Geological instability may lead to differential ground motion, which in turn has implications for the safety of various types of infrastructure (e.g., urban roads, oil and gas extraction and storage facilities, power facilities, etc.).
Geodesic's subsidence and deformation monitoring data suite is based on the InSAR measurement technique to obtain surface deformation information. Compared with traditional measurement techniques, InSAR measurement does not require any on-site installation or deployment of instruments, and has the advantages of obtaining deformation information with a wide range, high sensitivity, traceability, adaptability, and not being affected by bad weather. It is capable of conducting contactless and refined measurements to identify early surface deformation risks.
EDRS will then be able to eliminate the above blind spots with 2 satellites. The satellites, equipped with the latest laser technology, will be launched in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and will be capable of transmitting data in both directions between the ground and the air at a rate of 1.8 Gb/sec.
Based on commonly accepted industry measurements, this means that a printout of the data the satellites transmit per second could fill a bookshelf up to 1 meter long. eDRS will provide encryption for some secure transmissions, and also allow Europe to rely less on ground stations located overseas to transmit satellite data.
The first communications node of the Space Data Highway System is positioned at 9 degrees east longitude and will be able to establish a laser link to orbiting observation satellites; drones are positioned in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the east-central and east coasts of North America. The second satellite, to be launched in 2017, will expand the system's coverage, capacity and redundancy.
Airbus Defence and Space and ESA are seeking partnerships to further expand the Space Data Highway program, with one-third of the nodes positioned in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020. The Pacific Rim, for example, is witnessing a sharp rise in demand for aviation mission communications.
EDRS will then provide relay data for ice floes, oil spills or floods at sea through the multi-billion euro Copernicus Earth Observation program, but the service is also open to other paying customers.
The surface monitoring approach will enable information on deformation at different locations on the slope to be obtained, which will allow areas of deformation anomalies to be detected and landslide risks to be identified at an early stage. Similarly, Geodesic also hopes to extend the application of spatial big data to all aspects of social life, to become the search engine of the physical world, to create a "data encyclopedia about the Earth".