farmers.

Sustainable food production and food security are critical challenges. TalkingFields will help by using precision farming methods to produce crops more efficiently. For instance, by optimising farmers’ use of fertiliser and giving early warning of plant disease risks, both costs and environmental impacts can be reduced.
“There are existing services variously employing Earth observation data, satellite navigation, farm management software and crop growth models, but TalkingFields is the first to combine them all,” said Tony Sephton, ESA's Integrated Applications promotion (IAP) programme.

 â€œWe’re setting up an end-to-end service that is simple to use and sufficiently cost-effective to be self-sustaining.”

How does it work? The farmer requests the service for an area defined using satnav. Satellites gather information on the land’s potential – observations over several years can reveal variations in crop growth through soil changes – as well as current crop status.
 
These results are combined with information from field sensors such as weather conditions and soil moisture. The farmer adds in his own knowledge, and in return receives detailed satnav instructions on where and how much fertiliser to spray, for example.

A variety of satellites can be employed, although priority will be given to free data sources such as Landsat and ESA’s forthcoming Sentinel-2 satellites, due for launch in 2012.

 â€œIdeally, we might have weekly satellite acquisitions, but cloud cover makes that unfeasible,” explained Dr Sephton.

“Instead, we need only two to four satellite images per growing season, which are fed into a sophisticated crop growth model”.

“With TalkingFields the emphasis is on service: we’re not giving raw satellite data straight to farmers. Instead, we advise them directly on actions to be taken throughout the growing season.”

Following a 2009 feasibility study, TalkingFields is now being demonstrated in real fields, led for ESA by German Earth observation company VISTA with partners PC-Agrar, a German company specialising in providing farm management information software, and Ludwig Maximillians University Munich, which developed the hydrological and agricultural production model.

Farmers access TalkingFields via familiar farm management systems.
“The quality of farming advice improves dramatically when all the available information is used,” said Heike Bach of VISTA.

“Factors like crop variety, seeding date, row distance and fertilisation measures conducted so far are stored in the farm management system”. 

 â€œSince TalkingFields is integrated with this software, we also have access to this information, improving our crop growth models.”

Large intensive farms across Germany and Russia are participating in the demonstration. Customers can choose from a portfolio of services, such as estimating a crop’s yield some two to four weeks before harvest. Even before a farmer decides to use precision farming, he can obtain a detailed cost-benefit analysis for each field. Daily information on biomass and density will help to protect crops by revealing the onset of plant disease.

To know more about the TalkingFields project please click here.

INTOGENER, ESA IAP.s supported activity on improving the forecasting of available water resources for better management of hydroelectricity power plants, is moving forward. The active commitment of the user (The Spanish utility ENDESA S.A.) is already showing many interesting results, not only about of information collection, but also about organising and managing all the communications and logistics in Chile, the target region of this activity. This is a clear indication that IAP.s user-driven approach is being successful and beneficial for both the users and the space industry.

The IAP team has approached the leader of the industrial team as well as the user to interview some of their key staff involved in the activity, to give us their impressions on several topics, and also to encourage other users without a clear knowledge on the capabilities of space technologies to find similar partnerships in the development of new services.

These types of partnerships are particularly well suited for SME.s. They can be supported by well-known larger companies, opening for them the doors of markets otherwise difficult for them to access. Ms, Araceli Pi, Service Business Development Manager of Starlab, explains this to us.

Q1. IAP: Starlab is a company with two different profiles: Space and neurosciences, quite an interesting combination, and not very common to find, particularly in an SME. Can you explain to us why such a division in these two areas that apparently have nothing to do with each other?

A1. Space and Neuroscience are to be found in the origins off our company. We believe that both of them are key areas for the 21st century and have a common element: the increasing availability of streams of information. Starlab believes in multidisciplinarity as a key element for the creation of knowledge, so even other research areas may develop in the future. Both sectors are not only key and strongly linked to cutting-edge technologies, but in addition, both activities rely on signal processing, being the background technologies not so different in terms of concept. We believe in innovation and this is one of the reasons that Starlab is working in these two areas.
When addressing a new challenge we put special care of building complementary and synergic working teams that may be composed of persons from Space and Neuroscience backgrounds, endorsed always by market guidance. Innovation includes not only technical skills, but also the way you do business.

