GEOGRAPHY MATTERS TO NATO

MARCH-APRIL 2021 » VOLUME 11 » ISSUE 06 | ISSN 2277–3134

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The growing realization about the power of ‘where’ is resulting in geo-intelligence gaining greater significance in the field of defense and security globally.

In Conversation

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LIEUTENANT GENERAL CHANDI PRASAD MOHANTY Vice Chief of the Army Staff

In Conversation

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VICE ADMIRAL ROBERT SHARP Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Special Feature GPS VULNERABILITY

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By Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, Department of Transportation; and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University

R.N.I No - UPENG/2010/34153; Registration no: UP/GBD-136/2017-19 Publication: 10th of every month I Posting: 15th / 20th of every month

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Subscriber’s Copy. Not for Sale

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CONTENTS IN CONVERSATION

MARCH-APRIL 2021 VOLUME: 11, ISSUE: 06

SPECIAL FEATURE

Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Kumar

08 / A ir Chief Marshal

Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta

Sir Stuart Peach GBE KCB DL Chairman, NATO Military Committee 12 / L ieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty Vice Chief of the Army Staff 16 / V ice Admiral Robert Sharp Director, NGA

Contributing Editor Geospatial Infrastructure John Kedar Contributing Editor Global Defense and Security Keith J. Masback

INTERVIEWS

20 / J uergen Dold

President, GSI, Hexagon AB 34 / S ajid Mukhtar Chairman & Managing Director Roter Group of Companies 36 / A lex Fox Executive Vice President, HawkEye 360 50 / P ayam Banazadeh CEO & Founder, Capella Space EXPERT OPINION

24 / T he Reverberating

Rhythms of Geopolitics

By Commodore C Uday Bhaskar (Retd) 26 / W orking for and with the GEOINT Community

By Robert Cardillo CASE STUDY

39 / A Picture Worth Thousand Words

Consulting Editor Spatial Analytics and Location Intelligence Nicholas Duggan

28 / G PS Vulnerability

By Diana Furchtgott-Roth

ARTICLES

Consulting Editor Nishi Malhotra

42 / 3 D Geospatial for Defense Spectrum Management

By Pavan Kumar

44 / I t Starts with a Good Defense (and Intelligence)

By Melisa Harder

46 / C apturing Real-time Echoes of Earth’s Heartbeat

By Brian E. O’Toole

48 / G eospatial Information to

By Guy Buesnel

By Max Craglia & Henk Scholten

58 / F lying Concerns

Analyzing Indian Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021

REGULAR FEATURES

04 / Editorial 05 / From the Guest Editor 06 / Product Watch

Chief Designer Subhash Kumar

Disclaimer

52 / P rotecting GNSS

POLICY MATTERS

Sr. Assistant Editor Defense & Intelligence Meenal Dhande

Visualizer Pradeep Chauhan

Tackle Hybrid Threats

By Dr. Josef Schroefl

54 / G etting a Grip on That Data

Associate Editor Policy & Public Affairs Avneep Dhingra

Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. Geospatial World is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided.

Owner, Publisher & Printer: Sanjay Kumar Printed at Virtika Offset Printers, G-14 Sector 3, Noida - 201 301, G.B. Nagar (UP) India Publication Address A - 92, Sector - 52, Noida - 201 301 India.

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March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 3

EDITORIAL

Disarmament in Space

S

pace has always been a great ‘asset’ for the military. The ability to conduct reconnaissance without dangerous clandestine forays in foreign airspace is a big attraction.

While optical sensors on satellites were a big step forward from ultrahigh altitude spy planes like the U2, radar satellites provide information of a class beyond the capabilities of optical and IR sensors.

100 Km, also called the Kárman Line, where the speed of an aircraft has to be higher than the orbital speed in order to generate sufficient lift. In effect, everything below 100 Km is aeronautics, while everything above is astronautics.

Many countries strenuously objected to this as it would restrict ICBMs, which spend a considerable time of their flight above 100 Km in a sub-orbital trajectory, and thus would violate the Outer Space Treaty. The treaty mentions ‘place’ and ‘stationing’ but is silent about ‘passage’. Thus, ICBMs and ASATs merely passing through outer Space on their mission do not violate the Treaty.

Yet another class of satellites are the ELINT satellites which can pick up radio chatter. Then there are the GNSS for location, navigation and timing used for guiding Prof. Arup Dasgupta offensive forces in the air, sea arup@geospatialworld.net and on the ground. Conventional On December 4, 2014, the communications satellites are also General Assembly of the UN passed two more resoused for strategic communications in C4ISR. lutions on preventing an arms race in outer Space.

In a classic spear and shield paradigm, powerful The first one calls on all States, in particular those with major Space capabilities, to contribute actively lasers have been used to blind optical spy satelto the peaceful use of outer Space and prevent an lites and jammers have been used to temporarily arms race in Space. The second one talks about no incapacitate radar, ELINT, GNSS and Comsats. first positioning of weapons in outer Space.

ASATs are another approach for a more permanent solution by eliminating such satellites. But ASATs However, this has not prevented countries from create a mess of debris which threaten other Space looking at Space militarization and setting up Space assets. Nearly 250 trackable debris resulted from Commands — China and Russia in 2015, France in the Indian ASAT test on March 27, 2019.

2019 and the US in 2020. While such commands cover defense rather than offence, the dividing In 1967, anticipating such a scenario, the United line is thin. In a war situation, C4ISR uses all these Nations, in its Outer Space Treaty, specifically technologies for both offence and defense. Denial stated that “States shall not place nuclear weapons of GPS service, for example, in the Gulf War and or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or allegedly during the Kargil conflict are examples of on celestial bodies or station them in outer Space such offensive use. It is also alleged that a Russian in any other manner”. Note the use of the words satellite shadowed a US spy satellite and fired a ‘place’ and ‘station’. projectile at it.

An interesting point much argued in the UN was Clearly, disarmament is not only needed on the definition of where outer Space begins. After Earth, but as the UN anticipates, in Space as well. much wrangling, it was decided that it begins at 4 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

FROM THE GUEST EDITOR

Change is the Constant

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t’s truly my pleasure to have had the opportunity to perform the duties of Guest Editor for this edition of Geospatial World.

There is rich content herein, provided by a broad range of professionals with a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences.

However, even in the broad spectrum of perspectives there are a few common themes.

Lieutenant General Mohanty speak about the realities of the current geopolitical milieu. Both of these distinguished military leaders share their perspectives on the increasing interest in the Indian Ocean region, drawing China, Russia, and the United States into reimagining their respective interests, with India playing a paramount role.

Finally, this edition chronicles several companies that are leading First, it’s clear that the only exciting advances in Remote constant in our business is change.

Sensing: BlackSky, HawkEye360, In almost every piece that follows, and Capella Space. Brian E. O’Toole the authors articulate the changing of BlackSky shares their vision for nature of the people, processes, aggressively building out downand technology related to geospaKeith J. Masback stream applications for their electial and international security. keith@geospatialworld.net tro-optical systems. HawkEye360 is Sir Stuart Peach recognizes the at the forefront of providing radio ongoing challenge of this change frequency (RF) Remote Sensing. Alex Fox shares and suggests: “The trick is to take advantage of new that the value of RF is that it “detects, characterizes, technologies, apply them quickly and not allow our and locates signals across land, sea, air, and Space.” own processes to get in the way.”

