BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based KaleidEO Space Systems has developed an advanced high-resolution, optical, multi-spectral payload that can capture the whole of Bengaluru in a single pass. This ground-breaking innovation can eliminate the need to stitch multiple images together to read data and improve the overall accuracy of the data on vegetation and soil features.
KaleidEO is a subsidiary of SatSure Analytics India. Its payload has the capability of delivering nearly 1 metre ground sampling distance (GSD), which is the distance between two consecutive pixel centres measured on the ground from air or space while covering a 65-km swath. “The payload offers at least 15 times more area coverage than most payloads today. Presently, such resolution in the industry is achievable with a swath coverage of only 15 km,” the company said in a release.
Currently, the industry faces the challenge of getting high-resolution images and high coverage. To get a higher-resolution image, satellites need to reduce their swath or area coverage, making them almost inversely proportional to each other. The newly developed payload can address this concern by providing good-quality images of larger areas.
KaleidEO will enable versatile use applications, such as crop monitoring, forest health assessment, urban planning, infrastructure asset monitoring, and strategic applications. “Apart from this, the payload also employs forward motion compensation and half pixel shift methodology for super-resolving captured images, further improving detail and accuracy,” the company said.
Arpan Sahoo, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, KaleidEO, said, “The payload emphasises a ‘demand first’ approach unlike the traditional ‘supply first’ approach. We configured the payload specification to the industry’s need for large-area acquisition and automated analytics at scale. We have received positive responses and inquiries from the industry and are open to exploring opportunities to customise the payload to meet specific requirements, as the payload series offers both COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) and bespoke solutions.”
Currently at Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL 6), the payload will have six bands Red, Green, Blue, Near Infrared, Red Edge and PAN. Availability of the data in multiple bands allows for identifying and analysing diverse features on the ground such as vegetation health condition, moisture condition, water body and soil features, which otherwise are not visible to the naked eye.