An Airborne Platform for Disaster Management Using Advanced Satellite Communications
- Paper number
IAC-08.B2.1.8
- Author
Prof. Otto Koudelka, Graz University of Technology, Austria
- Coauthor
Mr. Michael Schmidt, Joanneum Research, Austria
- Coauthor
Dr. Wolfgang Kogler, Graz University of Technology, Austria
- Coauthor
Mr. Peter Schrotter, Graz University of Technology, Austria
- Coauthor
Mr. Patrick Romano, Graz University of Technology, Austria
- Coauthor
Prof. Mathias Schardt, Joanneum Research, Austria
- Year
2008
- Abstract
In case of natural or man-made disasters it is vital to deliver situational information as fast as possible to the decision makers in an emergency centre. Remote sensing satellites can provide this information with high resolution in different spectral ranges. Unfortunately, due to the limited number of suitable satellites and the processing requirements for geocoding, it takes typically three days on average to obtain the required images. Airborne platforms (winged aircraft, helicopters, HAPS) can bridge the gap. They can gather the information on demand by flying into the disaster zone. Satellite communications is able to deliver data in real-time from the airborne platform to an emergency centre over very long distance and independently from terrestrial infrastructure which is very often not available in the disaster area. An advanced disaster management system using a winged aircraft is currently developed by Joanneum Research and Graz University of Technology within an Austrian initiative in Security Research. The aircraft carries sensors such as a high-resolution optical or thermal camera with inertial platform. Data are pre-processed on board and delivered via a novel satellite communications system and an aeronautical antenna to a fixed or transportable satellite ground station co-located with the emergency centre. Further image processing and geo-coding is carried out there to produce situation maps for the decision makers. The satellite link is also utilised to link a small GSM or TETRA base station on board of the aircraft circling over the disaster zone with the terrestrial networks, thus restoring basic communications means for the emergency teams on site. For the satellite communications link a novel Ku-band VSAT system modified and adapted for mobility is utilised. It has been developed under an ESA contract and has features such as native IP protocol support, quality of service guarantee, efficient dynamic multiple access and adaptive modulation and coding for robust and reliable links. In contrast to L-band aeronautical systems Ku-band will lead to lower operating costs. The paper describes the user requirements for scenarios such as land slide, flooding and forest fire which have been elaborated with experts in the field of disaster relief. It presents the overall system design and elaborates particularly on the satellite communications system. The main challenge is the aeronautical antenna, particularly as the airborne platform is only a small twin-engine aircraft (Diamond DA-42) which imposes stringent limits on size and weight of the antenna.Two different types of antennas have been assessed, one based on a more conventional parabolic dish design and another one based on a flat panel array antenna. Furthermore, the remote sensing payload is described and the communications requirements discussed. Results of simulations and tests of the system in realistic scenarios (e.g flooding and forest fire) are presented. The innovative aspects of the project are an efficient low-cost sensor system with on-board preprocessor and an “All-IP” satellite communications system which provides data rates of 1 Mbit/s out of the aircraft and several Mbit/s into the aircraft. This facilitates the seamless integration with terrestrial networks. Another novel aspect is the integration into a comparatively small aircraft which has extremely low operating costs. The material of this paper has not been published before. It is assured that the author will be present at IAC2008 to personally present the paper. Funding for participation is guaranteed by Joanneum Research.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.B2.1.8.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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