Securing tomorrow together: Satellite and cloud foundations
This is a recap of a session from AiDASH Evolve 2024
Summary:
- Vegetation management challenges in today’s climate are mounting, but so are opportunities to leverage satellite and cloud technology to meet future energy needs.
- Satellite imagery is becoming more available, with improved resolution and clearer views of lines — but there are also potential issues.
- Utilities gain more precise analytics and insights from improved satellite imagery, which they can integrate into workflows.
The climate is serving up severe challenges to utilities. How can satellite and cloud infrastructure help?
Attendees at AiDASH Evolve 2024 learned from the experts at UP42, Maxar Intelligence, and Amazon Web Services about how their platforms leverage these technologies for reliability and climate resiliency. From enhancing decision-making and optimizing operations to addressing climate-related severe weather events, they examined the pivotal role that satellites and cloud infrastructure play in building resilient, future-ready systems.
UP42: All data through a single touchpoint
UP42 transforms how organizations order, access, and analyze Earth observation data, providing a one-stop shop for geospatial data and processing.
CEO Sean Wiid explained that UP42 has been working with AiDASH since 2019, helping incorporate satellite imagery and other geospatial data into AiDASH solutions. He spoke about the ways technology advancements benefit utilities.
Expanded access lets critical industries benefit from satellite imagery and aggregated data
UP42’s platform aggregates data from multiple providers and offers a comprehensive marketplace where users can access satellite and other geospatial datasets through a single interface.
This approach is essential for industries like utilities, where vegetation management around power infrastructure can significantly benefit from timely and accurate satellite information. By simplifying access and streamlining the ordering process, UP42 enables customers like AiDASH to leverage satellite data efficiently.
“We’ve focused primarily on building a collection of data providers all under one roof,” said Wiid. “[We have a] collection of algorithm and analytics providers … but more importantly, we make sure that all of this technology is available via API.”
Technological advancements increase geospatial capabilities
Advancements such as cost reductions, the miniaturization of satellites, and an increase of satellite launches have made it easier to gather, store, and process satellite data in the cloud. This enables real-time analysis and creates more opportunities for geospatial applications.
UP42 connects upstream providers of these capabilities, such as Airbus, with downstream applications and integrates machine learning and AI tools that allow users to process vast amounts of data at scale. The company also provides automation and API capabilities, making it easy to process frequent deliveries of high-resolution satellite and aerial data.
Wiid explained that UP42 has a razor-sharp focus on solving industry problems and connects all the amazing things happening in the space industry, from upstream data providers to downstream solution builders and applications.
Utilities benefit from satellite-based vegetation management
As satellite imagery becomes more accessible and detailed, its applications in vegetation management are growing rapidly, providing a cost-effective and efficient alternative to traditional methods.
Wiid noted that the ability to access a variety of image types — such as optical, radar (different bands and spectral resolutions), and thermal imagery — “explodes” the types of use cases and questions we can answer.
“It’s very difficult for companies that would like to work with multiple data providers … because the industry is extremely fragmented,” said Wiid. “It’s commercially difficult, it’s technically difficult, and that’s where we come in as a platform — to try and consolidate all of that.”
Satellite imagery is essential to achieving comprehensive and reliable analysis, particularly when combined with other datasets like weather, drones, or LiDAR. UP42’s platform addresses industry challenges by consolidating fragmented data sources and facilitating seamless integration, making it easier for organizations to implement vegetation management solutions.
“Satellite-based UVM [utility vegetation maintenance] is growing really fast. We’re supporting AiDASH and a lot of other companies in this space. We see that the ability for satellite imagery to impact this industry is really profound, and we’re very excited about where it’s going to go,” said Wiid.
He added, “I think it’s only scratching the surface, and we’re going to get to the point where it’s going to be, I think, by far the predominant way of vegetation management in the future.”
Wiid listed 3 other key takeaways for utilities and satellite-based UVM:
- Access to multiple data sources is critical.
- Analytics capabilities are expanding rapidly.
- It’s important as complementary monitoring tech (i.e., it can’t fully replace other monitoring technologies, but it can increase efficiency by changing the overall holistic approach).
“Certainly, it’s the fastest-growing commercial use case of satellite imagery that we see today,” he added.
Maxar Intelligence: Make data accessible for robust analytics
Bryan Smith, Director of Product Management for the Maxar Geospatial Platform and 2D Product Portfolios at Maxar Intelligence, described how satellite enhancements add precision and increasing efficiencies for utility vegetation management use cases.
Clear, crisp satellite imagery makes the difference
Multiplying the benefits of new advancements in satellite imagery, this year Maxar added 4 new satellites to its fleet, with 2 more on the way. These new satellites collect imagery at 30 cm-class resolution, the highest resolution commercially available, which means each pixel in the imagery represents about one square foot on the ground. This very high-resolution imagery allows for crisper views on the ground, which enables accurate analytics.
“This, in our eyes, is transformative … because suddenly you have the data that you need to provide those robust analytics,” said Smith.