Capella Space, along with ICEYE, Umbra, and others are offering next-generation commercial synthetic Second, to borrow a phrase from my colleague aperture radar (SAR). As many in our community Dr. Chris Tucker, is the challenge of the “cyber-locontend, and I concur, this seems like the advent of cation nexus”. We are all conditioned to believe an exciting new era for SAR. In sum, as commercial what we see on our screens. This is evidenced by Remote Sensing capabilities proliferate, the national myriad anecdotal examples of people driving into things like bodies of water because they were blindly security community will need to continually assess the balance between inherently governmental following their navigation device. In those cases, missions and missions that can be ‘offloaded’ to they were probably victims of devices with old or commercial providers. Clearly, most nations will bad data, but not because of any malign actors. In adopt a hybrid approach to gain access to the optimal this edition, Diana Furchgott-Ross raises concern about the reliability of our GNSS systems, specifically mix of both.

GPS. Vice Admiral Robert Sharp shares his concern I hope all of you appreciate the depth and regarding GPS as well. Robert Cardillo goes further to talk about the importance of being able to assure the breadth of information and insights offered in this edition of Geospatial World. I encourage you to “pedigree of our pixels”, imploring our community share, discuss, and comment on the content in this to invest appropriate energy into assuring geospatial issue. Our community is stronger when we have a and image data provenance. vibrant discourse about what we do and how we do it. Everyone’s voice is welcomed and encouraged!

Third, both Commodore Bhaskar (Retd) and March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 5

PRODUCT WATCH

New High-precision GNSS Receiver Module for Multi-Frequency and Multi-constellation Applications Telit has launched SE868SY-D, a multi-frequency, high-precision GNSS receiver module for applications that require high accuracy, fast updates, multi-constellation support and multipath resistance. At 11×11 mm, the SE868SY-D easily accommodates ultra-compact devices and Internet of Things (IoT) trackers. Featuring Sony’s CXD5610 GNSS receiver large scale integration, the SE868SY-D is the first product from a new strategic collaboration between Sony and Telit.

Key Features

• Full GNSS compliance: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and IRNSS/NAVIC • Dual-frequency for improved performances • Up to 25Hz update rate for high-dynamics applications • Embedded LNA allows use of passive antennas

The SE868SY-D module is Telit’s first multi-frequency, multi-constellation (MCMF) GNSS receiver module, featuring an ultra-sensitive -167 dBm (tracking) RF front end. By using both the L1 and L5 bands, the module supplies a significantly higher location accuracy than single-frequency devices — even in high-multipath environments such as urban canyons. The SE868SY-D offers a pin-to-pin compatible migration path in Telit’s portfolio for applications based on the legacy GPS module JF2 and GNSS module SE868V3.

New 3D Reality Capture Solution for Multiple Industries

Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, has launched a reality capture solution for a variety of industries. By combining Boston Dynamics agile mobile robot Spot with the Leica RTC360 3D laser scanner, scanning time spent by human operators is significantly reduced by programming the devices to repeat automated scanning paths through sites. This requires minimal monitoring by the user, allowing for increased scanning efficiency, productivity, and flexibility when planning reality capture tasks. Professionals in many different industries can benefit from programmed scanning tasks, especially for locations that must be repeatedly scanned for up-to-date digital twins.

While mounted atop Spot, the Leica RTC360’s VIS (Visual Inertial System) technology uses five cameras to track the scanner’s movement within the site between the scans.

The VIS provides an unmatched level of accurate and automated in-field pre-registration to streamline the reality capture process.

6 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

User-friendly

• Allows users to speed up routine as-built documentation tasks • Capture data accurately, quickly, and frequently • Can be used by any industry with autonomous scanning needs, such as construction, manufacturing, facility management, public safety, defense, media and entertainment

Airborne LiDAR System with IMU, GNSS, 3D Scanner and Camera

Advanced and Efficient

• • • •

Lightest unit in class Advanced accuracy Efficient scanning Flexible integration

CHC Navigation (CHCNAV) has released the AlphaAir 450 (AA450) LiDAR system, a very lightweight and compact all-in-one sensor.

Featuring internal IMU, GNSS, 3D scanner and camera, the AlphaAir 450 solution is widely used for power line inspection, topographic mapping, emergency response, agricultural and forestry surveys, and more. The unit is easy to use, and it is allowed for rapid deployment in the field. The AlphaAir 450 is a major breakthrough in the democratization of mobile mapping technology, allowing its use by non-professional users in the geospatial reality capture industry.

The AlphaAir 450 weighs 1 kg,

Dual Frequency Timing Module to Counter Jamming, Spoofing Trimble has introduced its first dual-frequency embedded timing module that provides next-generation networks with 5-nanosecond accuracy. The Trimble® RES 720™ GNSS timing module is a surface-mount module that is easily integrated into network equipment. It uses L1 and L5 GNSS signals to provide superior protection to jamming and spoofing, mitigates multipath in harsh environments, and adds security features to make it the ideal choice for resilient networks. The RES 720 module measures 19 millimeters by 19 millimeters and provides a low-cost, easy-to-use, highly accurate and reliable GPS timing source for critical infrastructure in a broad range of industries. The RES 720 is an ideal solution for 5G Open RAN / XHaul, smart grid, data center, industrial automation and SATCOM networks as well as calibration services and perimeter monitoring applications.

Product Utility

• Better multi-path detection capabilities • Reduces the timing error under clear skies to less than 5 nanoseconds • Compensates for the ionospheric error from multi-GNSS satellite constellations

which is perfectly suited to the drones’ payload requirements.

The lighter the unit, the longer the operating time of the drone, and the greater the productivity. By combining industrial grade GNSS with a high precision IMU, the AlphaAir 450 can easily achieve an absolute accuracy of 5 cm (vertical) and 10 cm (horizontal) for small survey areas, which is typically adequate for the most use cases.

Featuring IP64 high-level protection, the AlphaAir 450 extends its operating temperature capabilities, down to -200C and up to +500C, in any field environment and increases users’ return on investment by providing more field survey days in a year.

New Portable and Targeted 3D Data Capture Device for Scans in Tight Spaces

FARO Technologies, Inc. has released the Freestyle 2 handheld scanner for construction. This fast, portable, and targeted 3D data capture device can scan even the tightest spaces such as above ceilings, intertwined plumbing and fire protection systems, pipes and ducts, etc. more easily than ever. Whether being used standalone or combined with a FARO® Focus Laser Scanner, the Freestyle 2 gives contractors a new way to capture accurate 3D point clouds of their projects for planning, verification, and handover needs.

Major Highlights

Compact | Faster | More Complete Data Real-Time Visualization | Ideal Companion March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 7

IN CONVERSATION

GEOGRAPHY

MATTERS TO NATO As a geographically-aware organization, we have to be able to visualize things in all dimensions. The knowledge of where things are happening is very important to us and so data gathering and handling are crucial, says Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach GBE KCB DL, Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee.

T

he North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in the aftermath of World War II as an intergovernmental alliance focussed on military defense within the Euro-Atlantic region.

The Soviet Union, with the wider Warsaw Pact, was the main threat for decades, but after the Cold War it became evident that NATO could succeed more widely, such as the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Afghanistan following the 2001 Al Qaeda attack on the United States. NATO is now preparing its 2030 strategy to meet the everchanging global challenges, such as Russia’s destabilizing activities, the threat of terrorism, sophisticated cyberattacks, disruptive technologies, and China.

NATO is governed by ministers from member nations through the North Atlantic Council. The highest military 8 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

authority in NATO is the Military Committee, comprising the professional heads of each nation’s defense staff. The Chair of the Military Committee works in NATO headquarters in Brussels alongside NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.

