|
|
Space assets for demining assistance This publication appears in: Acta Astronautica Authors: M. Kruijff, D. Ericson, T. Bouvet, A. Griffiths, M. Craig and H. Sahli Volume: 83 Pages: 239-259 Publication Year: 2013
Abstract: Populations emerging from armed conflicts often remain threatened by landmines and explosive remnants of war. The international mine action community is concerned with the relief of this threat. The Space Assets for Demining Assistance (SADA) undertaking is a set of activities that aim at developing new services to improve the socio-economic impact of mine action activities, primarily focused on the release of land thought to be contaminated, a process described as land release. SADA was originally initiated by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). It has been implemented under the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) program of the European Space Agency (ESA).Land release in mine action is the process whereby the demining community identifies, surveys and prioritizes suspected hazardous areas for more detailed investigation, which eventually results in the clearance of landmines and other explosives, thereby releasing land to the local population. SADA has a broad scope, covering activities, such as planning (risk and impact analysis, prioritization, and resource management), field operations and reporting.SADA services are developed in two phases: feasibility studies followed by demonstration projects. Three parallel feasibility studies have been performed. They aimed at defining an integrated set of space enabled services to support the land release process in mine action, and at analyzing their added value, viability and sustainability. The needs of the mine action sector have been assessed and the potential contribution of space assets has been identified. Support services have been formulated. To test their fieldability, proofs of concept involving mine action end users in various operational field settings have been performed by each of the study teams. The economic viability has also been assessed.Whenever relevant and cost-effective, SADA aims at integrating Earth observation data, GNSS navigation and SatCom technologies with existing mine action tools and procedures, as well as with novel aerial survey technologies. Such conformity with existing user processes, as well as available budgets and appropriateness of technology based solutions given the field level operational setting are important conditions for success. The studies have demonstrated that Earth observation data, satellite navigation solutions and in some cases, satellite communication, indeed can provide added value to mine action activities if properly tailored based on close user interaction and provided through a suitable channel. Such added value for example includes easy and sustained access to Earth observation data for general purpose mapping, land use assessment for post-release progress reporting, and multi-source data fusion algorithms to help quantify risks and socio-economic impact for prioritization and planning purposes. The environment and boundaries of a hazardous area can also be better specified to support the land release process including detailed survey and clearance operations. Satellite communication can help to provide relevant data to remote locations, but is not regarded as strongly user driven. Finally, satellite navigation can support more precise non-technical surveys, as well as aerial observation with small planes or hand-launched UAV's.To ensure the activity is genuinely user driven, the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) plays an important role as ESA’s external advisor. ESA is furthermore supported by a representative field operator, the Swiss Foundation of Mine Action (FSD), providing ESA with a direct connection to the field level end users. Specifically FSD has provided a shared user needs baseline to the three study teams. To ensure solutions meet with end user requirements, the study teams themselves include mine action representatives and have interacted closely with their pre-existing and newly established contacts within the mine action community.
|
|
