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Utilizing Multisource Geospatial Solutions to Build a Better World

Geospatial technologies are revolutionizing national economies, playing critical roles in domains as varied as national security, infrastructure monitoring and management, and disaster relief and recovery. Semi-automated geospatial solutions combining Earth observation with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision are spreading fast.  

For more than two decades Maxar has been a world leader in satellite-based electro-optical imagery collection. We are not just at the forefront of showing what is happening in the world in near real-time, but collectively we have built a 20-year foundational 2D Vivid basemap of the Earth that supports planning, insight and action.   

As geospatial intelligence capabilities, technologies and requirements have evolved, so has the need for providers like Maxar to offer more comprehensive and complex solutions that incorporate new sources of data and break down old silos and barriers between providers of those sources.  

This is why we have wholeheartedly embraced offering—both directly and through strong partnerships—multisource solutions and products that help our customers in India and around the world see, understand and act. 

Synthetic Aperture Radar  

Through a strategic constellation access agreement with Umbra, Maxar has dedicated capacity from satellites in Umbra’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery constellation, enabling us to provide customers with assured access to the highest resolution commercially available Earth observation data taken day and night and in all weather conditions.

Maxar also leverages decades of SAR processing expertise and our 3D datasets to enhance processing of the SAR imagery, delivering even more actionable insights. This combined offering, which will be fully integrated by 2024, represents the most advanced multisource geospatial intelligence solution for a wide range of government and commercial applications.  

Use cases include: 

  • Maritime domain awareness: Monitor broad maritime areas to detect ships, pollution and oil to effectively cue patrol assets. 
  • Disaster management and response: Rapidly map the extent of flooding over broad areas and create regional or national-scale digital elevation models for future simulations and modeling. 
  • Surveillance and intelligence: Detect changes and activity across large areas or frequently monitor sites of interest to analyze patterns of life. 

Learn more at https://www.maxar.com/products/sar-imagery. 

Radio Frequency Spectrum 

The world relies on the RF spectrum and its uses, from enabling economies through wireless connectivity, mobile networks, and satellite communications, to providing critical safety and security measures from both civil and defense organizations. But industry and governments lack access to accurate and actionable information. To fill this gap, Maxar measures the global radio frequency environment and provide the most advanced insights available on spectrum use and wireless networks. Our data empowers wireless-centric organizations, regulators, investors, and defense and intelligence organization to make smarter, faster, data-driven decisions that meet the current and future challenges of global RF use. 

Combining ground, aircraft and satellite-based sensors, we accurately measure radio frequency spectrum and wireless networks across the world to unlock hidden insights using patented systems and methods. Our automated approach to comprehensive data collection supports interests across industry and public sector organizations by collecting data across all frequencies. 

The radio frequency spectrum landscape is ever-changing. From assessing your capabilities, to benchmarking competitor activity, or identifying opportunities — our diverse solutions can solve your toughest problems. 

Learn more at https://www.maxar.com/products/rf-solutions.  

Crow’s Nest Maritime Monitoring and Security 

Maxar’s Crow’s Nest Maritime Monitoring and Security (MMS) capabilities leverage space-based optical and radar imagery and advanced machine learning to provide vessel detection and critical insight for maritime security agencies, offering near real-time monitoring solutions for complex problems on the high seas.  

Use cases include: 

  • Protecting legal fishing operations: The world’s oceans are overfished at an alarming rate, threatening food security and long-term economic prosperity for many nations. We help maritime enforcement agencies to more effectively intervene and manage vulnerable fish populations. 
  • Countering illicit trafficking: Because they are largely unmonitored, the world’s oceans are notorious for drug- and human-trafficking routes. Detect ships of interest and quickly task the Maxar satellite constellation to collect the fresh optical imagery, enabling agencies to identify vessels with confidence and provide evidence of activity.   
  • Monitoring ports remotely: Monitoring foreign naval installations and other points of interest is a high-stakes operation for many nations. Simplifies remote monitoring with on-demand access to Maxar’s 20-year image archive and built-in analysis tools. 
  • Offshore petroleum monitoring: Monitor drilling vessels for regulatory compliance and safety and actively search for potential spills. 

Learn more at https://www.maxar.com/products/crows-nest

The Globe in 3D 

Maxar’s 3D and elevation models enable you to measure and analyze your projects in 3D for a more complete picture of the situations that matter to your organization. With our geospecific Precision3D mapping and Precision3D Registration (P3DR) software, you can automatically georegister imagery to the Globe in 3D, allowing you to precisely and rapidly geolocate sensor data collected by sources including drones and airplanes. 

Maxar is building the Globe in 3D to provide our customers with the most accurate representation of Earth for simulation, training, navigation, network planning, consumer gaming and other complex environments. Our approach combines decades of deep mission understanding and a proven foundation of commercial technology to deliver solutions with unrivaled speed, scale and cost-effectiveness.   

Planners and decision-makers rely on Maxar 3D models for advanced communications networks and digital simulations in urban areas, line-of-sight analyses and flood mapping in suburban areas, and topographic maps and pipeline planning in rural areas, among other critical use cases across the globe. 

Learn more at https://www.maxar.com/products/theglobein3d.  

Images: Maxar Technologies

Article Authors: Sai Arul and Madhav Ragam, Maxar Technologies


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