EO-Alert: A Satellite Architecture for Detection and Monitoring of Extreme Events in Real Time

This paper presents the architecture and results achieved by the EO-ALERT H2020 project. EO-ALERT proposes the definition and development of the next-generation Earth Observation (EO) data processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves optimised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to onboard the satellite, with the aim of delivering the EO products to the end user with very low latency (in almost real-time). This paper presents the EO-ALERT architecture, its performance and hardware. Performances are presented for two reference user scenarios; ship detection and extreme weather nowcasting/monitoring. The hardware testing results show that, when implemented using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components and available communication links, the proposed architecture can deliver EO products and alerts to the end user with a latency lower than one-point-five minutes, for both SAR and Optical Very High Resolution (VHR) missions, demonstrating the viability of the EO-ALERT concept and architecture

Assessment of existing steel frames: Numerical study, pseudo-dynamic testing and influence of masonry infills

Most of existing steel multi-storey frames in Europe have been designed before the introduction of modern seismic design provisions, hence they often exhibit low performance under earthquake loads due to their low lateral resistance and energy dissipation capacity. In addition, such structures often include rigid and brittle masonry infill walls that highly influence their lateral response and distribution of damage pattern. However, current procedures for the assessment of existing steel buildings in Europe, included in the Eurocode 8 – Part 3 (EC8–3), do not provide adequate guidance for the assessment of ‘weak’ steel frame with masonry infill walls. Moreover, most of available modelling approaches of masonry infills formerly developed for reinforced concrete (RC) structures do not properly represent the behaviour of infill walls in steel frames. An improved numerical has to be provided to satisfactorily mimic infill walls' behaviour in steel moment frames. To this end, an experimental and theoretical study was carried out within the framework of HITFRAMES (i.e., HybrId Testing of an Existing Steel Frame with Infills under Multiple EarthquakeS) SERA project. This paper firstly presents the limitations of current EC8–3 by conducting a code-based assessment on a case study steel moment frame using pushover analysis. Three different single strut models, widely used for simulating the presence of masonry infills in RC structures, are considered for the numerical analyses. The paper also presents the results of pseudo-dynamic (PsD) tests performed on a large-scale 3D steel frame with masonry infills. The capability of the different masonry infill models is successively evaluated by comparisons between numerical and experimental results. On the basis of the obtained results, recommendations on how to potentially improve the single strut model for masonry infills surrounded by steel frames are also provided

EO-ALERT: NEXT GENERATION SATELLITE PROCESSING CHAIN FOR RAPID CIVIL ALERTS

In this paper, we provide an overview of the H2020 EU project EO-ALERT. The aim of EO-ALERT is to propose the definition and development of the next generation Earth observation (EO) data and processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture moving optimised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite. The objective is to address the need for increased throughput in EO data chain, delivering EO products to the end user with very low latency

Aspectos relevantes da semeadura direta na qualidade do solo e na produtividade das culturas.