He advises the North Atlantic Council and Secretary General whilst also turning Council decisions into military direction to NATO’s military commanders.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach GBE KCB DL has been Chairman of the Military Committee since 2018. He is the UK’s most senior military officer, having been elected Chairman of the Committee by his NATO peers after serving as the UK’s Chief of Defense Staff.

Commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1974, he initially flew Canberra aircraft in the photographic reconnaissance role.

His illustrious career includes

many operational assignments, culminating in his first four-star appointment as the inaugural Commander of the UK Joint Forces Command in December 2011. Sir Stuart Peach is no stranger to geospatial intelligence and as the Chief of Defense Intelligence he helped develop international geospatial intelligence concepts and capabilities.

In an exclusive interview with Geospatial World Contributing Editor, John Kedar, the veteran talks about NATO and its evolution, and the growing importance of geospatial intelligence.

What major security threats does NATO foresee in the coming years?

The world is becoming uncertain and new

threats are evolving. Embracing the Europe-Atlantic region, NATO is a regional alliance with a global approach. We react to requests for support and assistance from the 30 member states and the United Nations, and that may take us anywhere, including Afghanistan or the Balkans. We are currently active in Iraq, supporting the government and the security forces there. But at its heart, NATO is a regional security alliance that keeps nearly one billion people safe, the most successful military alliance in history. We are a military alliance under political control. Within this political governance framework we have our own boundaries, be it maritime, air or the national boundaries of our allies.

Therefore, geography matters to us.

Geospatial data is important to our work and we are a reasonably geospatially-aware organization in terms of our capabilities and our ability to work both as an Alliance and with many other partners around the world. A large number of challenges that we face are not limited to a border or a nation.

For instance, terrorism and cyber-attacks do not respect geographical boundaries.

Climate Change is an interesting challenge. It is not necessarily a military task but, as the world changes, we need to adapt to those changes. If there is one message that I would like to convey to the readers of Geospatial World, it will be that NATO has continuously adapted since 1949 — it survived because it adapted.

Fast-paced technology innovation has changed the way the world functions. To pick up your point about adapting, how have factors such as the plethora of sensors and Artificial Intelligence changed the way NATO operates?

NATO is a formal alliance of 30 nations which pools and shares science and technology related to defense. We have the largest doctorate based research and development military organization in the world and the ability to understand the opportunities and vulnerabilities presented by many emerging and disruptive technologies. Through our science and technology organization we bring opportunities to NATO headquarters and to our warfare development command, Allied March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 9

IN CONVERSATION

architecture and the required geospatial capabilities. These in turn add value to member nations military development.

Working with 30 different nations can be challenging. How does NATO approach interoperability and help everyone understand what needs to be achieved?

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach (R) with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Command Transformation, which experiments on the application of individual technologies.

Further, NATO has a convening authority to work with the industry. We encourage links with academic institutions and we are open to innovative small and medium enterprises. If I had to give a message to the industry, it would be that jargon and complication are probably not the routes for introducing new technologies.

As a geographically-aware organization, we have to be able to visualize things in all dimensions. The knowledge of where

things are happening is very important to us and so data gathering and handling are crucial — be it data mining or the ability to store, move and integrate large volumes of multinational data. As we embrace new technologies, I think it is worth mentioning that we have a very effective military communications organization.

The NATO Communications and Information Agency plays a critical role in bringing the communication information architecture to life. So, we have the biggest science and technology pool in the world, a solid communication information

Maps bring knowledge to commanders as they have over the evolution of conflict, especially when annotated with battlefield information. ‘Foundation data’ may be out of date as a phrase, but the base geospatial data is still as important as it was, and so it must be accurate 10 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

One of NATO’s core strengths is interoperability. We achieve interoperability through standardized NATO agreements.

Meeting these is part of your mission when you sign into the alliance. There is a formal planning process in which targets are set, and one of those targets is always around interoperability. It is as simple as having the same calibre of ammunition and sharing it, but equally it is the ability of intelligence surveillance reconnaissance data to pass seamlessly from one platform to another. We take a strategic approach to data management and communications.

The alliance can consider, develop and practice the necessary interoperability as technology changes. For example, and almost unknown, we have developed principles around spectrum control and management, helping prevent the increasing risk of technological fratricide.

The geospatial community is shifting focus from purely data to knowledge. Do you see a similar shift within NATO,

and how will this help commanders at all levels with their missions?

Maps bring knowledge to commanders as they have over the evolution of conflict, especially when annotated with battlefield information. ‘Foundation data’ may be out of date as a phrase, but the base geospatial data is still as important as it was, and so it must be accurate. Then you build on that data with additive technologies to provide the added value to command and control, providing knowledge to create better decisions. I think there is a lot of power in simplification and expression through geospatial products to enable complicated issues to be understood quickly.

The idea of turning a product into knowledge is not new but the ways of achieving it have evolved. We experiment on this in exercises and other settings.

Increasingly, we think beyond people, vehicles and aircraft to

un-crewed platforms and space.

The trick is to take advantage of new technologies, apply them quickly and not allow our own processes to get in the way.

Can you tell us something about NATO’s future priorities?

NATO continues to adapt and evolve. We launched a reflection process last year involving a wide range of thinkers, from academics to politicians. This is something NATO has done periodically throughout its history.

The Secretary General is using that to launch the NATO 2030 strategy at the NATO Summit later this year. As a multinational intergovernmental organization, we are driven by periodic meetings with the heads of states and governments that we represent. It is for them to decide the level of ambition for their regional military alliance, and how we adopt and adapt to a global approach. That means that

The Chair of the Military Committee advises the North Atlantic Council and Secretary General whilst also turning Council decisions into military direction to NATO’s military commanders

we are not just sitting still and looking at yesterday’s conflicts, missions, activities but looking forward to how we embrace and harness technology interoperability across 30 nations. Whether you are a big country or not doesn’t matter to NATO — we are stronger together.

Thank you for your time and candour. As we conclude, do you have a message for the geospatial community?

I have been a member of the community for a long time. Due to my passion for geography, I have seen its relevance and utility every day in all the roles I have fulfilled during a 48-year career.

I think the geospatial community is often under-recognized even though it plays a critical role in today’s world. I can tell you with my decades of experience as a commander that success has many fathers. Sometimes, in the midst of success, people forget to thank those responsible for the geospatial data. So, I would like to thank such people, coming from different countries and performing different roles, because they have been the foundation for many missions and operations.

As I leave the alliance in the capable hands of my successor, it’s important to also encourage the next generation. Any organization that just focuses on the people who are here today is doomed to fail. We all have to focus on developing geospatial people, whether in uniform or as civilians, government or contractor.

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 11

IN CONVERSATION

DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY WILL HAVE PROFOUND IMPACT ON FUTURE WARFARE Enhancement in digital technologies like AI, Machine Learning, Big Data, IoMT and GIS is bound to change the way information is acquired, collated, analyzed and disseminated, says Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty, Vice Chief of the Army Staff, in an interview to Geospatial World.

How do you assess the impact of China’s economic and military expansion, and its belligerence on the global security scenario; and how can we ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region?

China has taken umpteen steps in recent years to modernize its military and has improved its capabilities to exert influence far beyond its maritime or continental borders. Unprecedented economic growth over the last few decades has enabled China to secure overseas investment, resources and power. Debt diplomacy coupled with overt military belligerence in South and East China Seas, as well as Eastern Ladakh, have led to an environment of uncertainty and volatility in the region.