The addition of more satellites also provides multiple opportunities for collecting specific areas at different times throughout the day, allowing users to obtain clearer images, even around clouds, ultimately improving data quality and capacity.
Smaller, agile satellite design improves data collection
Smith explained that the latest Maxar satellites are roughly comparable in size to a small hatchback car rather than the previous school bus-sized designs. This compact form factor allows Maxar to deploy more satellites simultaneously, enhancing their ability to collect images on a larger scale.
Launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, these satellites orbit the Earth at approximately 17,000 mph while collecting 30 cm resolution images. They also boast a 90% 5-meter accuracy. (That means when they aim their satellite at a target, it images the correct target within 5 meters 90% of the time.)
Smith also said the newest satellites are collecting this imagery at scale, tripling their 30 cm-class capacity.
User-friendly data and analytics access allows easy workflow integration
The Maxar Geospatial Platform streamlines access to the company’s data. It provides both a user interface and APIs through which clients can access satellite imagery, 3D content, and analytics tools, such as change monitoring and object detection. This makes it easy for customers to integrate very high-resolution, highly accurate data directly into their workflows.
Smith emphasized that Maxar’s approach extends beyond merely collecting data in space; it’s about making this data accessible and usable on Earth, enhancing its value to clients across industries such as energy companies, mapping companies, and government sectors.
“And then if you think about an analytics use case … if you’re trying to understand where vegetation might have changed [over time], you need that level of accuracy,” he added.
Amazon Web Services: Secure and protect infrastructure with tech-driven solutions
Marco Masciola, Senior Partner Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services (AWS), discussed why technology-driven vegetation management solutions are important. Specifically, he looked at why they enable a vital step toward securing and protecting critical energy infrastructure for communities.
He explained that AiDASH is a validated AWS partner and listed in the AWS Sustainability Solutions Library, which means that:
- AiDASH solutions are built on AWS, applying cloud reliability and operational best practices to ensure the solution is available to customers when they need it.
- AiDASH applies their domain expertise to help customers overcome industry challenges using AWS infrastructure and services.
- AiDASH demonstrates cloud expertise, which includes security best practices and data governance standards.
Specifically, he looked at ways technology, innovation, and collaboration enable a vital step toward securing and protecting critical energy infrastructure for communities and how AWS works with AiDASH to that end.
Vegetation management challenges are rising, but so are opportunities to leverage technology
Masciola emphasized the importance of technology-driven solutions in vegetation management, especially for safeguarding critical energy infrastructure. He noted that the frequency of power outages increased 64% over the last decade — largely due to tree collisions with power lines. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the power utility sector invests significantly (around $7 billion annually) in vegetation management.
“Vegetation management is a complex issue to solve at scale, and technology does play a role in helping to break down this complexity for customers,” Masciola explained.
AWS, partnering with AiDASH, aims to address these costly and complex challenges by providing cloud infrastructure and tools that support advanced, AI-driven vegetation management. AWS’s infrastructure facilitates efficient data processing and analysis. It enables companies like AiDASH to deliver precise insights for high-risk areas and minimize outages.
AWS serves as the backbone for AiDASH solution workloads
AWS provides the cloud environment where AiDASH ‘s geospatial and AI-based models operate.
With more than 200 global data centers and cloud services, AWS offers scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure, bringing data storage and processing power closer to end users to improve performance and latency. AWS offers over 23 machine learning and AI services that AiDASH leverages to develop and fine-tune its models.
“So, you could think of this as your Lego blocks that start the foundation of new technology that you could build on and fine tune,” Masciola explained.
Meet future energy needs with continued innovation and collaboration
Masciola discussed the potential for AWS and AiDASH to evolve their partnership, especially as the energy sector continues to expand and face new challenges.
“To meet energy transition goals in the future, approximately 50% of the energy that we consume would have to come from electricity. That number today is 21%. So, there’s a lot of ground to cover to meet climate goals in the future,” Masciola explained.
AWS helps address these challenges by providing a flexible environment where partners can experiment with emerging cloud services. He noted that AWS tools, like Amazon SageMaker, Amazon RDS, and Amazon EC2, empower AiDASH as the company solves problems for customers, testing and refining new AI models and quickly integrating them into production.
This iterative, collaborative approach allows AWS and AiDASH to respond to customer feedback and explore future challenges beyond immediate vegetation management needs. It positions the partnership to adapt and support sustainable energy goals and climate resilience in the long term.
“Vegetation management is complex, and I think after this conference I appreciate even more the complexity in it, the stakeholders that are involved in it, [and] the hazards that are involved,” said Masciola. “AWS is trying to do our part to support AI on constraining this challenge.”
As climate challenges mount, satellite imagery and cloud infrastructure are proving to be indispensable tools for utility resilience and sustainability. AiDASH works with partners like UP42, Maxar, and AWS to empower utilities to use these technologies to gain precise, real-time insights, and to innovate and meet future energy needs effectively.
Check out more sessions and information from Evolve 2024, and reach out to see the AiDASH Platform in action!