Thales (Spain)

The Cubesat-compatible MORERA optical instrument is a very compact, low f/n LWIR camera designed to provide high resolution images at farm level to estimate evapotranspiration data and provide personalized irrigation recommendations directly to final users using a mobile device. A SW-defined system will use Big Data to combine all relevant information (AEMET, Copernicus, S-SEBI algorithms) to optimize water resources. The final optomechanical configuration, its performance and straylight behavior are described in this paper.

High-resolution imaging, and particularly video sensors are gaining interest by the space industry during the last years, up to the point that the main space agencies have included in their roadmap the development of different processing stages for their efficient management on-board satellites. This is relevant because the high volume of data generated by these kind of sensors, which make difficult either send or store it in raw format. One of the main objectives of the European H2020-funded VIDEO project is to provide some tools to detect on-the-fly different targets during an Earth Observation mission to then smartly compress the acquired video considering different level of loses depending on the frame content. Currently, the VIDEO project is in its last phase, so a demonstrator is on-going to evaluate the viability of the proposed instrument and its associated processing chain. In this work, the main features of this demonstrator are presented and some preliminary conclusions of the project are summarized.

Abstract. In this paper, we present the SafeSpace prototype for a safety warning system, dedicated to the electron radiation-belt-induced internal charging hazard aboard spacecraft. The space weather tool relies on a synergy of physical models associated in a chain that covers the whole Sun–interplanetary-space–Earth's inner magnetosphere medium. With the propagation of uncertainties along the modelling pipeline, the safety prototype provides a global nowcast and forecast (within a 4 d lead time) of the electron radiation belt dynamic as well as tailored indicators for space industry operators. They are meant to inform the users about the severity of the electron space environment via a three-coloured alarm system, which sorts the index intensity according to a representative historical distribution of in situ data. The system was tested during the challenging 2015 St Patrick's Day storm in order to assess its performance. It showed overall good nowcasting and forecasting capabilities due to its broad physics-driven pipeline.

The usage of QKD protocols through the current terrestrial infrastructure is limited to a hundred kilometers due to attenuation problems with fiber. This implies that the satellite will be necessary for the transmission of quantum keys in order to avoid these terrestrial limitations. Therefore, the current debate does not lie in the need for the satellite but rather in what type of infrastructure will be best suited, and specifically the usage of GEO vs LEO satellites. This analysis is not trivial and should not consider only the link budgets and the physical layer as it has been done up to date. It should also consider even more important factors, as the service KPIs that the end user will request such as key rate, availability, security of the keys and their maintenance, etc., as well as the possible communications architectures to provide the service. Therefore, the analysis should introduce the market oriented component, and provide the optimal solutions based on the scenarios and requirements requested by the customer. In this frame, and under ESA ARTES funding, a Spanish consortium led by Hispasat is defining an operational GEO QKD mission that shall fly as hosted payload in 2025. The quantum communications payload proposed in this mission represents a step beyond the state of the art since it is the first implementation of a quantum key distribution channel from geostationary orbit. This new service will involve the implementation of a complete communications system not currently available that will require the development of new technological elements and the adaptation for their operation in space of technologies such as photon sources, telescopes for optical communications compatible with quantum state transmission or processors for the distillation of quantum keys, as well as a whole new ground segment to control and manage the new quantum key distribution service and its integration into a future European secure quantum communications network. Details of the challenges and approach of this mission shall be presented

In this work, two different types of evanescent mode rectangular waveguides filters are proposed, designed and fabricated, using a hybrid manufacturing strategy. On the one hand, the evanescent waveguide filter section is filled with dielectric material made of ABSplus, commonly employed by 3D printers based on Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). On the other hand, the metallic external structure of the filters has been built by means of standard machining computer numerical control (CNC) procedures. Some guidelines on how to properly combine the dielectric and metallic pieces are provided. As design examples, two different fifth order C-band Chebyshev bandpass filters have been designed and tested. The first filter is composed of a single ABSplus dielectric piece (&#x03F5;<inf>r</inf> = 2.55) drilled with elliptical airholes, and then aligned in the metallic waveguide housing. The second filter is loaded with five elliptical dielectric post resonators distributed along the metallic evanescent waveguide section. In both cases, the return losses are higher than RL = 18 dB, the fractional bandwidth within the range 3%-4.6%, whereas the spurious free range is around 1 GHz. Due to the nowadays limitations of the quality of available dielectric materials for 3D-printers, the insertion losses of the filters are high within the passbands (around IL = 4.3 dB). Nevertheless, the overall performances are satisfactory, showing the promising usefulness of this kind of filters for low cost implementations, based on combining additive manufacturing techniques with standard CNC processes.