The Indo-Pacific signifies the confluence of the Indian and Pacific oceans, and is home to 12 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

over 64% of world population, 62% of global GDP and 50% of global trade. India is a pivotal force in this region and is steadfastly working to achieve peace and stability through cooperation in maritime security, open trade, connectivity and risk mitigation amongst the littoral states. Capacity building of all stakeholders in the region has been a priority for India in countering non-traditional security challenges, such as crime, piracy, drugs, arms and human trafficking, and Climate Change. ‘Quad’ as a grouping of like-minded countries which share the global commons is an attempt towards a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific region.

Modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, Internet of Things and GIS are playing an important role in warfare.

How can our defense

forces adapt faster to the changing technologies?

Disruptive technologies would bring about a quantum change in the way future wars are fought.

Enhancement in digital technologies like AI, ML, Big Data, IoMT (Internet of Military Things) and GIS is bound to change the way information is acquired, collated, analyzed and disseminated.

These are dual use technologies that would have a profound impact on future warfare.

The Indian Army is abreast with these advancements and is adopting measures to identify the domains where these technologies can be assimilated.

Some of these domains include lethal autonomous weapon systems, unmanned patrolling and ISR, threat modeling, war game simulation and training, supply chain and logistics, and predictive maintenance. After having identified the military fields of application, modes of

induction through IDEX, Make II, TDF (Technology Development Fund) and R&D have also been identified. There are measures/steps under progress for Tri-Services application of these technologies in an integrated and joint manner. There is an endeavor to improve our teeth to tail ratio by incorporating these technologies to reduce our logistics footprint.

Recent border clashes have highlighted the value of satellite data and analytics more than ever.

How is the Indian Army enhancing this capability, and does it plan to utilize the commercial satellite industry to support it in this endeavor?

Space offers immense force-multiplication capability for the Armed Forces, hence dependence on Space for military application is rapidly increasing.

ISRO, under the Department of Space (DoS), drives India’s civil and commercial Space requirements. The Tri-Services Defence Space Agency (DSA) under HQ IDS has been created to enhance peaceful exploitation of the Space domain for military purposes. DSA is mandated to fulfil its charter in conjunction with ISRO, DoS and DRDO. The Government of India’s recent decision to open the Space domain to commercial enterprises and directions to ISRO to handhold them is a positive step and should provide the much-needed additional avenues for strategic users to build capability.

Conventional wars are increasingly being replaced by hybrid approaches to conflict, often stopping short of war. In this hybrid construct, both Space and cyber are opening up new frontiers in warfare.

How is the Indian Army adapting to these changes?

While methods of prosecuting military operations have forayed into non-kinetic domains like cyber, Space and human psychology, conventional wars still remain a possibility, even though it may not be a ‘total war’.

The Indian Army is adapting well to this transformation and there does exist seamless coordination between various stakeholders. A robust cyber framework is in place to cater to cybersecurity requirements of various organizations.

As far as utilization of Space capabilities is concerned,

necessary measures are in place to harness it in the fields of surveillance, ISR, communication, etc. The capability exists to exploit it as a primary source of information as well as to act as redundancy in communication.

The technology demonstrations in Space have exhibited our capabilities and would also act as a deterrent to our potential adversaries.

Drones are causing disruption in warfare.

Can you elaborate on the Army’s plans on utilizing drones and countering their use by adversaries?

The use of drones for military purposes has been a significant game changer in recent conflicts. Swarm drones with AI have led to disruptive effects in warfare, as seen during recent Nagorno-Karabakh and Syrian conflicts. Their versatility emanates from the variety of payloads and flexibility afforded due to endurance and range of

Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty took charge as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff in February this year

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 13

IN CONVERSATION

The Indian Army is abreast with modern technology advancements and is adopting measures to identify the domains where these technologies can be assimilated operations. Drones have not only resulted in enhanced battlefield situational awareness but also facilitated the operational tempo. We have been employing UAVs of foreign origin for quite some time for communication, ISR, electronic warfare, etc. The indigenous drone ecosystem is still evolving in terms of production of micro/mini/tac drones and in areas of manned/ unmanned teaming.

Counter drone solutions are also keeping pace with continuously evolving drone technologies. The varieties of drones available in different shapes, size, speeds and capabilities makes it a challenge to counter them with a single method. The aspects of detection, identification and location technologies are also difficult due to low radar cross-section, slow speed and size. The various stakeholders in the Army have been assigned with clearly defined goals in short and medium terms to defeat the adversary drone/ unmanned systems. Towards this end we have had demonstrations of some promising prototypes which are under development.

While self-reliance in defense production is a must, the requirement of state-of-the-art weapon systems in a timely manner cannot be 14 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

over emphasized. How can there be a balance between these seemingly conflicting requirements?

India has been amongst the top three military spenders in the world, importing most of its requirements from foreign countries. However, with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India), a concerted effort has been made to promote self-reliance in the field of defense technology and indigenous production. Some of the aspects include issuing a positive list of indigenization, raising FDI (foreign direct investment) limit in the defense sector and spending a proportion of capital budget for domestic capital procurement. Notwithstanding the self-reliance mantra, a proportion of state-of-the-art systems can also be inducted in order to retain technological edge, without waiting for the domestic industry to mature.

A long-term integrated perspective plan of the defense requirements would give the industry a clear picture of future requirements and provide a level playing field. Steps like establishment of a nodal agency like Indigenous Defence Equipment Export Association, switching from low value items to high value indigenous combat platforms like tanks, armored fighting vehicles, guns, aircraft, helicopters, destroyers and

frigates would also encourage potential foreign buyers. Ultimately, defense industry matures over a period of time and an entire ecosystem has to be set up to support the process.

The Government of India recently promulgated new guidelines for acquiring and producing geospatial data services including maps. How do you see the Army benefitting from the recent relaxation in the rules, and are there any security concerns?

The new guidelines promulgated by the Department of Science and Technology have subsumed all the existing Ministry of Defence/other ministerial guidelines and have liberalized mapping and acquiring geospatial data to a much greater extent. This would definitely result in enhanced participation by private players and make acquisition of geospatial data by the industry a lot easier. However, there are concerns due to relaxation in guidelines for acquisition of geospatial data which is a prime resource for national security requirements. These concerns have been highlighted to the ministry from time to time for incorporation of regulatory mechanisms to ensure availability of data to legitimate entities. Although the aspects of liberalization of data acquisition and ease of doing business are well acknowledged, the same should be done with the requisite regulatory mechanism in place to prevent pilferage of sensitive geospatial data.

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IN CONVERSATION

'People First, Mission Always' Our first and foremost investment focuses on people. We say ‘People First, Mission Always’, because if you take care of people first, then the rest is easy, says Vice Admiral Robert Sharp, Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). BY Sanjay Kumar & John Kedar.

NGA’s Strategy 2025 is aimed at keeping the Agency at the forefront of geospatial intelligence. What are your key areas of focus at this point?

We released our Strategy 2025 at GEOINT 2019 in San Antonio. It has four strategic goals — people, partnerships, mission today and mission tomorrow. Our first and foremost investment focuses on people.

There is a great saying that in the special operations community, ‘humans are more important than hardware’. Eventually you get around to technology but one must not forget who creates that technology. I have worked at a lot of places that believe in ‘Mission First, People Always’. We have reversed that here; we say, ‘People First, Mission Always’, because if you take care of people first, then the rest is easy.

