Vesolje-SI

RTD projects

ESA, NEMO-HD Microsatellite for River Basin Scanning and Observation of SDG Hot Spots – NEMO-RBS (2021 – 2022)

 In the project we focus on using the exceptional capabilities of the NEMO-HD microsatellite in the field of Earth observation with an emphasis on river basin scanning.  We will use an advanced system for guidance, navigation and control of the satellite. We will show that NEMO-HD is capable of tracking and monitoring river courses for the acquisition of video and multispectral image data. With NEMO-HD satellite data, we will supplement the database for Sentinel-2 with higher spatial resolution images.

ESA, Verification of Small Satellite Market Development Concepts for Commercial Transportable Ground Station Operators – GS (2020 – 2022)

 Space-SI has developed a mobile ground station for satellite communications, which will enable satellite operators and GIS service providers to perform not only the classic applications but also to interactively control satellites and transfer data in real or near real time. The goal of the project is to establish close cooperation between the ground station developer (Space-SI), satellite operators, and GIS service providers. With selected operators and GIS service providers we formulated the requirements of individual products and verified them through testing. An assessment of the market potential and expansion of the proposed solutions on the markets of space technologies and applications was carried out.

ESA, Enhanced Scientific Data Acquisition for ESA M5 THESEUS Mission –  eTezej (2020 – 2021)

The main objective of the project is to support the Phase A study of the ESA M5 Theseus space mission by exploring the possibilities of how scientific data acquisition from the Theseus satellite can be supported by the STREAM ground station system. With applying this solution to some additional nodes in the equatorial network the scientific community could benefit by gaining additional opportunities to observe gamma-ray bursts in real time, reducing delays and increasing the transmission capacity of useful data of the Theseus mission. Having several ground stations available that can replace each other in the event of a failure of one of them would increase the reliability of the network. Additional nodes proposed by Space-SI will be fully aligned with Theseus’ core satellite communications technologies, operational requirements, data acquisition, processing and transmission processes.

 A set of selection criteria is defined to obtain the most cost-effective solutions to increase data transfer and backup capacity and real-time, low-latency scientific data acquisition capabilities. With them, we will objectively compare the potentials of candidate earth station locations in the equatorial belt.

ESA, Novel EO data for improved agricultural drought impact forecasting in the Pannonian basin – DryPan  (2019 – 2021) 

The Pannonian basin is the western most part of the Eurasian steppes zone and was dominated by forest steppes and then over centuries used as grasslands. Nowadays, it is one of the largest agricultural regions in Europe. Because of the low precipitation, the region relies on the surrounding mountains as the key source of water. The objectives of the DryPan project are to:

• develop and validate a set of novel EO-based products and enhanced data sets dedicated to characterise drought processes in the Pannonian basin;
• foster new scientific results, where space technology may provide a valuable input;
• promote the use of advanced EO datasets for Drought Early Warning and facilitating access; and
• develop a roadmap identifying additional science priorities.

We will further develop different products, such as forecasts of crop yields, forecast anomalies, drought characterisation and compound events. The role of the SPACE-SI is to provide a web site exploiting advanced data access and visualisation tools. Other partners in the project are EODC, TUV and CzechGlobe.

ESA PECS, New low-loss radomes for broadband communications up to 40 GHz – NewRadome (2018 – 2019)

In this project a double thin membrane technology will be developed to increase energy-efficiency of radomes, avoid condensation problems in climates with big day-night temperature changes and to keep the interior electronics within temperature ranges required. This new solution will offer many advantages over a standard composite materials traditionally used to build radomes:

• Better EM properties
• Ultra wide frequency range (DC to 40 GHz)
• No condensation
• Better thermal insulation resulting in great energy savings
• Easier control of internal environment resulting in lower price of air-conditioning equipment
• Better structural stability
• Increased safety factor against punctures
• Simple installation

UIA, APPLAUSE (2017 – 2020)

Interreg Danube, project DriDanube – Drought Risk in the Danube Region (2017-2019)

The main objective of the project is to improve drought emergency response in the Danube region and to anhance the cooperation among operational services and decision making authorities in a Danube region. DriDanube aims to change mainly ad-hoc drought response to pro-active response based on risk management procedures. Project aims to increase the capacity of the Danube region to adapt to climatic variability, to manage drought related risks by enhancing resilience to drought with recently developed tools and data sets. The objective has been identified as answer to issues related to deficiencies both in drought monitoring process and drought management systems. New drought monitoring services will be developed and prepared for operational use. Unified drought risk protocol based on the Civil Protection Mechanism will be prepared.

