On-board Processing for Compression and Clouds Classification (OP3C) is a project funded initially by the H2020 SME Instrument. The objective of the overall innovation project is to industrialize either SW or HW (FPGA), which are installed on board of satellites carrying hyperspectral sensors and are capable of:
- Compressing the acquisitions with a 12-22 ratio and
- Classifying the cloud cover of these acquisitions
The result of the proposed SW/HW is the compressed acquisitions, the cloud coverage mask and a compression structure for direct processing without decompression.
The SW/HW provides this way to the operator of the satellite hyperspectral sensor, the ability to optimize the down streaming procedure, on one hand by selecting the proper images to download (in terms of cloud cover) and on the other hand by downloading 12-22 times less data (as a result of the compression elaboration). The above will lead to significant gains in efficiency such as i.) Lower volume of transmitted images (only the useful ones, in terms of cloud cover), ii.) Less need for storage on-board and flexible acquisition planning, iii.) Hardware requirements decrease. The main users are Space Agencies, Satellite Operating Centers, Satellite manufacturers, Hyperspectral sensor manufacturers and consulting companies for satellite mission planning. The OP3C project aims to study the feasibility of the abovementioned concept in a niche market where there is hardly any completion. The goal of the OP3C project is to study the technologic (user constraints/needs, time needed to have the product ready) and economic viability (market analysis, human resources, capital, infrastructure cost, etc.) of the proposed concept to the corresponding industries.
The OP3C project has been awarded the Seal of Excellence quality label by Horizon 2020. Following this award, the project is currently being funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology under a call aimed at Seal of Excellence awarded projects.
In the scope of this project, the spaceOP3C products are being developed with the aim to reach TRL 8 by the end of the project. The project was kicked off March 2020.