Our second objective is to invest in partnerships. When we talk about our partnerships, the fact is that we have friends who are really good.

Defining our partnerships, our network of friends is largely dependent on our imagination and our willingness to go out and create meaningful connections. This network also allows us to be aware of how to get the best from technology.

Often in the government we think that the industry wants something from us, but I also think that often industry wants to help. So do people in academia and the community. If we can build strong relationships with them, then we are around 16 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

the technology. I think it is much more impactful than trying to do everything ourselves.

The Covid pandemic made things challenging. The GEOINT symposium was cancelled, several meetings were called off, but we didn’t cancel our commitment to strengthen partnerships, and keeping the people connected. During this period, we came out with technology focus areas to enable stronger partnerships between NGA, industry, academia, and other government and community partners around emerging geospatial technologies. Even though there wasn’t a symposium, we published it anyway. It’s available on our website, www.nga.mil.

Everybody wants to win, and we are convinced that the best way for us to do so is by investing in our people, strengthening our partnerships, and using the best technology. We are not going to know what that technology is unless we make our needs known and open ourselves up to brilliant people.

You mentioned the technology focus areas, partnerships and brilliant people.

How are you using your new building in St. Louis to gain the greatest benefit from these for NGA and the city?

We are pressing forward with our new construction in St. Louis. We have envisioned a future where we have more agility in how we do our business across

From the Department of Defense’s perspective, the GPS technology has not really been at risk or challenged by recent threats or during missions. But if you look at the higher-end competition, yes it can be at risk unclassified, collateral and highly classified realms.

To have agility between security realms, and as part of that new building, we decided that we will have 20% unclassified space, 20% reconfigurable and the rest highly protected. Therefore, we will be able to open up the aperture as to when and how we interact with people within these business areas.

Everything happens in time and space. The geospatial perspective helps people understand complex situations in very clear ways. You can see the relations differently when you look at things spatially and temporally, and that’s valuable for everything.

St. Louis is a space where everybody who is involved in geospatial intelligence can come together and exchange ideas to solve different problems. So, we are really excited about the construction project.

We have also envisioned establishing tech innovation hubs. In the not-too-distant future, we are going to be cutting the opening ribbon on something we have called our ‘Moonshot Labs’.

We signed an education partnership agreement last year with Harris-Stowe State University, St. Louis, and they are going to establish a GEOINT Hub on the same floor with us. It will put humans into close proximity, increasing the probability of partnerships. It’s a great example of partnerships creating the environment to accelerate technology.

There is currently much discussion on Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) service policy and GPS vulnerability. How do you see this, and is it an opportunity or a challenge?

Everything is a challenge and an opportunity at the same time. It’s a competition because technology is available to everyone. If you look through NGA Director’s Intent that we issued last year, it shows how our NGA strategy is supporting national strategies; how we are going to achieve our Moonshot.

We said there are four mission imperatives that are necessary for us to be able to achieve that Moonshot, and the very first one is delivering assured Positioning, Navigation, Timing and Targeting.

When people think of technology solutions, they first think of GPS. We haven’t always had GPS. A part of human exploration journey has always been this desire to know where they are in relation to everything else. That’s what PNT is. From the Department of Defense’s perspective, the technology has not really been at risk or challenged by recent threats or during missions. But if you look at the higher-end competition, yes it can be at risk.

So, we are very interested in making sure we aren’t vulnerable and have different ways of knowing where we are in time and space.

How do you look at leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) without compromising your idea of not letting machines make decisions?

There is a book titled Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age that talks about the smart machine age. The gist of the book is that there is always going to be a need for humans and that machines will never replace them. The value that humans bring is thinking critically and making sense out of things.

We just need to think about the changing skillsets that we require. People throw the term AI around loosely, arguing that it just solves everything. But it’s far more complicated.

When we talk about our partnering with machines, we call it AAA — Automation, Augmentation, and Artificial Intelligence. We talk about leveraging these so that machines can do what machines do best and humans can quickly focus on what they are best at — critical thinking. Machines are far more effective and efficient today than they were last year. I can’t wait to see what they do next year, March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 17

IN CONVERSATION

I am convinced that the key to competing successfully is not just starting from new, but looking at the problem through different lenses and evolving what we have done before. What’s the most important thing we have? It’s our people, our problem solvers.

Strategically, the world is moving geopolitically more towards the East.

How does this development impact your partnerships?

Partnerships connect the world. Historically, as humans started exploring and adventuring, they were encountering new cultures and making connections. Our work in Afghanistan, for example, was with many nations. One of the things we are most proud of in Afghanistan is that we all got together and built one map, because having different maps might be dangerous. I have been a sailor for over 30 years, have sailed around the globe, and the thing I love most is these partnerships.

Vice Admiral Robert Sharp signing the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) with India last year

or five years from now. But, there are certain decisions only humans can make, and that’s for us to define and decide. However, there are going to be certain decisions that we will grow very comfortable with machines making for us. This will be part of the journey, but I suggest that we start slow.

The terrorism threat continues to evolve. How much have you had to change the direction of the Agency to think and strategize differently?

We are always going to have terrorism. It’s something we can’t ignore. We have had it throughout history.

But we can’t let ourselves be overly absorbed with that, because there are a lot of other things going on.

Looking at the strategic environment, a lot of people will say that future missions will be completely different for us. I know some of the conditions associated with it are different — the potential lethality involved, the speed, the consequences, and the nature of it. But you certainly want people who have been involved in counterterrorism involved in looking at the strategic environment and the challenges. Because we have evolved the way we do business over the last 10-20 years, 18 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

I think the criticality of the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, an informal strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India) from economic and health perspectives cannot be understated. With the new leadership in place, US representatives, both from Department of Defense and Department of State, first visited the region. It has been important to us, is important to us and will remain very important to us.

We signed a major partnership agreement, the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), with India during the pandemic. It was a historic event for us. We have been working with India for a long time in the Navy and in the geospatial realm with mapping and charting. We signed the agreement at a time when India was a little concerned about events on its borders with China. The first thing people were looking for was the level of clarity, so that you don’t have misperceptions or tactical miscalculations that could have strategic implications. And the best way to do that from a geospatial perspective is knowing what is where. India had asked us for some assistance and understanding.

We closely worked with the Indian government to achieve this, demonstrating the importance and the value of the partnership that we have with India.

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INTERVIEW

ADAPTING TO A CHANGING THREAT SPECTRUM WITH REAL-TIME INFORMATION Security is no longer just a matter of protecting national borders and military infrastructure. Today, a nation’s sovereignty stands or falls with the integrity of its communications, power and transportation grid, and its energy production and public health facilities.

This reinforces the need for better realtime information and flexible, evolving technology, emphasizes Juergen Dold, President, GSI, at Hexagon AB, in an interview with Geospatial World.

How do you see the global security scenario evolving in the Fourth Industrial Age?

Thanks to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), we are seeing the combined use of automation and machine-to-machine communication optimizing virtually all aspects of manufacturing, defense, infrastructure, and industrial efforts. The benefits of industrial systems to leverage smart sensors and IoT for handling issues with minimal human intervention are transforming commerce, government and defense in ways we never imagined. Because of this evolution, security organizations and systems need to be multi-faceted and dynamic to manage ever-growing threats. Today, independent nations as well as alliances of countries around the world are developing strategies to address the expanding range of non-traditional risks and challenges.

We are also seeing conventional threats growing, 20 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

including asymmetric terrorist threats and attacks on industrial systems, designed to influence elections and the larger political discourse.

