---
title: "The systems behind insurance and finance | Nexus Observatory"
description: "Systems and technologies for insurance and finance: EO data cubes, Imagery catalogues, Time-series analysis, Essential climate and ocean and biodiversity…"
url: https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/systems/
publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc.
updated: 2026-11-02
---

[Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/)

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[Insurance and finance](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/)

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**Systems and technologies** 

# The systems behind insurance and finance.

The technologies that carry this industry's observations, ranked against what it needs to observe and drawn from across the spectrum.

[Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/)

[Use cases](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/use-cases/)

1. Insurance and finance · Systems and technologies Independent measurements for risk transfer Independent measurement feeds for parametric triggers, physical-condition data on insured and financed assets, and Earth observation of events after they happen, each with the evidence trail an auditor asks for. Needs: wind, rain and ground motion at the trigger point, asset condition over time, event footprints from orbit, independent, tamper-evident records and latency and completeness of every feed.
2. Platform · Data & licensing Grid data, licensed for your use Research, commercial API, enterprise and government tiers, the licence of every source carried through to every product, routes from licensed to open release, and residency fixed by contract. It is delivered and supported by Nexus Observatory Inc. The evidence travels with the data wherever it goes. [Data & licensing](https://observatory.global/data-products/)
3. Platform · Sensors & instruments Measurements that carry their own proof Weather and environment stations to WMO practice, RF spectrum sensing in the band, and calibration that is traceable, recorded and repeated. Every value leaves with its metadata, quality flag and provenance. Or buy the observations and leave the hardware to us: Sensing as a Service. [Sensors & instruments](https://observatory.global/sensors/)
4. Platform · Earth observation & GeoAI The ground, measured and modelled Ground-segment downlink and processing at the edge, drone and imagery campaigns planned to the ground sample distance, site twins measured in 3D, and GeoAI trained and checked against field truth, with the source and licence of every layer in view. [Earth observation & GeoAI](https://observatory.global/earth-observation/)
5. Platform · Space and satellite systems From orbit to the ground, on one protocol Spacecraft buses and payload classes, constellations sized to revisit and coverage, non-terrestrial networks and 3GPP direct-to-device, tasking and downlink, and space safety from tracking to conjunction awareness. Every pass, product and link carries its provenance into the grid. The same design repeats from the first site to the last. [Space and satellite systems](https://observatory.global/space/)
6. Platform · Digital twins and simulation Model the site before you build it The same design repeats from the first site to the last. It runs on the open Observatory Protocol, so other providers can join. Crews, software and records stay the same as the network grows. Changes are versioned, tested and reversible. [Digital twins and simulation](https://observatory.global/digital-twins/)
7. How it scales One base unit, repeated A programme starts with one base node and the instruments it reads. A station adds power and radio, a site adds a relay, a fleet repeats the proven site across many places, and a network federates fleets through edge and core. Capacity grows by adding units, never by replacing what works.
8. Updates Updates in rings, with rollback Software and configuration reach the fleet in rings: a canary site first, then a few, then all, each ring gated on health and data completeness. A failed gate stops the wave and returns each node to its last good release, without a site visit.
9. Operations Every node watched, every incident closed The operations console shows every node with its state, its plan and its evidence. Alerts arrive with their data and a runbook; acknowledging one opens a work order, and an incident closes only when the cause is recorded and the fix verified.
10. Field service One crew, from survey to repair The same crew surveys, installs, commissions, calibrates and repairs, working from the site's own record. Each visit updates it, so the next crew knows exactly what is there, when it was last checked and why it was changed. Spares and references are planned from that history.
11. Failure and recovery When a node fails, the fleet knows first When a node goes silent or a sensor drifts, the node buffers its data, fails over to a second link where one exists, and the alert carries the evidence a responder needs. Nothing is lost and nothing is counted twice.
12. What you get Independent measurement feeds for parametric triggers Calibrated, tamper-evident measurement feeds that a risk carrier may name as the index source. The group writes no insurance and makes no payout decision. Delivered as data licence, for insurers, reinsurers, brokers, risk pools. Scale: Portfolio scale. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard. [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/)
13. Next step Plan an insurance and finance deployment Tell us the sites, the measurements and the people who will use them. We reply with a design and a scope for insurance and finance. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) [Open the Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) [Read the stories](https://observatory.global/stories/)

**01** Remote sensing and Earth observation

## Processing levels and analysis-ready data.

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Processing levels and analysis-ready data

### Level 0: raw instrument data

Time-ordered packets as received, with communications artefacts removed.

