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Earth observation & GeoAI

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Drones and imagery

Campaigns planned to the ground sample distance.

Drones and imagery, inside Earth observation & GeoAI: tasking, mission planning and revisit analysis, orbit and conjunction data, ground stations and downlink, space link extension and station networking and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from OGC API – Connected Systems Part 2 (commands and tasking) to OGC Sensor Planning Service 2.0, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

Plan with usArchitectureThe protocol
Technologies
9
At the frontier
1
Protocol functions
3 of 8
Industries served
16

Reference design, drawn to scale · drag to turn · hover a part

01What it is

Tasking, ground segment and access.

Every platform, sensor, processing level and ground-segment step that turns remote measurements of the Earth into calibrated, analysis-ready evidence for a site, a region or a network. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against.

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Tasking, mission planning and revisit analysis

Choosing what to acquire and when, modelling revisit, look angle and cloud risk against need.

We design and operate.

OGC API – Connected Systems Part 2 (commands and tasking) · OGC Sensor Planning Service 2.0

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Orbit and conjunction data

Standard orbit and conjunction messages used to predict passes and coordinate operations.

We integrate.

CCSDS 502.0-B (Orbit Data Messages) · CCSDS 508.0-B (Conjunction Data Message)

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Ground stations and downlink

Tracking antennas and modems for S, X and Ka-band downlink in Earth exploration-satellite allocations.

We design, integrate, deploy, operate, maintain and support.

ITU Radio Regulations (EESS allocations, e.g. 8025-8400 MHz, 25.5-27 GHz) · ETSI EN 302 307-1 (DVB-S2) · CCSDS 131.0-B

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Space link extension and station networking

Standard services that let a mission use stations operated by others.

We integrate and operate.

CCSDS Space Link Extension (SLE) services

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Direct broadcast and edge processing

Receiving and processing satellite data on site for minutes-latency products without a round trip to a central archive.

We design, integrate, deploy, operate, maintain and support.

WMO Direct Broadcast Network (DBNet) · CGMS direct readout guidance

Frontier · Remote sensing and Earth observation

Optical ground stations

Laser downlink terminals that relieve radio spectrum limits, with weather-diverse site networks.

We design and integrate.

CCSDS 141.0-B (optical communications physical layer)

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Ground segment security

Link encryption, authentication and key management for command and telemetry.

We design, integrate and operate.

CCSDS 355.0-B (Space Data Link Security Protocol) · IEC 62443-3-3

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Licensing and remote sensing law

National licences and data-distribution conditions for operating remote sensing systems and stations.

We design and support.

Remote Sensing Space Systems Act (Canada, S.C. 2005, c. 45) · 15 CFR Part 960 (US commercial remote sensing)

Remote sensing and Earth observation

Disaster activation and rapid mapping

Emergency acquisition and mapping mechanisms that deliver imagery to responders.

We support.

International Charter Space and Major Disasters · UN-SPIDER

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

Drones and imagery draws on 2 domains and 16 layers of the spectrum; the highlighted layers carry this area. It speaks 3 of the protocol’s 8 core functions.

Platforms and orbits

8

Optical, spectral and thermal sensors

8

Radar, lidar and microwave sensors

10

Processing levels and analysis-ready data

9

Calibration and validation

8

Tasking, ground segment and access

9

Data cubes, analysis and archives

7

Frontier and research

8

Reference systems and geodesy

7

Vector, raster and array formats

10

Tiling, maps and visual services

7

APIs, catalogues and discrete global grids

8

Spatial analysis and siting

10

GeoAI

10

3D, BIM and digital twins

8

Metadata, quality and publication

5

01JoinIdentity, attestation quote, signed policy.

02AdmitAdmitted for a stated scope, nothing wider.

03DescribeWhat, where, how and by whom, with calibration.

04TimeOne clock across the grid, with its error bound.

05ObserveEvery value with quality and provenance.

06QualifyTested against the specification, state on record.

07FederateSigned exchange across grids and trust domains.

08OrchestrateSoftware and configuration by signed plan.

03On the grid

The ground, measured before it is modelled.

Real elevation, line of sight, an orbit swath and a GeoAI pass, each an interactive explainer on open terrain data with its source shown.

Satellite pass

One orbit, one swath, line by line.

GeoAI

A detection method on real slopes, simulated outputs.

Relief

Terrarium-encoded DEM, contours by marching squares.

Layer stack

Every layer registered to one grid.

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

6 deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on drones and imagery.

Government and public safety

Deployable communications and sensing for incident command

A cell on wheels with satellite backhaul, mesh telemetry and environment nodes at the incident base.
Development and humanitarian

School connectivity with a school observatory

Satellite or fixed wireless, school Wi-Fi, an open connectivity probe and an optional station.
Development and humanitarian

Displacement-site connectivity and sensing

Point-to-multipoint wireless, satellite backhaul, solar and water-point sensors with protection safeguards.
Scientific

Ocean and coastal low-cost buoy arrays

Satellite-backhauled wave buoys accepted in a national programme trial.
Transport

Highway corridor mobile coverage for safety

Small cells and satellite backhaul along unserved roads.
Government and public safety

National GBON surface and upper-air network

WMO-grade stations reporting through WIS 2.0, funded through the systematic-observations financing pathway.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site

  • Observatories atlas
  • World grid
  • Map sources with licences

Enterprise, on this site

  • Capture campaigns
  • Site twins

06The rest of the line

Earth observation & GeoAI, area by area.

Earth observation & GeoAI

Ground segment

Downlink and process at the edge.
Earth observation & GeoAI

Site twins

The site, measured in 3D, to scale.
Earth observation & GeoAI

GeoAI

Models trained and checked against field truth.

Bring us the site.

Survey, design, deployment and operation for drones and imagery. The form names who receives your details.

Talk to uscontact@observatory.global

Campaigns planned to the ground sample distance.

Drones and imagery, inside Earth observation & GeoAI: tasking, mission planning and revisit analysis, orbit and conjunction data, ground stations and downlink, space link extension and station networking and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from OGC API – Connected Systems Part 2 (commands and tasking) to OGC Sensor Planning Service 2.0, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

01What it is

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

03On the grid

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site
    Enterprise, on this site
      06The rest of the line

      Bring us the site.