Security is no longer just a matter of protecting national borders and military infrastructure, or defending the front line. Today, a nation’s sovereignty stands or falls with the integrity of its communications, power and transportation grid, and its energy production and public health facilities. Security strategists call this the 'rear area', behind the front line.

This reinforces the need for better real-time information and flexible, evolving technology that can adapt to a changing threat spectrum.

As we usher in the age of the data economy, how critical is it to have sovereign and secure data environments for national governments and regional organizations like the European Commission?

Having sovereign and secure data environments has never been more important. Thanks to efforts like the recent European Commission initiatives on cloud computing and GAIA-X, which is the federated

data infrastructure for Europe, data sovereignty is already a priority. Also, data sovereignty has trickled down from the political agenda to the business level.

Politicians and governments have expressed their strategic interest in the issue, and now companies are also embracing the opportunity by offering exciting Cloud solutions that meet data sovereignty requirements. Of course, there is much more to consider when it comes to data sovereignty.

These developments have changed how nations operate. Data was once classified and shared under a “need-to-know” paradigm and was shielded — sharing was an exception. That paradigm has been flipped. Now, it’s all about the 'need-to-share', which is opening the potential for massive amounts of shared data. We see this shift all around us. For instance, 'need-to-share' is the guiding principle for NATO nations and their allies. Years ago, the European Commission moved to open location data with the INSPIRE Directive, and it is now looking to repeat this move with the European Digital Data Act. However, these efforts present a challenge: information overload. Earlier, organizations were exposed to very little information; now, the opposite is happening. By leveraging solutions that provide users a role-based access, organizations can break down traditional data stovepipes, while ensuring that only the right people see the data they need to do their jobs.

The concept of ‘sensors to action’ is driven by a host of technology innovations both in hardware and software. How do you view these innovations supporting the workflow of security agencies?

Every technology revolution in history has served the same purpose — to allow humans to do more with the same or fewer resources. Today, this is achieved through the ability to acquire and analyze data more efficiently. We have made great strides on the acquisition side. For example, autonomous, remotely piloted systems allow us to quickly and cost-effectively inspect and survey lands and facilities. This can apply to bridge inspections with UAV and LiDAR sensor data, and the same goes

for facility and base security. In addition, military systems, such as the F35, now operate as data vacuum cleaners, with a wide array of sensors for capturing threat information. However, with the proliferation of sensors and data, defense and security teams risk too much data to process. Consider operators sitting in a control room viewing 30 screens filled with feeds from CCTVs, perimeter security devices and more.

But what if you could embed intelligence into the process? For example, Hexagon’s BLK247 is an intelligent sensor with edge computing capabilities built into the device, so the surveillance professional no longer gets data like video streams, but actionable information in the form of threat alerts. With our single photon LiDAR capabilities, it is now possible to detect drug production facilities in rainforests.

In addition, AI is being used within the geospatial software to detect anomalies in ship movements for maritime security.

Positioning infrastructure, including Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) solutions, is critical for defense.

Lately, GNSS systems have been subject to spoofing. How does Hexagon address this vulnerability?

Hexagon’s prioritization of a secure and assured PNT is demonstrated by our investment in Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS), sensor fusion and anti-jam technologies. We have delivered key positioning technology for WAAS and other SBAS infrastructure that rely on NovAtel Ground Reference and Uplink Receivers, which are critical to the safety of life systems in aviation. As the fusion of GNSS with Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and sensors became an essential component to achieving high accuracy ground truth, we also invested time and energy in learning how INS creates a more robust positioning system. Our NovAtel SPAN GNSS+INS technology couples GNSS and inertial measurements deeply in a way that provides continuous operation and withstands spoofing.

The next step to ensure that safety-of-life systems continue to operate across aviation, defense and mobile mapping is to identify when PNT may be under threat from interference. Hexagon recently March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 21

INTERVIEW

Geospatial is the key to operations, because data needs to be rapidly handed off to support various operations for fast visualization, analysis and decision-making introduced its NovAtel GNSS Resilience and Integrity Technology (GRIT) suite of firmware options for the OEM7 family of GNSS receivers. This solution enables users to identify when spoofing or jamming is occurring, and provides tools to protect a user’s PNT for trusted situation awareness across applications and environments.

Geospatial information provides a foundational layer to data ecosystems, and so, it’s the responsibility of geospatial platform companies to embed encryption and security features into their products. In this context, what unique value proposition does Hexagon’s geospatial platform offer?

Everything starts with an overall 'data lake' vision or a data ecosystem. This is a complete paradigm shift where data is at the center of a system architecture — leaving data at rest while not going through challenging database migrations and data replication efforts. With fewer data replications, there are fewer opportunities for the data to be compromised.

Hexagon is fully invested in this 'data lake' vision, which is ideal for security agencies.

For example, the HxDR provides accurate digital representations of the real world through Cloudbased visualization and collaboration for spatial data and services. Our Luciad Portfolio is the platform of choice for building situational awareness and real-time Location Intelligence solutions drawing from such data. Many defense organizations and suppliers, such as NATO and Airbus, have relied on Luciad technologies for their systems.

We will also be launching a scalable SaaS solution that bridges information and communication gaps, removes data silos and enhances collaboration between diverse roles, organizations and sectors. When it comes to encryption and embedded security, I believe this should be left to the security providers and not necessarily geospatial 22 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

technology players. What is important is that the geospatial platform is architected for optimal safety, and that it functions within an organization’s overall enterprise security environment.

Information enterprises for security agencies have data coming in from several sources in different formats and standards. How do geospatial platforms empower data fusion and integration?

We empower this fusion through the simple process of time stamping each piece of data. In many ways, geospatial is the foundational platform for gathering and analyzing all data. That’s why we have seen a massive adoption of geo-technologies, and they are no longer the exclusive domain of geospatial specialists. Geospatial is the key to operations, because data needs to be rapidly handed off to support various operations for fast visualization, analysis and decision-making.

Therefore, the geospatial industry has also been on the forefront of developing open standards in ways that are unseen in other industries. As a result, geospatial is at the core of today’s information architectures. The concept of “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) has evolved into “Bring Your Own Data”, under which data is ubiquitous.

How do you view the future of geointelligence, and what is Hexagon’s role in shaping the next generation of geointelligence enterprise?

At GEOINT 2017, Robert Cardillo, then Director of the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said the agency would be dealing with 'a million times more data' in five years. In 20 years, the NGA would need to employ eight million analysts to manage the data load. AI and automation can help with this challenge.

Our aim is to continue shaping the future of geospatial intelligence by helping defense and security agencies not only manage the tsunami of data, but easily turn it into actionable information.

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EXPERT OPINION: GEOPOLITICAL TRENDS

The Reverberating Rhythms of Geopolitics Three decades after the first India-US Track 1.5 security dialogue, the macro geopolitical trends have a familiar rhythm, and the principal interlocutors are much the same. However, the big contextual difference is the Covid cross that has scarred the world’s composite security in different ways. By Commodore C Uday Bhaskar (Retd)

I

n reviewing the global geopolitical security trends of the current decade, this author recalls the first India-US Track 1.5 security dialogue with a sense of déjà vu. In late 1990, even as the Cold War was in its last phase, a group of senior Indian officials and members of the strategic community met with their US counterparts at the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla to brainstorm and review the next decade.