ERDF, programme MARTINA – Materials and Technologies for New Applications (2016-2019)

In MARTINA programme the consotium of 16 partners from Slovenia will develop a high-strength steels and aluminum alloys with the aim of achieving material properties which are essential for new applications in the automotive industry to reduce the weight of vehicles and related CO2 footprint and energy consumption during production and the use of vehicles. In the case of multicomponent materials we will take advantage of the ease of use of plastic materials and specific properties of metallic materials. With the introduction of new materials we will develop advanced manufacturing technologies and transformation, which will set new requirements for tools and tool steels. In addition to the properties of tool steels they will challenge even the correct distribution of these features in the tool and sensors, allowing control of the operating conditions of the tool. Due to the increasingly complex shapes of tools, we studied the program procedures innovative 3D printing tools. The result of the program will be prototypes of tool steels. Their properties and the suitability of 3D printing tools will be tested on tools prototypes. The result of the program will also be prototypes visokotrnostnih steel kneading and molding aluminum alloys and prototypes of new multicomponent materials with specific properties. Their properties will be tested and optimized on sample cases, components of the car ilske and electrical industry, which is the horizontal links.

SRA J6-7085 Regional project Chactún: Research of the archeological landscape in the Central Maya Lowlands (2016-2018)

The project includes the extension of the archaeological research carried out in the eastern Mexican state of Campeche in 2013 and 2014, when the remains of three major Mayan city centers Chactún, Tamchén Lagunita were discovered and documentedand. Using airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) and field verification we intend to obtain detailed information on the archeological elements recognisable on the surface. We will process the raw lidar data taking into account the specific needs of the research and the peculitarities of the environment. Analysis and interpretation of lidar data supplemented with those obtained with field verifications will enable us to determine the extent of settlements and the distribution and characteristics of other types of anthropogenic elements and to identify any correlations with the specificities of the natural environment.

ESA PECS, Geopedia pay-per-use demonstration on optical HR cloud platform (2016-2018)

ESA Geopedia project is a supplement to the ESA project Sentinel2Agri4Slo. In Sentinel2Agri4Slo additional options of processing and distribution of data were defined. The main purpose of this project is testing the processing and distribution procedures of high resolution satellite images in the  cloud. Sinergise developed the distribution system Sentinel Hub, while Space-SI has analyzed the user needs and defined the protocols and methods of accessing the data. In addition, interfaces with the platform provider in cloud computing, especially IPT Poland, Amazon and CloudEO were defined and service Geopedia pay-per-use on IPT Poland cloud was developed. We are currently working on the demonstration and promotion services. Sentinel Hub has been identified as a potential tool to attract business customers for pay-per-use use and is a pioneering activity in this field.

Contracor for water status servis (2016- )

To the company GeoCodis we offer test service of water status data delivery for the teritory of Slovenia. Customer service is active since 2016. Data on water status is obtained from Sentinel-1 radar imagery which are availabe every 6 days. Water is detected by analizing histograms and determining the threshold value. The final result in raster form is obtained by widening the initial regions.

Orthoimage production (2015- )

SPACE-SI provides an automatic service for orthorectification of optical satellite images. The service prcisly places the raw images into the desired coordinate system in a very short time so that they can be used for a variety of spatial analysis. Since 2015 the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food uses the service for the orthorectification of very high resolution imagery for the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) project.

ESA PECS project Sentinel2Agri4Slovenia (2015-2017)

The main objective of the project Application of Sentinel-2 time-series data for crop identification and crop stress monitoring – Sentinel2Agri4Slovenia is to examine time series of satellite images (especially European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 imagery) to determine the crop masks, crop area estimation, the identification of species, monitoring the dynamics of crop  stress and to develop a tool for the dissemination of products to customers. Project results will serve as indicators of agricultural productivity and food security at various regional levels. (Semi) automatic system for the production of specific products is based on multiple time and multispectral klasifikaciji and machine learning techniques.

