The project, dubbed 'Project OVERPASS', will develop new Earth Observation technologies such as the enhancement of image resolution, cloud-detection, change detection and video compression that will be performed on-board a small satellite rather than on the ground. This will accelerate the delivery of high-quality images, video and information rich analytics to end-users. On-board cloud detection will also make the tasking of satellites more efficient and increase the probability of capturing a usable and useful image or video.
The project will also determine the extent to which these capabilities could be routinely deployed on-board British optical imaging satellites in future.
Earth-i’s Vivid-i constellation, which is being designed and manufactured by SSTL, offers a potential first application for the OVERPaSS technology, enabling a wide range of clients in industry and government to benefit from the higher quality imagery, video and analytics, and faster processing and delivery times.
The partners in the Project OVERPASS consortium are:
- Cortexica Vision Systems, a leading provider of cloud-based image and video recognition systems;
- University College London (UCL), through the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (UCL MSSL) with its extensive experience in space research missions;
- Earth-i, a supplier of high resolution image data services (Consortium lead).