The two sides exchanged notes on their major security concerns about certain unfolding regional and global developments, including the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The issues that came up on their radar included — the stability of nuclear deterrence and the safety of weapons of mass destruction; the transmutation in China (a year after Tiananmen); deviant state behavior; religious extremism; and sea-rise related to Climate Change.

Three decades later, the macro geopolitical trends have a familiar rhythm and the principal interlocutors are much the same — the big contextual difference being the Covid cross that has scarred the world’s composite security in different ways.

Change in strategic landscape

The most significant trend is the complex change in the global strategic landscape. Against the 24 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

backdrop of an extraordinary technology-driven transformation of states, society and markets, the US-led western alliance is now having to contend with the rise of Asia in global affairs. Over the next decade, it is expected that China will overtake the US to emerge as the world’s top economy, but it will not be the world’s number one military power. This is an anomalous exigency that can engender disequilibrium.

The US-China relationship became discordant in the Trump years and the tension between the two powers has become more explicit with Biden coming to the White House. The new US President and his top cabinet members have described China as a major threat to US primacy and the principles it upholds, and the trend lines are becoming more visible progressively.

The new contestation of 2021 and beyond will see the US and its allies/partners pitted against the Sino-Russian partnership, with the likelihood of Iran tilting towards China. This, in turn, is predicated on the resolution or lack thereof of the US-Iran imbroglio and will shape the southern Asian regional security canvas in a distinctive manner.

The major capacity challenge for the US is that the European Union is no longer the cohesive political entity it was and, furthermore, in relation to the threat assessment as posed by Moscow and Beijing, the dissonance between Brussels and Washington is all too palpable. Within Asia, both Japan (a formal US military ally) and India (a recently inducted strategic partner) have their contradictions and constraints in rallying behind the US in its evolving response to the challenge represented by the Sino-Russian dyad.

Techno-strategic asymmetry

In this author’s assessment, the outcome of the competition/confrontation between the US-led cluster of democracies and the Sino-Russian communist/authoritarian dyad will be the degree to which new technologies, particularly core ICT and Artificial Intelligence, are harnessed in achieving techno-strategic asymmetry. Here,

Within Asia, both Japan (a formal US military ally) and India (a recently inducted strategic partner) have their contradictions and constraints in rallying behind the US in its evolving response to the challenge represented by the Sino-Russian dyad the emphasis accorded by the Quad leaders (USA, India, Japan, and Australia) at the March 12 summit is instructive. The joint statement at the event asserted: “To strengthen our quest for a region that is open and free, we have agreed to partner to address the challenges presented by new technologies (emphasis added) and collaborate to set the norms and standards that govern the innovations of the future.”

In the latter part of the Cold War, myopic security-strategic and techno-commercial considerations in the US-led western block enabled the dramatic rise of China, despite its communist character, thereby diluting the fidelity of the ideological underpinning of bi-polarity. In that period, Beijing also shifted from the Soviet camp to that of the ‘arch capitalist’, the US — a move that peaked with the implosion of the USSR. Paradoxically, democratic India, which was estranged from the US in the Cold War decades and was more oriented towards the erstwhile USSR by way of a ‘friendship treaty’, is now partnering with the US in a cautious manner — even as Moscow continues to be an ‘indispensable friend’ for New Delhi. The rhythms of realpolitik reverberate through the decades in a discernible manner, but the important question is how astute have the principal practitioners been?

Commodore C Uday Bhaskar (Retd) is India's leading expert on security and strategic affairs. He is Director of the Society for Policy Studies, an independent think-tank based in New Delhi, India.

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 25

EXPERT OPINION: GEO-INTELLIGENCE

Working for and with the GEOINT Community The biggest challenge and the greatest opportunity for the geo-intelligence community is to create value in an open world. By Robert Cardillo

I

am very excited about the future of the geo-intelligence (GEOINT) community. As a former government official, I am trying to help governments, academia and industry become better partners with each other. I am confident the GEOINT community can make an immense contribution in dealing with challenges concerning global security. As our world becomes more interconnected and interdependent, our community can create new value propositions.

Our growth in terms of our capabilities will create a better understanding about what we do as a community, which will lead to more transparency and trust. This trust will then lead to better relationships with other stakeholders.

The US Government is still adjusting its mindset with respect to the broad commercialization of our business, and many of its policies and regulations are outdated. But, the Department of Commerce liberalized the rules for the licensing of Remote Sensing satellites last year.

Now that’s the kind of improvement we need. The biggest challenge and greatest opportunity for the GEOINT community is to create value in an open world. Most of the Government’s experience has been around creating value in a closed and classified world. Connecting with the outside world is more of a process for the Government, and that’s where organizations like the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) can help bridge the gap.

26 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

Removing obstacles through partnership The Government has to realize that if it does not partner with the industry, it will be difficult for both sides to work together. The historic inhibitors and obstacles that the government put in place for companies, especially newer companies that do not have a history of working on classified programs, will leave the latter focusing on commercial opportunities only. I worry about that because the government will end up missing an opportunity.

Ensuring cybersecurity

When I was the Director of NGA, I focused on the question of cybersecurity within the agency and the government community, because I was worried that while we were aware about cyber threats, we weren’t paying enough attention to it. So, we created the Office of Geospatial Intelligence Assurance, whose role was to build partnerships and perform experiments and technical investigations, to address the question of security. There is no final answer; I think this is a concern that we will continue to face because as soon as you feel you have finally ensured the security of your digital network, you are at risk.

In the good old days, you knew that a picture was a picture. You could believe what you saw. Today, we cannot afford to have such a simplistic and outdated view. We have to protect our pixels, and so we have to question the pedigree of those pixels.

What the Government needs is datasets that are verifiable, which means that we are sure that they have been protected. I don’t mean classified, but protected in terms of cybersecurity, so that when the Government uses them, it can be confident that they have not been manipulated.

Exploring the power of emerging tech

Emerging technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Twin will lead to massive realignment of the geo-intelligence sector. We are currently at a stage where we are just scratching the surface of the power of a true Digital Twin, which offers the possibility of better modeling, simulation and testing to evaluate our defense networks. We can make adjustments to make these networks more efficient, so that we can save time and money that can be reallocated.

Emerging technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Twin will lead to massive realignment of the geo-intelligence sector As we truly immerse ourselves into the Digital Twin, I think we have an opportunity to reimagine societal relationships. And I don’t mean just with business, but questions like how inclusive is a society and how equitably does it share wealth. You can’t deal with a problem you don’t understand, and so, I am optimistic that if we can see the inequity we have a chance to do something about it.

We spend time with the community to work on standard and interface definitions, so that the ones and zeros that are at the base of our profession can communicate, collaborate and connect with each other. But that is only a prerequisite and is not sufficient to achieve intelligence integration. So, we hold pilot projects in which we have working groups comprising people from different wings of our profession. This enables them to create a particular outcome, which could be geographic understanding of a part of our planet, or better comprehension of the science of our profession.

Building an integrated community

I am very excited about the opportunity to chair USGIF. The Foundation exists to enable and improve the health of the geospatial intelligence profession, and it does that in a number of ways. USGIF follows an academic approach and works with universities and non-profits to make sure that young talent is spotted and nurtured to join the profession in the future. We believe that the better we connect with our partners, the better outcomes we can all achieve. But there is always a bigger target — to create a more integrated community so that we can all share better outcomes.

Robert Cardillo

Is Chair, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 27

SPECIAL FEATURE: GPS VULNERABILITY

CLEAR AND PRESENT ECONOMIC DANGER Americans depend on GPS. While military dangers are obvious, outages would also cause incalculable damages to the economy.