CCSDS 133.0-B (Space Packet Protocol) · CCSDS 131.0-B (TM synchronisation and channel coding)

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Processing levels and analysis-ready data

### Level 1: calibrated and geolocated

Radiometric and geometric corrections applied, sensor units and geolocation attached (L1A, L1B, L1C).

NASA EOSDIS data processing levels · ISO 19115-2 (imagery and gridded data metadata)

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Processing levels and analysis-ready data

### Level 2: geophysical variables

Per-scene surface reflectance, temperature, backscatter, water or gas quantities at native resolution.

CEOS ARD product family specifications

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Processing levels and analysis-ready data

### Levels 3 and 4: gridded, composited and modelled

Space-time composites on fixed grids, and model or assimilation outputs that fill gaps.

NASA EOSDIS data processing levels · CF Conventions

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Processing levels and analysis-ready data

### CEOS analysis-ready data

Products pre-processed to threshold and goal requirements so they can be stacked and compared without expert reprocessing.

CEOS ARD framework and product family specifications

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Processing levels and analysis-ready data

### Atmospheric, terrain and radiometric terrain correction

Removal of atmosphere, illumination and topographic effects so pixels represent the surface.

CEOS ARD Surface Reflectance · CEOS ARD SAR (Normalised Radar Backscatter)

[All 9 in this layer](https://observatory.global/technologies/eo/processing-levels-and-analysis-ready-data/)

**02** Remote sensing and Earth observation

## Tasking, ground segment and access.

**Frontier** · Remote sensing and Earth observation · Tasking, ground segment and access

### Optical ground stations

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

CCSDS 141.0-B (optical communications physical layer)

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Tasking, ground segment and access

### Tasking, mission planning and revisit analysis

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

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

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Tasking, ground segment and access

### Orbit and conjunction data

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

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

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Tasking, ground segment and access

### Ground stations and downlink

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

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 · Tasking, ground segment and access

### Space link extension and station networking

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

CCSDS Space Link Extension (SLE) services

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Tasking, ground segment and access

### Direct broadcast and edge processing

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

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

[All 9 in this layer](https://observatory.global/technologies/eo/tasking-ground-segment-and-access/)

**03** Remote sensing and Earth observation

## Data cubes, analysis and archives.

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Data cubes, analysis and archives

### EO data cubes

Analysis-ready stacks indexed by space, time and band so time series can be computed at scale.

OGC API - Coverages · openEO API 1.2 (OGC Community Standard) · Zarr specification v3

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Data cubes, analysis and archives

### Imagery catalogues

Searchable, linked records of scenes and assets so data can be found and streamed without copying.

STAC 1.1 specification · OGC API - Records

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Data cubes, analysis and archives

### Time-series analysis

Phenology, trend, anomaly and break detection across years of observations.

CEOS ARD (as input requirement)

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Data cubes, analysis and archives

### Essential climate, ocean and biodiversity variables

Agreed variables with accuracy, resolution and stability requirements that frame what to measure.

GCOS 2022 ECV requirements (GCOS-245) · GOOS Essential Ocean Variables

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Data cubes, analysis and archives

### Fusion with in situ data and models

Combining satellite, airborne and ground observations with models for gap-free, validated fields.

ISO 19156:2023 (observations, measurements and samples) · WMO WIGOS

Remote sensing and Earth observation · Data cubes, analysis and archives

### Long-term archive and preservation

Keeping raw and processed data with metadata so records stay usable and reprocessable for decades.

ISO 14721 (OAIS reference model) · CCSDS 650.0-M

[All 7 in this layer](https://observatory.global/technologies/eo/data-cubes-analysis-and-archives/)

**04** Ground segment

## Data downlink, processing and distribution.

Ground segment · Data downlink, processing and distribution

### Level-0 to Level-2 processing chains

Decommutation, calibration, geolocation and geophysical retrieval that turn raw downlink into usable products.