O uso de diferentes tecnologias na produção de grãos no Brasil nas últimas décadas proporcionou expressivos incrementos na produtividade. A adoção da semeadura direta foi marcante, mas ainda existem áreas que adotam as práticas do sistema convencional, com a aração e a gradagem (IBGE, 2017). Neste levantamento, o uso de preparo de solo não está caracterizado por tamanho de propriedades ou locais de adoção, todavia esta prática parece estar associada a propriedades de tamanho pequeno ou médio. Esta redução de área de preparo convencional tem sido caracterizada por crescimento da área de sistema plantio direta (Llanillo, 2013), ainda que uma das premissas desta técnica seja frequentemente não adotada. A estimativa IBGE em 2006 dava conta da existência de 25,6 milhões de hectares de plantio direto na palha no Brasil, estudo realizado por Llanillo et al. (2013) indicou que, para o mesmo ano, de acordo com tabulações avançadas do Censo Agropecuário, tal área era de 17,8 milhões de ha. Ainda pelo Censo Agropecuário 2006, foram totalizados 3,8 milhões de ha em cultivo mínimo, 3,1 milhões de ha em sistemas mistos de cultivo mínimo e preparo convencional e 11,8 milhões de ha em preparo convencional, nos 36,6 milhões de ha de lavouras temporárias no país (Llanillo, 2013). Estima-se que atualmente, cerca de apenas 10% das áreas sob sistema plantio direto seguem corretamente os seus preceitos de não revolvimento do solo, manutenção de palhada e rotação de culturas (EMBRAPA, 2015). O que tem se observado é a ?simplificação? das lavouras para semeadura sem revolvimento integral do solo, sendo verificadas muitas áreas de sucessão de culturas (Ex.: soja/pousio, soja/milho safrinha e soja/trigo) devido a sua maior rentabilidade e facilidade de cultivo. Em função disso, muitos agricultores não têm investido na produção de plantas de cobertura, um dos pilares do sistema plantio direto. Na realidade o que se observa é a semeadura da cultura diretamente sobre a palhada da cultura anterior e de plantas espontâneas previamente dessecadas. Ainda assim, incrementos no rendimento das culturas têm sido observados. Entretanto, a adoção completa do sistema plantio direto com a introdução de culturas de cobertura num esquema de rotação aumenta consideravelmente o sucesso da prática, com reflexos potencialmente positivos sobre a produtividade das culturas e melhoria do ambiente edáfico. Apesar dos benefícios já conhecidos da adoção da semeadura direta, recentemente, a literatura tem descrito impactos não esperados decorrentes da prática. Variações nos rendimentos anuais ou mesmo sua redução em algumas áreas são exemplos desses impactos, o que frequentemente é associado à compactação do solo (Embrapa, 2020). Estas variações são mais acentuadas em anos de precipitações irregulares ou menores que a média anual local. Outro impacto relatado tem sido a concentração de nutrientes na camada superficial do solo em função do não revolvimento do solo. Este capítulo discute esses impactos não esperados, associando sua gênese, principalmente, à falta de investimento no pilar cobertura do solo/cultura de inverno no plantio direto adotado em algumas áreas do país. Em adição, o capítulo descreve e discute novos resultados obtidos numa área de produção de grãos no Latossolo Vermelho distrófico argiloso em uma unidade da Embrapa, em Sete Lagoas-MG, que, durante 26 anos, tem sido manejada com diferentes métodos de preparo do solo. Apesar da falta de estimativa da representatividade deste Latossolo nas áreas produtoras de grãos, há similaridade da textura em relação aos outros Latossolos (Manzatto et al., 2002). Embora as observações e conclusões obtidas possam não ser aplicadas para generalizações para outros tipos de Latossolos e outras regiões, os resultados são relevantes para a reflexão e tomada de decisão dos que acreditam na viabilidade e sucesso do sistema plantio direto no Brasil

EO-ALERT: A Novel Architecture for the Next Generation of Earth Observation Satellites Supporting Rapid Civil Alerts

Satellite Earth Observation (EO) data is ubiquitously used in many applications, providing basic services to society, such as environment monitoring, emergency management and civilian security. Due to the increasing request of EO products by the market, the classical EO data chain generates a severe bottleneck problem, further exacerbated in constellations. A huge amount of EO raw data generated on-board the satellite must be transferred to ground, slowing down the EO product availability, increasing latency, and hampering the growth of applications in accordance with the increased user demand. This paper provides an overview of the results achieved by the EO-ALERT project (http://eo-alert-h2020.eu/), an H2020 European Union research activity led by DEIMOS Space. EO-ALERT proposes the definition and development of the next-generation EO data processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves optimised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite, with the aim of delivering the EO products to the end user with very low latency (quasi-real-time). EO-ALERT achieves, globally, latencies below five minutes for EO products delivery, reaching latencies below 1 minute in some scenarios. The proposed architecture solves the above challenges through a combination of innovations in the on-board elements of the data chain and the communications. Namely, the architecture introduces innovative technological solutions, including on-board reconfigurable data handling, on-board image generation and processing for the generation of alerts (EO products) using Artificial Intelligence (AI), on-board data compression and encryption using AI, high-speed on-board avionics, and reconfigurable high data rate communication links to ground, including a separate chain for alerts with minimum latency and global coverage. The paper presents the proposed architecture, its performance and hardware, considering two different user scenarios; ship detection and extreme weather observation/nowcasting. The results show that, when implemented using COTS components and available communication links, the proposed architecture can deliver alerts to ground with latency lower than five minutes, for both SAR and Optical missions, demonstrating the viability of the EOALERT concept and architecture. The paper also discusses the implementation on an avionics test bench for testing the architecture with real EO data, with the aim of demonstrating that it can meet the requirements of the considered scenarios in terms of detection performance and provides technologies at a high TRL (4-5). When proven, this will open unprecedented opportunities for the exploitation of civil EO products, especially in latency sensitive scenarios, such as disaster management