Q 2. IAP: You have established quite a solid relationship with ENDESA in previous years. But actually, ENDESA being a company not related to either of your two main lines of activity, what made you start such a relationship?

Araceli Pi,A2. The relationship with ENDESA started some years ago through ENDESA.s Novare Awards initiative. Novare Awards are part of ENDESA.s Global Strategy for Sustainability whose aim is to promote technological innovation. Starlab foresaw a great opportunity to perform R&D in direct contact with the end user and in a real environment, and therefore we applied to these Novare Awards.

After hard competition, Starlab eventually won the Novare Awards in 2008 with the HYDRO R&D project. HYDRO proposed the use of Earth Observation (EO) in the prediction data of water flow in collaboration with the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). 

During the two years HYDRO lasted, the relationship between ENDESA and Starlab became more solid, based on results and on the day-to-day work. Both companies. interests converged; while ENDESA believes in technological innovation to meet the energy needs of society in a sustainable way, Starlab is committed to cutting-edge technologies with impact on Society. Additionally, while ENDESA's strategy has always included interest in using new technologies to meet operational needs, Starlab has been willing to build up operational EO services aiming to support the management decision process. 

Now INTOGENER aims to go further than HYDRO by implementing a water-flow monitoring and prediction system aimed at hydro-power production companies. This system will use satellite-based Earth Observation data, in-situ information based on reflected GNSS signals measured from remote places and transferred by satellite data links, and finally, assimilation of this data into a hydrological model for the proper forecast of water flow. 

INTOGENER represents an ideal framework to design and demonstrate an innovative service hand-in-hand with ENDESA as key user and stakeholder. 

Having ENDESA involved from the beginning of the project idea ensures the service market orientation and the transfer to a sustainable service once the project is finished. Starlab is willing to make INTOGENER a success story as an operational service in response to market user needs. 

ENDESA is a company whose name is synonymous with Innovation. For a number of years ENDESA was one of the top-five companies of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index as well as the Dow Jones Sustainability Stoxx Index of the New York.s Stock Exchange. Apart from measuring the financial health of the company, these indexes are a clear indicator of the role Research, Development and Innovation are playing in the strategy of the company. ENDESA dedicates a significant part of its budget to develop new technologies and services, but until recently, they were not really aware of the fact that space technologies could help their business.
We approached two of the responsible persons in charge of INTOGENER, Dr. J.M. Pardos-Gotor from ENDESA Corporation (Madrid, Spain) and Ms. S. Zenteno, from ENDESA Chile (Santiago de Chile, Chile)

Q3. IAP: ENDESA is currently part of one of the world's largest utilities, with a big market in South America. Can you explain to us briefly what the problems you are facing there are regarding the management of hydroelectricity?

Dr. José M. Pardos-Gotor, Head of Technology Projects, ENDESA Corporation

A3. In Chile, 50% market share of energy comes from renewable energy with water resources. Due to the nature of the terrain, all basins are connected to the grid with a large number of resources managed by different power companies. The availability of accurate information of the current water flow and forecasting of it is fundamental to correct management and operational planning.
Currently, only in situ measures and local models are being used in a region where it is difficult to place a network of in situ instrumentation; many of the areas are remote and difficult to access. In addition, the instrumentation used today is costly and the information provided is not well suited to our requirements.
This is why the proposed service resulting from the INTOGENER initiative could produce a substantial improvement in the management and operational planning related to water resources. Even a slight improvement in the prediction model would represent a very important impact in terms of efficiency and energy savings.

Three years of collaborative activity between ESA and RDT, aimed at identifying suitable solutions to the provision of sustainable satellite-enabled telemedicine services for the commercial aviation market, is demonstrating commercial success with the recent announcement by Etihad Airways of its decision to install new state-of-the-art technology Tempus IC onboard health monitoring system on its long-haul and ultra long-haul aircraft.

