DEIMOS IMAGING: CURRENT MEDIUM AND HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITES FOR AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MAPPING AND MONITORING

摘要

Deimos Imaging has played a key role in the design, implementation and operational consolidation of highly relevant services in precision agriculture in different parts of the world. DEIMOS-1 has demonstrated large-scale coverage capacity since 2011 by providing the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the satellite imagery to retrieve in-season crop statistics and crop monitoring for the 48 contiguous states. This is done in cooperation with its twin satellite UK-DMC2, owned by Airbus. Apart from USDA, major precision agriculture services in the world use Deimos Imaging as data source. The main contribution is the continuous optimization in the provision of DEIMOS-1 and UK-DMC2 data to empower the precision agriculture users at different stages: (i) Planning; (ii) in-season; and (iii) yield. During the planning stage, the data provided by Deimos Imaging is being used in: 1. The definition of uniform management zones and yield potential based on the analysis of the historical performance of the crops 2. Planning of soil sample 3. The definition of maps for variable rate of seeding and fertilizer During the in-season frequent monitoring, the data is being used in: 4. Prescriptions for variable rates: fertilizer and plant protection products (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) In function of the growth anomalies 5. Prescriptions for irrigation support systems. After harvesting, yield values are compared to the management zones maps and yield potential maps. Satellite archive record is reanalyzed for a better understanding of crop performance and for readjusting the management zones for the next season. This presentation we will cover the results of various campaigns in agriculture, carried out with DEIMOS-1 and UK-DMC2 since 2011. Finally, Deimos Imaging will introduce "UrtheDaily", a new constellation of satellites for a worldwide daily monitoring of entire landmass of Earth.