CEOS Analysis Ready Data framework · ISO 19115-1 (metadata)

Ground segment · Data downlink, processing and distribution

### Analysis-ready data production

Products corrected and packaged to a common specification so users can analyse them without reprocessing.

CEOS Analysis Ready Data product family specifications

Ground segment · Data downlink, processing and distribution

### Catalogues and discovery

Searchable catalogues of scenes and products with standard metadata.

SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) specification · OGC API - Records

Ground segment · Data downlink, processing and distribution

### Cloud-native geospatial formats

Tiled, chunked formats that let users read only the part of a large raster or array they need.

OGC Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF Standard · OGC Zarr Storage Specification

Ground segment · Data downlink, processing and distribution

### Calibration and validation

Ground truth, vicarious calibration and uncertainty reporting behind every product value.

CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation · QA4EO (CEOS quality assurance framework)

Ground segment · Data downlink, processing and distribution

### Low-latency tasking-to-delivery pipelines

Automated chains from request to delivered product for time-critical uses such as fire and flood.

OGC API - Processes · OGC Sensor Planning Service 2.0

[All 8 in this layer](https://observatory.global/technologies/ground/data-downlink-processing-and-distribution/)

**05** AI systems

## Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial.

**Frontier** · AI systems · Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

### Geospatial embeddings and similarity search

Vector representations of places and scenes that make large archives searchable by example.

OGC GeoAI Domain Working Group

**Frontier** · AI systems · Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

### Super-resolution and gap filling

Generative methods that sharpen or fill imagery, labelled as model output with stated uncertainty.

ISO 19157-1

**Frontier** · AI systems · Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

### AI weather and climate emulators

Learned models that emulate numerical weather prediction at much lower compute cost.

WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS)

AI systems · Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

### EO foundation models

Large pretrained models over optical, SAR and multi-temporal imagery, fine-tuned for many downstream tasks.

OGC Training Data Markup Language for AI (TrainingDML-AI) · CEOS Analysis Ready Data framework

AI systems · Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

### Training data and labels

Documented, licensed training sets with known label quality and geographic coverage.

OGC TrainingDML-AI · ISO 19157-1 (data quality)

AI systems · Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

### Land cover and change detection

Classification and change maps with accuracy reported against reference data.

ISO 19144-2 (Land Cover Meta Language) · ISO 19157-1

[All 9 in this layer](https://observatory.global/technologies/ai/foundation-models-for-earth-observation-and-geospatial/)

**06** AI systems

## Time-series and sensor AI.

**Frontier** · AI systems · Time-series and sensor AI

### Virtual and soft sensors

Estimating quantities that are not measured directly from other sensors and models, labelled as estimates.

W3C SOSA/SSN ontology

AI systems · Time-series and sensor AI

### Anomaly detection on sensor streams

Detecting faults, events and drift in continuous sensor data at the edge.

OGC SensorThings API · ISO 13374 (condition monitoring data processing)

AI systems · Time-series and sensor AI

### Forecasting and nowcasting

Short-range forecasts of weather, water, load and traffic from local and regional observations.

WMO WIGOS

AI systems · Time-series and sensor AI

### Predictive maintenance

Estimating remaining useful life of equipment from vibration, temperature and electrical signatures.

ISO 13374 · ISO 17359 (condition monitoring general guidelines)

AI systems · Time-series and sensor AI

### Sensor quality control and drift correction

Automated checks and corrections that keep observations fit for use.

WMO-No. 8 (Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation) · ISO/IEC 5259 (data quality for analytics and ML)

AI systems · Time-series and sensor AI

### Seismic and acoustic event detection

Picking and classifying events in seismic and acoustic records.

FDSN StationXML and miniSEED

[All 8 in this layer](https://observatory.global/technologies/ai/time-series-and-sensor-ai/)

**07** Every domain

## The rest of the spectrum.

The domains whose layers serve this industry, each with its full directory.