Tempus IC can monitor the condition of passengers who display signs of illness in-flight that might require immediate medical attention. It is designed to enable non-medical users, such as cabin crew, to gather vital information about a passenger's health quickly and efficiently, by monitoring and transmitting to a ground-based response centre vital signs routinely measured in an Emergency Room - including blood pressure, temperature, glucometry and 12-lead electrocardiogram. The crew will be able to simultaneously talk to and send clinical-quality data along with still pictures and moving video to a ground-based medical team of experts specialised in assisting in-flight medical contingencies for diagnosis and support.

Pierluigi Mancini, ESA, Head of the Awareness Activities and Feasibility Studies Division of the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme adds: "The objective of the activity was to develop and validate a system that enables airlines to manage in-flight medical emergencies more effectively and to reduce the number of costly unnecessary medical diversions. With the emergence of ultra long-haul aircraft such as the A380, this kind of technology is really the only way forward to contain the component of risk that an in-flight medical incident presents, not just for the airline but for the passenger as well. The combination of medical data with the ability to actually see and talk to a patient and crew is a real breakthrough".

Graham Murphy, CEO of RDT, the company that designed and manufactures the ground-breaking medical device, comments, "With the rise of larger aircraft and lower air-fares, the number of people of all ages travelling by air is increasing. As a result, the probability of a medical emergency occurring in-flight has risen and the pilot will often divert the flight to the nearest airport where medical attention can be provided. Commercial airlines are interested in telemedicine technology as a tool to improve medical provision for customers as well as to support their staff and crew. In simple terms, better diagnosis that enables a diversion to be avoided is of direct benefit to the airline and its passengers".

Mancini continues "ESA has been active in the field of satellite-delivered telemedicine for a number of years and this development addresses the use of telemedicine in support of the management of medical emergencies onboard commercial airlines. By investing in new applications ESA acts as a catalyst for European industry to develop and exploit innovative services and markets while, at the same time, fostering and organizing user demand to gain the critical mass necessary to sustain those services. We are extremely pleased with the sustainable service resulting from this project and look forward to further developments".

Starting with an assessment of the user requirements, the goal is to design an integrated, easily-operable system. This will be a bespoke tool to be made available to emergency responders and decision makers. The system's final shape will be determined based on the user requirements, and it will give responders strong situational awareness using various services in combination, such as:

In March 2011 the government will carry out a National Flood Event exercise to test national flood preparedness. 
It is being coordinated from the national ‘COBRA' level down to local authorities. In an exciting opportunity, the project team has been invited to observe the event then debrief the exercise ‘players' outlining how existing space assets could have been used during the exercise.

The project is being run by a consortium of five organisations: DMCii takes the lead role, with Infoterra Ltd supporting the Earth observation components, Avanti Communications the satellite communications role, Nottingham Scientific Ltd working on satellite navigation and the British Geological Survey providing additional expertise on geohazards.
For more information please visit the dedicated project web page.

The International Astronautical Congress will open in Prague on 27 September. Joining the world’s major space players, ESA will participate with experts in a rich and varied programme. The conference program also includes sessions dedicated to the Integrated Applications domain. ESA-IAP will contribute with papers and presentations about the findings of the IAP program as well as with the recent outcomes of some IAP projects.

The annual IAC is organised by the International Astronautical Federation and its associates, the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute of Space Law. This year, the local organiser is the Czech Space Office. The event will be held in the Prague Congress Centre. The exhibition is open to the public on Friday, 1 October, from 14:00 to 17:00. To know more about the IAC please visit the Congress web page.

Introduction

The newly created Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting public and commercial end-user organisations to propose ideas and suggestions for new services in the Baltic, focusing particularly on maritime issues. The aim is to generate ideas leading to new services that will improve business performance and operations, help enforce new regulatory standards (for instance on environmental protection), or enable improved marine safety and security.

The ideas will be used to help define and consolidate requirements for user-driven services supported through the IAP. At this stage, we are primarily interested in user requirements rather than in technical solutions.

The IAP initiative on the Baltic is planned as the first of a number of such initiatives that we wish to undertake on a European regional basis. It is intended that the strategy for this initiative be closely aligned with that of other programmes on the Baltic such as BONUS, HELCOM and BOOS.

