High Resolution Commercial Imagery:
Ushering In a New Era for Defense Customers

Until recently, only select governments had access to high-resolution satellite imagery of the earth. DigitalGlobe, an imagery and information company located in Longmont, Colorado, USA, brought sub-meter space-based imagery to the commercial market aboard the QuickBird satellite on October 18, 2001. It is the highest-resolution commercial imaging satellite in operation, collecting images showing details never before seen from a commercial imaging satellite. QuickBird was manufactured by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., and successfully launched from Vandenberg AFB in California aboard a Boeing Delta II. QuickBird circles the Earth in a 450-km (280-mile), 98-degree sun-synchronous orbit, which provides consistent 3-4 day revisit times year-round.

QuickBird has two sensors on board capable of collecting 61-centimeter panchromatic (black and white) sensor and 2.44-meter 4-band multispectral imagery-both are collected every time an image is acquired. Moreover, the panchromatic and multispectral imagery can be fused to form a color 61-cm image in either three or four bands. The satellite produces imagery that is spatially and spectrally very accurate, while providing an industry-leading 16.5-kilometer (10.3-mile) wide swath width. A variety of imagery products are available, ranging from raw uncorrected data to orthorectified products suitable for mapping applications.

Security Applications of QuickBird Imagery

DigitalGlobe's high-resolution QuickBird imagery provides a capability to address a myriad of security issues never before commercially available from a space-based imaging platform. The following are some of the security applications that can be addressed with QuickBird imagery:

• Ground Force Assessments. The imagery permits generic identification of most armor and support vehicles (e.g., differentiating between tanks, armored personnel carriers, and self-propelled artillery), and specific identification for some vehicles.
• Naval Force Assessments. All naval vessels (combatants and support vessels) are identifiable by specific class using the panchromatic data. This includes identification of major offensive and defensive weapons systems, ship superstructures, antennas, and even mooring lines.
• Air Force Assessments. Classification of all military aircraft is possible, enabling analysts to tell the difference between similar aircraft (excluding variants).
• Air Defense Assessments. The imagery enables identification of mobile and fixed surface-to-air missiles-it is possible to determine if a launcher is loaded-as well as anti-aircraft-artillery (AAA) formations.
• Military Facilities Assessments. QuickBird imagery is useful in conducting facility analysis, including identification of facility subcomponents by specific functionality. The imagery supports monitoring of force deployments, conducting order-of-battle assessments, and detecting change in facilities over time (multispectral imagery also plays an integral role in accomplishing the latter).
• Weapons Storage Assessments. QuickBird imagery provides critical information on weapons storage facilities, including bunker construction techniques, differentiating storage types, and identification of transshipment facilities.
• Strategic Industries Assessments. The imagery supports identification of key strategic industries such as energy, extraction, and manufacturing facilities, including assessments of production capacity and inventory.
• Infrastucture Assessments. Lines of communication, including roads, rails, airfields and port facilities are readily extracted from the imagery. Specifically, road features (alignments, lanes, centerlines, and surface) are identifiable. Rail infrastructure characteristics (including gauge and capacity) are readily distinguishable. All airfield components (runways, taxiways, radars, lighting, and surface markings) are identifiable on the 61-cm imagery, as are all port components (e.g., gantry cranes, mobile gantries, and conveyors).
• Illicit Crop Analysis. The combination of 61-cm panchromatic and 2.44-m multispectral QuickBird imagery greatly aids identification of illicit crops, help support yield estimates, and provide a means of monitoring eradication efforts.

In summary, DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite-the world's highest-resolution commercial imaging satellite-provides a significant means to address security requirements across a broad range of needs. Commercial availability of this imagery through DigitalGlobe allows government defense users ready access to a powerful tool that supports baseline assessments, mission planning, and operations.

Website: http://www.digitalglobe.com

 

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