[Layers · 8 · items · 59 Data, software and interoperabilityHow observations move from the edge into stores, catalogues and APIs with their provenance, licence and residency attached, and how they interoperate through open standards and the open Observatory Protocol.](https://observatory.global/technologies/data/)

[Layers · 8 · items · 61 In situ sensors and instrumentsInstruments placed in the air, water, ground and spectrum, from weather stations to seismometers, radars and cameras, with the calibration, metadata and quality control that make their readings evidence.](https://observatory.global/technologies/sensors/)

[Layers · 8 · items · 67 Remote sensing and Earth observationEvery 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.](https://observatory.global/technologies/eo/)

[Layers · 8 · items · 65 GIS, maps and GeoAIThe reference frames, formats, services, analysis methods, machine learning and 3D models that turn observations into located, queryable and decision-ready geographic information.](https://observatory.global/technologies/gis/)

[Layers · 8 · items · 66 Satellite and space systemsThe space segment end to end: orbits and constellations, spacecraft buses, communications and Earth observation payloads, inter-satellite links, tracking and command, space safety, launch, and the licensing and filings that let a system operate over a site.](https://observatory.global/technologies/satellite/)

[Layers · 8 · items · 63 Ground segmentEverything on the ground that talks to spacecraft: gateways and teleports, user terminals, modems and software-defined radio, shared antenna networks, CCSDS protocol stacks, mission control, data processing and the spectrum coordination behind each earth station.](https://observatory.global/technologies/ground/)

[Layers · 8 · items · 65 AI systemsAI from model to accountable operation: edge inference and model optimisation, foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial work, time-series and sensor AI, multimodal fusion and supervised agentic operations, federated and privacy-preserving learning, physical AI and robotics within stated red lines, MLOps, evaluation and model risk, and the governance frameworks that apply to each.](https://observatory.global/technologies/ai/)

## Bring us the site.

Survey, design, deployment and operation for insurance and finance. The form names who receives your details.

[Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/)

[Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/)

[Home](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/)

[Use cases](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/use-cases/)

[Specialized fields](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/fields/)

[Solutions](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/solutions/)

[Platforms](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/platforms/)

[Systems and technologies](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/systems/)

[Frontier](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/frontier/)

[Open](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/open/)

[Community](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/community/)

[Countries](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/countries/)

[Resources](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/resources/)

[Contact](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/contact/)

[Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/)**Insurance and finance** . Independent measurements for risk transfer.[Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/)

Insurance and finance

- [Overview](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/)
- [Specialized fields](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/fields/)
- [Use cases](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/use-cases/)
- [Solutions](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/solutions/)
- [Platforms](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/platforms/)
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- [Contact](https://observatory.global/industries/insurance/contact/)

Platforms

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- [Software](https://observatory.global/software/)
- [Hardware & power](https://observatory.global/hardware/)
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- [Connectivity](https://observatory.global/connectivity/)
- [Edge compute & AI](https://observatory.global/edge-ai/)
- [Earth observation & GeoAI](https://observatory.global/earth-observation/)
- [Space and satellite systems](https://observatory.global/space/)
- [Digital twins and simulation](https://observatory.global/digital-twins/)
- [Data & licensing](https://observatory.global/data-products/)
- [Field services](https://observatory.global/field-services/)
- [Frontier labs](https://observatory.global/labs/)

Solutions

- [Early warning](https://observatory.global/use-cases/street-flood/)
- [Wildfire and fire weather](https://observatory.global/use-cases/wildfire-camera/)
- [Environmental compliance](https://observatory.global/use-cases/methane-fenceline/)
- [Asset monitoring](https://observatory.global/industries/infrastructure/)
- [Private networks](https://observatory.global/connectivity/private-5g/)
- [Remote power and sites](https://observatory.global/use-cases/remote-microgrid/)
- [Climate and resilience](https://observatory.global/industries/climate/)
- [Site twins](https://observatory.global/digital-twins/)
- [Data licensing](https://observatory.global/data-products/)

Industries

- [Public safety](https://observatory.global/industries/public-safety/)
- [Government](https://observatory.global/industries/government/)
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- [Civil resilience](https://observatory.global/industries/resilience/)
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- [Humanitarian](https://observatory.global/industries/humanitarian/)
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Products

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Resources

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