Call for User Ideas

The Call for User Ideas on the Baltic follows directly from a workshop on .Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Services for Environment, Safety and Security in the Baltic Sea. which was held in Helsinki on 12th April, 2010. The workshop was jointly organised by BONUS EEIG (representing 9 research funding agencies around the Baltic), TEKES (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) and ESA.

Themes arising from the workshop (and also from the adjoining Northern Maritime Challenge workshop organised by the Centre for Maritime Studies at the University of Turku on .Challenges in Baltic Sea Transports, Safety and the Environment.) that it is intended to cover in this Call for User Ideas include (but are not restricted to):

• Environmental Monitoring (e.g. monitoring of oil spills and algae .matts., coastal protection).
• Safety and Security (e.g. monitoring / optimisation of vessel traffic, border security, search and rescue).
• Energy (e.g. operation of offshore wind farms and sail boats; laying of underwater pipelines).
• Fisheries (e.g. management of trawlers and fish-stocks, marketing service).
• Port handling (e.g. tracking of containers).

Planned Call for Proposals

As result of the received response to the Call for User Ideas, ESA intends to initiate a set of IAP activities in partnership with other relevant stakeholders. In particular, it is planned to publish an Open Call for Proposals on the Baltic in December 2010. The Open Call will address Feasibility Studies (see below), though more fully developed ideas could also be considered directly for Demonstration Projects. The most promising Feasibility Studies on the Baltic would be taken forward as IAP Demonstration Projects in the second half of 2012.

The Baltic Sea Region

The Baltic Sea region is ecologically unique, and cannot be monitored or controlled purely on a national basis. It is characterised by a very long water residence time (25 - 35 years), a large salinity range (from 23 . in the Danish Straits to approximately 2-3 . in the easternmost Gulf of Finland and northernmost Gulf of Bothnia), and has essentially no tide. Due to the exceptional salinity conditions, the Baltic Sea is characterised by low species diversity of freshwater and marine origin, and has a simplified food web.

The Baltic Sea is of considerable strategic and economic importance in energy supply from Russia to the EU, supporting the transportation of oil and gas. It is also highly congested, with over 2000 vessels trafficking the Baltic at any one time. Land uplift is still an ongoing process along coastal areas (particularly in northern parts of the Baltic), requiring frequent dredging of shipping lanes. Eutrophication is also a major problem, due largely to excessive run-off from fertilisers. The Baltic Sea is seasonally affected by ice cover which requires a fleet of ice-breakers to maintain the shipping routes in the winter.

The IAP Programme

The IAP programme aims at developing a range of new applications by using and integrating different space assets (Earth Observation, Navigation and Telecommunications), resulting in sustainable services for the benefit of society ensured by the user-driven nature of the IAP programme. New concepts, capabilities and a new culture are required in order to respond to a multitude of needs from users who are not familiar with space systems, and this Call for User Ideas is targeted especially at such users.

ESA is in the process of initiating discussions with stakeholders and end users, and bringing them together with the space industry and service providers, with the aim of assisting in the development of end-to-end technical solutions through two types of studies:

• Feasibility Studies, which provide the preparatory framework to identify, analyse and define new user-driven sustainable services.  
• Demonstration Projects, which aim at establishing the basis for sustainable integrated applications. Demonstration Projects are carried out on the basis of partnership with ESA, and have the ultimate goal of validating the technical and economic viability of the proposed solution.

Feasibility Studies in Open Competition can be supported by ESA up to a level of 100%, and Demonstration Projects up to 50%. Some examples of ongoing IAP projects, and more information on the IAP programme, can be found on the ARTES Applications portal at http://artes-apps.esa.int.

How to submit your ideas

You are invited to submit your ideas and suggestions by completing and returning the attached form by email to iap@esa.int  (putting .Baltic Call. in the subject heading).

The User Response Form can be downloaded below.

Please be assured that all inputs will be treated confidentially. Your ideas are highly valued, and will help shape the IAP programme of ESA in order to meet your needs.

