QlevEr-Sat (QlevEr Sat)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Earth observation demonstration satellite designed to test AI routines on board and reduce ground data transmission.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Earth observation demonstration satellite designed to test AI routines on board and drastically reduce ground data transmission.

To illustrate the benefits that AI could bring in image analysis and data reduction, Barthelemy noted that a satellite taking one 16Mpixel image every second (coded in 12 bits), ground data transmission amounted to 16 Tbits/day (2.03 TB/day). With AI and on board processing, the QlevEr-Sat could make autonomous decisions. With the Emerald CMOS imager selected for this project, the ultra small 2.8μm pixels provide a ground based resolution of 4.8m at 500km. For a 16Mpixels sensor, it means the satellite’s camera covers an 18 kilometers-wide swath of land below its orbital path.

The Qormino module onboard the QlevEr-Sat will run machine learning algorithms developed by Grenoble’s Multidisciplinary Institute in Artificial intelligence (MIAI) and trained for different applications.

Due to be launched circa Q1 or Q2 of 2022, the QlevEr-Sat is expected to operate for a year or two, surveying a specific region for damages from natural disaster such as volcanoes, earthquakes or tsunamis. The cubesat could carry out forest surveys on wild fires and deforestation or it could monitor urban expansion or other human activities associated with societal challenges.