EO-ALERT: A Novel Architecture for the Next Generation of Earth Observation Satellites Supporting Rapid Civil Alerts

The EO-ALERT project proposes the definition and development of the next-generation Earth Observation (EO) data processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves opti-mised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite, with the aim of delivering EO products to the end user with very low latency. EO-ALERT achieves, globally, latencies below five minutes for EO products delivery, and below 1 minute in some scenarios. The proposed archi-tecture combines innovations in the on-board elements of the data chain and the communications, namely: on-board reconfigurable data handling, on-board image generation and processing for the generation of alerts (EO products) using Artificial Intelligence (AI), on-board AI-based data compression and encryption, high-speed on-board avionics, and reconfigurable high data rate communication links to ground, including a separate chain for alerts with minimum latency and global coverage. This paper pre-sents the proposed architecture, its performance and hardware, considering two different user scenarios: ship detection and extreme weather nowcasting. The results show that, when implemented using COTS components and available communication links, the proposed architecture can deliver alerts to ground with latency below five minutes, for both SAR and Optical missions, demonstrating the viability of the EO-ALERT concept

A Novel Satellite Architecture for the Next Generation of Earth Observation Satellites Supporting Rapid Alerts

The EO-ALERT European Commission H2020 project proposes the definition, development, and verification and validation through ground hardware testing, of a next-generation Earth Observation (EO) data processing chain. The proposed data processing chain is based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves EO data processing elements traditionally executed in the ground segment to on-board the satellite, with the aim of delivering EO products to the end user with very low latency. EO-ALERT achieves, globally, latencies below five minutes for EO products delivery, and below one minute in realistic scenarios. The proposed EO-ALERT architecture is enabled by on-board processing, recent improvements in processing hardware using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components, and persistent space-to-ground communications links. EO-ALERT combines innovations in the on-board elements of the data chain and the communications, namely: on-board reconfigurable data handling, on-board image generation and processing for the generation of alerts (EO products) using Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), on-board AI-based data compression and encryption, high-speed on-board avionics, and reconfigurable high data rate communication links to ground, including a separate chain for alerts with minimum latency and global coverage. This paper presents the proposed architecture, its hardware realization for the ground testing in a representative environment and its performance. The architecture’s performance is evaluated considering two different user scenarios where very low latency (almost-real-time) EO product delivery is required: ship detection and extreme weather monitoring/nowcasting. The hardware testing results show that, when implemented using COTS components and available communication links, the proposed architecture can deliver alerts to the end user with a latency below five minutes, for both SAR and Optical missions, demonstrating the viability of the EO-ALERT architecture. In particular, in several test scenarios, for both the TerraSAR-X SAR and DEIMOS-2 Optical Very High Resolution (VHR) missions, hardware testing of the proposed architecture has shown it can deliver EO products and alerts to the end user globally, with latency lower than one-point-five minutes

Insights on the mechanism of formation of protein microspheres in a biphasic system

Microspheres of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and silk fibroin are produced by applying ultrasound in a biphasic system consisting of an aqueous protein solution and an organic solvent. The protein microspheres are dispersed in an aqueous media where the protein remains at the interface covering the organic solvent. This only occurs when high shear forces are applied that induce changes to force the protein to the interface. Fourier transform infrared results indicate a large increase in the content of the β-sheet during the formation of silk fibroin microspheres. Molecular dynamics simulations show a clear adaption on the 3D structure of BSA when stabilized at the interface, without major changes in secondary structure. Further studies demonstrate that high water content, oil solvents, and larger peptides with separated and clear hydrophobic and hydrophilic areas lead to more stable and smaller spheres. This is the first time that these results are presented. We also present herein the rationale to produce tailored protein microspheres with a controlled size, controlled charge, and increased stability.This work was supported by Lidwine Project-Multifunctional medical textiles for wound (e.g., Decubitus) prevention and improved wound healing NMP2-CT-2006-026741. H.F. thanks POPH/FSE for cofinancing and FCT for Fellowship SFRH/BPD/38939/2007. We acknowledge Silvia Cappellozza from "Sezione Specializzata per la Bachicoltura" for the supply of silk cocoons