For any questions related to this Call for User Ideas, please contact:

Dr Tony Sephton (TIA-AFA)

ESA-ESTEC

Keplerlaan 1, 2200AG Noordwijk

Netherlands

Email: tony.sephton@esa.int

Tel:+31-71-56-55554

Did you know that the energy coming from the sun everyday and reaching the surface of the Earth is equivalent to 60,000 times the worldwide energy consumption per day? The potential of the sun to cover the world’s electricity needs is immense, but it is not equally distributed, depending on the area of the globe and the meteorological conditions, whereas the areas with better solar resources are not always the largest electricity consumers.

As an example, Dr. Gerhard Knies, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the DESERTEC foundation, explains us:

- “Within  6  hours, deserts  receive more  energy  from the  Sun than humankind consumes  within a  year. But how can this radiant energy be economically transformed into useful energy and transported to consumers?” 

Even with this limitation, huge investments are made in solar transducer technology like photovoltaic panels, parabolic-through reflectors, solar towers etc.

In the short term, considering the current status of the technology, Concentrating Solar Power technology (CSP) based on parabolic through reflectors is seen as one of the clearest options for the future, as it allows the generation of electricity on large scales. Sunny regions of Europe are experiencing the deployment of the first of these power plants, supplying energy to their surrounding areas. Solar Millennium AG together with partners has developed, designed and realized Europe’s first CSP power plants, located in the region of Andalucía, near Granada, Spain, and they describe us their working principle:

- “The technology is based on the concentration of direct solar radiation using parabolic-shaped mirrors.” says Benedikt Pulvermüller, project manager at Solar Millennium AG. The heat is collected in an absorber tube filled with a heat-transfer fluid.The heat is used to generate steam which is used to run a turbine and to produce electricity as in many other conventional power plants, like coal or gas. The rationale behind this approach is that heat can be easily stored and later used to generate additional steam, particularly during cloudy periods or even at night”

Andasol-1 was designed with a production capacity of 50 MW, allowing a maximum production up to 180 GWh per year. However, radiation received by the power plant is rather variable due to night, clouds or aerosols. In order to optimise the operation of the power plant and take the most out of it, a proper forecasting system is required. There it is where space technologies enter on stage. Data coming from Earth Observation satellites can be used to support standard weather forecasts and local measurement stations, while satellite telecommunications can make all the information from the satellites and the ground stations available in real time, which is a mandatory requirement for the operation of the power plant.

However, if the storage of heat allows the provision of a stable electricity output, why is it necessary to develop a forecasting system? Just because it is not enough to grant stability on a theoretical basis. Electricity grid and market operators have tight requirements of predictability over long periods of time. If renewable energies have to enter into real operation on massive scales, stability is an imperative to avoid a general collapse of the electricity distribution system. Additionally, it will allow the planning of maintenance operations in advance to meet the most appropriate conditions.

The service concept investigated within this activity is going to be tested in the Andasol-3 power plant, currently under construction.

-“If the results are in line with our expectations, we will use the resulting forecasting service to improve the operations of other CSP projects we are developing around   the   world,”   says Benedikt Pulvermüller. “We could  even start  providing these  forecasting services to other  CSP  or  Photovoltaic operators”.

The CSP-FoSyS activity has just started its second phase, and it is run by Solar Millennium, a  company new to the space arena specialised in the development and construction of innovative technologies for solar thermal power plants. They are supported by DLR-DFD and ESA.

Sustainable food production and food security are central challenges of this century. Limited acreage and high demand for resources for food and bio-energy production drive up prices. One promising way of solving these problems is to achieve higher efficiency in production via precision farming.

TalkingFields is an initiative intended not only to overcome these shortages but also to provide farmers with affordable and low-time consuming, end-to-end precision farming services to increase production efficiency. TalkingFields is based on a geo-information service that applies satellite-based data sources and techniques in an integrative way.

Satellite sensors from Earth Observation deliver spatial information about the crop development. In- field sensors, where available, measure weather conditions. The farmer communicates the applied and planned farming measures to the geo-data service. An agricultural geo-information service integrates all input data, and translates it into advice on what farming measures are required. The recommended measures are delivered to the farmer, who uses satellite navigation for auto-steering and realisation of these site-specific farming activities.