SRA J2-6777 Automatic object-oriented land cover classification of optical remote sensing data (2014-2017)

Although the potential for the use of satellite imagery is well demonstrated, their actual exploitation has not increased in recent years. The main reasons for this, other than the price, are time-consuming and complex pre-processing, and a complicated classification procedure. Due to increase in spatial and spectral resolution of satellite imagery pixel-based classification has been replaced almost entirely by object-based classification. Potential of its main steps – i.e. segmentation and classification – is not yet fully studied, however. The main aim of the proposed project is to develop an automatic procedure for geometric and radiometric correction of satellite images, and production of a land cover map (vector layer) that can be used directly by end-users in their analyses using geographic information systems (GIS).

SRA J2-5482 Napetostno nastavljivi feroelektrični plastni kondenzatorji za prilagodljive mikrovalovne antene (2013-2016)

The aim of the project was to develop a frequency-reconfigurable planar antenna, which enables low-loss variable capacitance properties. Compared to competitive semiconductor technology, ferroelectrics have a fast response exhibit low-leakage currents resulting in lower power dissipation and they represent a cost-effective solution. In addition, their functional response is irradiation-resistant, which is strongly beneficial for space applications.

ESA PECS project Ferro-Patch (2012-2014)

The project of the European Space Agency “Flexible microstrip antenna based on ferroelectric capacitors (Ferro-Patch) was carried out together with partners Jozef Stefan Institute and the University of Ljubljana. We have developed by the frequency and polarization adaptable antenna system, which is composed of Chebyshev LC filter, phase spinner and dipole antenna. About 240 nm thick layer of a voltage-tunable ferroelectric Ba0.3Sr0.7TiO3 was applied from the solution onto the polycrystalline aluminum oxide base by the method of synthesis. The layers were irradiated with doses of neutrons and gamma rays, which go beyond the value that could be obtained in the orbits of earth satellites. We found out that with With designing layer microstructue stable dielectric properties in both kHz as in the GHz range can be achieved. The antenna system has proved suitable functional properties for use in satellites.

ESA PECS project SatDroughtMon (2012-2014)

The “Automatic determination of vegetation parameters from satellite and ground data for the observation of drought“ (SatDroughtMon) was held between 2012 and 2014 in the framework of ESA PECS call. The main objective of the project was to develop a system for automatic detection of the state of vegetation using satellite data to identify drought. The developed system is based on machine learning methods to build a classification system based on satellite data. Drought maps are produced by automatic detection of drought on satelite imagery in the selected area of Slovenia. The end result was the Cumulative layer of drought for a specified period.

Crowd-sourcing  (JR ESMA JZNO 2012-2013)

Within the project we have developed a mobile and web application for data capturing, processing and visualization. The app “Crowd-sourcing – Volba” is an application crowd sourcing the data on the weather conditions and to display natural disasters in Slovenia. Its purpose is to improve the prediction of these phenomena and prevent their consequences. Web application is based on the Geopedia.si platform. It allows the user to control and organize data and produce the final results.

Centre of Excellence SPACE-SI (2010-2013)

The Slovenian Centre of Excellence for Space Sciences and Technologies SPACE-SI has been established in 2010 by a consortium of academic institutions, high-tech SMEs and large industrial and insurance companies in order to benefit from the advantages of small satellite technologies and applications in Earth observation, meteorology and astrophysics. The RTD activities of SPACE-SI are focused on high resolution interactive remote sensing and formation flying missions. These goals are supported by the development of an advanced microsatellite for Earth observation and RTD infrastructure that includes ground control infrastructure, satellite integration facilities as well as a multidisciplinary laboratory for testing of satellite systems and components in simulated space environments. The data sources from small satellite missions have been combined with the data from large space programs such as Copernicus to enable frequent and cost-effective remote sensing applications in ecology, agriculture, forestry, land cover mapping, urbanism and maritime, as well as for monitoring climate changes, natural disasters and use of natural resources.