Alicante 10/26/2023 at 12:57 CEST
It will allow high-performance computational applications to be transported to detect fires, volcanic eruptions or hurricane formation before a human analyst
The artificial intelligence (AI) closer to space. The Elche aerospace company Emxys, one of the most powerful in the sector, has started the EdgeAISat project, which will develop an evolution of its Odaliss satellite platform to implement AI in space.
The aerospace engineering company based in Elche that designs, develops and manufactures high-performance space systemshas received support from the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) to develop this project, which has been selected within the Strategic Cooperation Projects program, contemplates the development and manufacture of a flight model of a satellite for Earth Observation designed to implement applications of what is called “Artificial Intelligence at the Edge” or Edge AI.
This satellite will be integrated and ready for use launch at the end of 2025.
To achieve this objective, Emxys has the participation of the Microwave Applications Group of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the Power Electronics Group of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche.
The co-founder and CTO of Emxys, Francisco García de Quirós, points out that the objective of EdgeAISat is move a significant part of image processing to where the data is obtained, in this case on board the satellite itself. “This represents a double advantage: on the one hand, the information that the satellite has to send to Earth is significantly reduced because its AI algorithms extract the most relevant information from the large number of images that the satellite can obtain; and, on the other, The processing of data on Earth is simplified, which reduces the waiting time to obtain valid information,” says García de Quirós.
This new approach to Artificial Intelligence has a great application potential in Earth observationallowing satellites based on this technology to process images obtained on board to detect important events before a human analyst is able to do so, for example, in the detection of forest fires, volcanic eruptions, hurricane formation or illegal dumping.
The CEO of Emxys, José Antonio Carrasco, explains that EdgeAISat “represents a great boost to development of our technology to satellites high perfomance, allowing us to evolve the electronic computing systems that we are currently marketing to a new level. “This will allow us to be more ambitious in the technical complexity of the space missions we can undertake.”
Three missions, in less than two years
The Elche company Emxys is currently working on three short-term space missions. In 2024, both the OTD-1 demonstration mission of its Odaliss satellite will be launched aboard a Spectrum launcher from the German company Isar Aerospace, as well as the Grass instrument of ESA’s planetary defense mission, called HERA, to the asteroid Dydimos a aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.
At the end of 2025 a scientific mission currently in integration. In the medium term, Emxys is already working on several proposals for both scientific and commercial missions, not yet revealed.
The satellites based on its Odaliss platform will be intensively manufactured in new facilities that the company is planning in the province of Alicante, and from where they will be marketed globally.
The company, created within the Science Park of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH), is manufacturing in Elche the first satellite that will be launched into space and last two morein addition to its serial production in 2026.
The first of the satellites, Odaliss, has been selected by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to fly on the second flight of Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum launcher, which will occur in 2024. The OTD-1 (Technology Demonstrator) mission Odaliss 1, for its acronym in English), will serve to demonstrate the functionality of the satellite platform designed entirely by Emxys, in addition to the operation of the laser link to communicate the equipment with the ground station.
Once the satellite is launched, it will remain in orbit at an altitude of between 500 and 600 kilometers. The launch will be from Andøya, Norway, where the ISAR company has a launch facility.
On this small platform, with a final product that will weigh around 15 kilos and the size of a package of sliced bread, there can be up to five computers connected to the Ethernet network, to which artificial intelligence features can be implemented as they have a lot of computational power, in addition to the power supply, solar panels, a radio, antennas and an optical communications transceiver that can reach 500 mb/second.
The objective of this technology is use it in applications of climate changeEarth and atmospheric observationtelecommunications, government and private applications, such as border surveillance, climate and natural disasters or maritime and air traffic.
Experience in sending cargo to space
Emxys participated in its first space mission aboard the Russian FOTON-M3 spacecraft that launched from Baikonur on a Soyuz rocket in September 2007, in which critical electronic systems for the YES2 mission designed and manufactured by the company were placed in orbit. from Elche, and which meant obtaining a Guinness record in 2009 to the largest space structure launched into orbit.
Since then, he has participated in three more space missionsincluding a combined NASA and Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) mission launched in 2010 from the Uchinoura Space Center aboard an SS-520 suborbital rocket that flew up to 300 kilometers in altitude.
During this trajectory, Emxys has worked in close collaboration with research groups from national institutions, as well as international ones such as Colorado State University, the group of Nobel Prize winner in Physics Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna or the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
In this sense, the participation in EdgeAISat of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Miguel Hernández University unites a working group that has been collaborating on projects of the European Space Agency (ESA) for more than ten years.
The researcher responsible for the Microwave Applications Group of the UPV, Professor Vicente Boria, president of the Executive Commission of the Val Space Consortium -VSC-, highlights the “technological advance”, in terms of payload embarked on the satellite, which is intended to be developed within the framework of this project.
Furthermore, it highlights what it means in terms of the integration of solutions provided by various entities, companies and universities, in the Valencian Community. “Satellites ‘made 100% in the Valencian Community’ are now a reality,” highlights Boria.
For his part, the head of the UMH Industrial Electronics Group, Professor Ausias Garrigós, adds that participation in this project allows the group to transfer part of the research carried out in recent years in the field of power systems for small satellites” and set nnew contacts with different groups of the Valencian Community to reinforce synergies with other space technologies”.
More than 30 projects
Emxys designs, develops and manufactures satellites and aerospace electronic systems. Since its founding in 2005, it has executed more than 30 projects in the aerospace domain for space agencies and industrial contractors, has participated in four space missions and applies its knowledge in the development of technology for highly demanding and reliable applications such as satellite platforms, scientific instrumentation or defense systems. It has AS-9100 and ISO-9001 aerospace quality certifications.
2023-10-26 11:03:14
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