The feasibility of this integrative application of space techniques for precision farming was studied in the frame of ESA's ARTES 20 Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) Programme. The resulting IAP Demonstration Project project has been completed.

What could be the consequences of a poor water management? One might think on droughts, agriculture and farming losses, desertification, but probably one will never think about an energy collapse. And, as a matter of fact, water is used in many energy production-related processes as well as by means of hydroelectricity power plants. The Britannica Encyclopedia provides a concise description of what hydroelectricity is:

"Electricity produced from generators driven by water turbines that convert the energy in falling or fast-flowing water to mechanical energy. Water at a higher elevation flows downward through large pipes or tunnels (penstocks). The falling water rotates turbines, which drive the generators, which convert the turbines' mechanical energy into electricity."

Hydroelectricity belongs to the category of renewable energies, being the most developed and mature technology inside this group. It is a relevant component of the electricity mix of countries with relevant hydrological resources like Canada, Brazil, Argentina, China, Chile, Russia and U.S. Even more, it represents more than 90 % of the power generated in countries like Norway or Iceland (source: IEA - Hydropower Agreement, http://www.ieahydro.org).

INTOGENER (INTegration of EO data and GNSS-R signals for ENERgy applications) focuses in the case of Chile. ENDESA, a Spanish utility owned mostly by the Italian Enel Group is de facto the largest utility in South America, being Chile one of the markets they operate. In Chile, more than 40 % of the national electricity mix comes from hydroelectricity power plants, being most of them located in the central area of the country. For the management of the power plants, all the utilities use currently a statistical model of the region. It is based on a limited set of in-situ measurements as well as previous years’ meteorological and hydrological information. The accuracy of the outcomes of this model differs up to 60 % with respect to reality. ENDESA is willing to find an alternative that can help them to manage their power plants in a more efficient way. Over the past decade, the electricity demand in Chile has grown at an average rate of 7 % per year, making mandatory an optimisation of the hydroelectrical resources in the short term to avoid further investment in fossil sources to fill the demand.

Due to the peculiarities of the Chilean area (dominated by the high and not very accessible Andean mountains), space technologies can provide information for example, concerning the snow & ice coverage (SAR data) water flows and temperature (IR-Thermal data). The installation of low-cost GNSS-R devices in strategic locations can provide relevant information concerning water basins levels. On top of that, satellite communications can be used to send data acquired from these devices and data loggers, like soil moisture measuring equipment, to a processing centre where a new discharge model of the area of interest will be running. The combination of the model plus the mentioned inputs will be the basis of a service aimed at the improvement of ENDESA's management capabilities of their resources in Chile.

The recently launched feasibility study is run by Starlab, a Spanish company in close collaboration with ENDESA. Starlab and ENDESA worked in together in the past, and the present concept under analysis has come as a result of that partnership.

Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW, e.g. cluster ammunition) are a threat to human life and economic development of nations emerged from conflicts. Land Release in Mine Action is a staged process of ever closer investigation of suspected hazardous areas, aimed at discriminating between uncontaminated and truly contaminated areas. The former are directly released to the population, while the latter are cleared (i.e. explosives are removed) before release. Within a given budget the objective of land release is not so much to find and remove as many mines/ERW as possible, rather to achieve a maximum socio-economic benefit for affected populations. Therefore priority setting is a critical aspect of land release efforts. Using the most cost efficient tool to achieve a given objective along the land release process is also essential. By providing the proper information, in a timely manner, anywhere it is needed, space assets could significantly benefit land release actions.

The Internal Symposium for Humanitarian demining took place on April 26th -29th 2010 in Sibenik, Croatia. It was co-organised by the Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC) and Center for Testing, Development and Training (HCR). This annual event is one of the major gatherings of the demining community. ESA participated in the event to outreach about the benefits of space assets for mine action. It was also an opportunity to make the audience aware of the open tender. A plenary presentation showing highlights of the feasibility study ITT was delivered by ESA.

This presentation, together with the paper supporting it can be retrieved here.

ESA also co-moderated a workshop on the use of new technologies as decision support in defining Mine Suspected Areas.

The conclusion of this workshop are provided here.