The FORUM end-to-end simulator project: architecture and results

FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) will fly as the ninth ESA's Earth Explorer mission, and an end-to-end simulator (E2ES) has been developed as a support tool for the mission selection process and the subsequent development phases. The current status of the FORUM E2ES project is presented together with the characterization of the capabilities of a full physics retrieval code applied to FORUM data. We show how the instrument characteristics and the observed scene conditions impact on the spectrum measured by the instrument, accounting for the main sources of error related to the entire acquisition process, and the consequences on the retrieval algorithm. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous case studies are simulated in clear and cloudy conditions, validating the E2ES against appropriate well-established correlative codes. The performed tests show that the performance of the retrieval algorithm is compliant with the project requirements both in clear and cloudy conditions. The far-infrared (FIR) part of the FORUM spectrum is shown to be sensitive to surface emissivity, in dry atmospheric conditions, and to cirrus clouds, resulting in improved performance of the retrieval algorithm in these conditions. The retrieval errors increase with increasing the scene heterogeneity, both in terms of surface characteristics and in terms of fractional cloud cover of the scene

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

Using Walking Robots for Humanitarian De-mining Tasks

Detection and removal of antipersonnel landmines is an important world-wide concern. A huge number of landmines have been deployed during the last twenty years and demining will take several more decades, assuming the topic that no more mines are going to be deployed in the future. An adequate mine clearance rate requires the use of new technologies such as improved sensors, efficient manipulators and mobile robots. This paper presents some basic ideas about the configuration of a mobile system to detect and locate antipersonnel landmines in an efficient and effective way. This paper describes the main features of the global system that consists of: a sensor head able to detect some kind of landmines; a manipulator to move the sensor head over large areas; a locating system based on a global positioning system, a remote supervisor computer and a legged robot used as a carrier of the referred subsystems. The whole system has been configured to work on a semi-autonomous mode taking care on robot mobility and energy efficiency, as well.Peer reviewe

Analysing and solving body misplacement problems in walking robots with round rigid feet

Round rigid feet for multi-legged robots offer a number of advantages over flat feet, and even over flat feet with articulated ankles. The main benefits are low cost, low complexity and robustness. A round rigid foot of small radius works well on hard terrain; however, it is prone to sink into soft terrain. Sinking can be avoided by increasing the radius of the foot, but in that case a round foot will roll during the leg-support phase, causing the hip to become misplaced and the robot to assume an incorrect attitude. This paper analyses this problem and provides a hip-control algorithm for restoring leg coordination. The algorithm is implemented in a real leg with a large-radius ball foot in order to evaluate how the algorithm would perform if applied to a real robot. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer Reviewe

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