Global Surveillance Augmentation Using Commercial Satellite Imaging Systems

ABSTRACT:A system is proposed to access, collate and process imagery from multiple small satellite constellations. The imagery is fused and registered to a common reference so that exploitation algorithms, such as change detection and event monitoring, are reported with accurate geographic coordinates. The system, called SatTel, is implemented as open source software that is designed to run on the cloud with web-based analyst tools for defining intelligence queries. These queries arise from tasks such as monitoring weapon test sites, and receive timely responses due to SatTels ability to aggregate images based on an integrated portal to access multiple vendor archives. The imagery to satisfy intelligence queries is selected using a rule-based algorithm that matches exploitation algorithm data requirements against available image attributes such as resolution, viewpoint and atmospheric effects. The image fusion process results in useful intermediate products including: a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) and a controlled orthorectified image base map (CIB). These products are exported in standard formats such as GEOTIF and NITF. The image exploitation algorithms include: global change detection, event triggers and vehicle tracking and are exported as attributed shape files, a format accepted by many current analyst tools, such as ArcGIS.BENEFIT:Oil and Gas energy, Natural Resource management: agriculture and forestry, Insurance, Fleet management, Real estate, city planning and engineering