This work presents a Reconfigurable Video Processor demonstrator that takes the benefit of ENABLE-S3 developments for the integration and validation of image processing applications demanded by the emerging space industry. Applications such as On-board hyperspectral image compression for Earth observations and Autonomous Vision-based Navigation for Guidance, Navigation and Control of the spacecraft form part of the demonstrator. Modern space industry requires more flexibility, larger platforms and lower design costs. Hence, an SRAM-based Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is selected as the platform for the processor. Although compliant with the aforementioned specifications, this technology is highly susceptible to radiation effects. In this work the space environment has been simulated by a virtual radiation sensor thus decreasing the design time, costs and very expensive hours “in the beam” available in a small number of Radiation Facilities. The virtual sensor and reconfiguration techniques help to validate the proposed applications and to exhaustively test the SRAM-based FPGA prior to radiation testing. With this approach the reduction of design and testing costs has been achieved and the confidence in the technology and the algorithms has been gained. In addition, the a2K Tool Suite has been used to assist in the V&V process of the demonstrator decreasing the number of tests, testing time and cost of personnel, all of them being the objectives of ENABLE S3 project.

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are embedded computational collaborating devices, capable of sensing and controlling physical elements and, often, responding to humans. Designing and managing systems able to respond to different, concurrent requirements during operation is not straightforward, and introduce the need of proper support at design-time and run-time. The Cross-layer modEl-based fRamework for multi-oBjective dEsign of Reconfigurable systems in unceRtain hybRid envirOnments (CERBERO) EU project has developed a design environment for adaptive CPS. CERBERO approach leverages on model-based methodologies including different technologies and tools developed to cover design and operation from user interactions down to low level computing layer implementation.

An optimal payload selection conducted in the frame of the H2020 ONION project (id 687490) is presented based on the ability to cover the observation needs of the Copernicus system in the time period 2020–2030. Payload selection is constrained by the variables that can be measured, the power consumption, and weight of the instrument, and the required accuracy and spatial resolution (horizontal or vertical). It involved 20 measurements with observation gaps according to the user requirements that were detected in the top 10 use cases in the scope of Copernicus space infrastructure, 9 potential applied technologies, and 39 available commercial platforms. Additional Earth Observation (EO) infrastructures are proposed to reduce measurements gaps, based on a weighting system that assigned high relevance for measurements associated to Marine for Weather Forecast over Polar Regions. This study concludes with a rank and mapping of the potential technologies and the suitable commercial platforms to cover most of the requirements of the top ten use cases, analyzing the Marine for Weather Forecast, Sea Ice Monitoring, Fishing Pressure, and Agriculture and Forestry: Hydric stress as the priority use cases.

Ingenio/SEOSAT is a multi-spectral high-resolution optical satellite for Earth remote sensing, designed to provide imagery to different Spanish civil, institutional and governmental users, and potentially to other European users in the frame of GMES and GEOSS.

SummaryShared Access terrestrial–satellite backhaul Network enabled by Smart Antennas (SANSA) is a project funded by the EU under the H2020 program. The main aim of SANSA is to boost the performance of mobile wireless backhaul networks in terms of capacity, energy efficiency and resilience against link failure or congestion while easing the deployment in both rural and urban areas and assuring at the same time an efficient use of the spectrum. This paper provides an overview and the first results of the project, and, more specifically, it describes the regulatory environment, the State of The Art of mobile backhauling technologies regarding Ka band, the scenarios, the use cases and the key performance indicators along with the SANSA architecture, network (NET) and physical (PHY) layer techniques used to enhance wireless backhauling capabilities. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.