By Diana Furchtgott-Roth

V

ladimir Putin's Russia brags that his country’s new Pole-21 radio-electronic systems, soon to be installed in Siberia and the Ural Mountains, can spoof America’s Global Positioning System (GPS), which provides positioning, navigation, and timing services through a system of satellites, and is vital to Americans.

Hacking it has never been easier.

28 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

Originally invented for the military, GPS was extended to civilian use by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 after the Russians downed a Korean Air Boeing 747 that had accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 people on board, including Representative Larry McDonald, a Georgia Democrat.

GPS is increasingly open to hacking, as sophisticated technology has become cheaper and more widely available. In 2019, Iran spoofed the navigation system of British tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz.

The ship’s crew thought they were in international waters when they were actually in Iranian territory.

The ship and its crew were held for 10 weeks by Iran.

Damage to GPS systems has in the past, and easily could in the future, come from harm to satellites — hacking and spoofing, as well as interference from activities close to the GPS band.

The economic consequences of each are so large and ubiquitous as to be immeasurable. That is why Congress has requested three separate laws that require the transportation department to put in place backups to GPS. However, Congress has not yet appropriated the funds to do this.

Potential threats to GPS

GPS satellites could be damaged by electromagnetic storms or hostile military action, either of which could eliminate the signals. But even with satellites in place, hacking incidents proliferate, and inexpensive

hardware equipment to do so is easily available online. Today, GPS outages and gaps are real, not hypothetical. The Coast Guard collects reports of gaps in GPS coverage all over the world.

Examples in the last months of 2020 include ships in the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez, surveyors in Bull Lake Dam in Wyoming, and a driver in Seattle.

The accident in the Suez Canal

2020 unanimously granted an application by Ligado Networks, based in Reston, Virginia, to offer a ground-based service in spectrum, much of which is next to spectrum allocated for GPS. Ligado’s signals are 2 billion times as powerful as GPS signals.

Just as an outdoor concert drowns out birds’ songs, the proposed Ligado 5G transmitters

Damage to GPS systems has in the past, and easily could in the future, come from harm to satellites — hacking and spoofing, and interference from activities close to the GPS band. with the Ever Given was not due to GPS spoofing, but many pilots report GPS outages in that region. That accident cost international commerce billions of dollars in delays.

GPS outages are not merely accidental. Criminals hijack trucks, steal cargo and ship stolen vehicles in containers by using GPS jamming to disable tracking devices. Truckers can interrupt port operations by bringing GPS jammers into a port area to defeat fleet tracking systems. Dangers also arise to GPS from federal the spectrum policy. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in April

would overwhelm GPS signals.

Federal government studies indicate major disruption to GPS (see www.gps.gov).

Ligado says it will use the newly allocated spectrum for faster 5G Internet service.

However, Ligado's spectrum is ill-suited to 5G. It is not part of the FCC's comprehensive 5G plan; it is not included by any international 5G standards bodies for 5G; it is not international all harmonized for 5G; and no carrier has expressed an interest in its licenses.

In an unprecedented move, the National Telecommunications March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 29

SPECIAL FEATURE: GPS VULNERABILITY

and Information Administration (NTIA), on behalf of the entire executive branch, asked the FCC to reconsider, citing “irreparable harms to federal government users of the Global Positioning System.”

As part of its approval, the FCC required Ligado to replace the federal equipment that would be damaged through its operations. But Ligado was not required to pay for private sector equipment, such as car navigation systems, surveying equipment, and general aviation navigation devices.

Economic consequences

Aviation

The United States has about 7,600 commercial aircraft. In addition, there are 167,000 general aviation aircraft and 10,000 rotorcraft, as well as 34,200 experimental aircraft.

They use GPS to navigate to and from airports. There are many types of GPS receivers including panel mounted units, handheld units, and now GPS is incorporated even into electronic flight bag systems. Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) GPS receivers require the additional accuracy of WAAS GPS equipment for take-off and landing approaches to airports.

All of these systems are used

Photo Credit: defense.gov

Congress placed the Transportation Secretary in charge of civilian GPS because GPS is vital to transportation. Americans use over 900 million GPS receivers in cell phones, car navigation systems, emergency vehicles, commercial trucks and buses, and railroad operations

(that is nearly three receivers for every man, woman and child in the United States). Over 100 million vehicles have car navigation systems. Ships, planes, and drones use GPS for navigation; trucks use GPS for location services and driver safety.

A security forces airman sends a message from his patrol vehicle at Eglin Air Force Base. The tabletbased communication system in his vehicle quickly provides GPS and data access 30 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

for navigation, charts, and flight information and safety.

This year, pilots experienced a loss of GPS signal approaching Wilmington Airport in North Carolina. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) traced outages to wireless signals from the local utility’s smart grid system. “It is scary to lose your GPS signal just a mile and half from the runway, it is a critical time during the approach,” Thomas Goodwin, Founder of the Wilmington Pilots Association, told me.

Road transportation

Modern emergency responders use GPS, rather than maps, to locate accident sites and to get people speedily to the hospital.

Emergency responders include police, firefighters, and ambulances — both public and private, as well as private services to assist drivers whose vehicles have malfunctioned. Examples are the American Automobile Association, different insurance companies, and auto manufacturers that insure and track their new vehicles with services such as GM’s Onstar and BMW’s BMW Assist. In 2019, the latest year of normal traffic before the pandemic, American drivers lost more than $88 billion due to traffic jams, according to research firm INRIX. Pollution and accidents add additional billions of dollars every year.

Captain John Smith, a member of Tulsa Firefighters Local 176 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, uses GPS to find the fastest route to a fire. He can’t be stuck at a

red light or trapped in a traffic jam when someone’s home is burning. According to Smith, a fire can double in size every two minutes. “If we get stuck behind traffic, it can significantly delay us and give that fire time to grow,” he said.

Over 100 million cars in the United States come with GPS-enabled devices, performing a variety of functions. Navigation systems enable drivers to see where they are going. Telematic systems notify drivers when automotive maintenance has to be performed and alert first responders if a car has broken down. The transportation department estimates that about 8.5 million medium and heavy trucks have GPS. In addition to navigation, GPS receivers in trucks are used for fleet management, driver routing, and electronic logging devices. Electronic logging devices are required to make sure that drivers do not drive for more than a certain number of hours without taking rest breaks.

Electric, hybrid, and autonomous vehicles use GPS to measure battery charge percentage and charging status.

This is especially important for fleets of taxis, buses and trucks, which are the most promising new opportunities for autonomous vehicles. As connected and autonomous vehicles mix with non-automated vehicles, position and timing become increasingly critical. New fuel-saving technology in gasoline-powered vehicles also depends on GPS. When

vehicles switch off at red lights, they are still operating. Sophisticated GPS systems need to be able to distinguish the stopped vehicle at a traffic light from the one that is parked nearby.

Furthermore, electric vehicles and charging stations require

systems and to assess geometry failures in a railroad track. It is used to operate drones used for maintaining tracks and bridges.

Ships are dependent on GPS for navigation. GPS provides information about speed, steering, radar,

The United States has about 7,600 commercial aircraft. In addition, there are 167,000 general aviation aircraft and 10,000 rotorcraft, as well as 34,200 experimental aircraft. They all use GPS to navigate to and from airports.

GPS for navigation. When you are driving down the highway and your battery runs low, you may well need GPS to get to a charging station.

Rail and maritime

GPS is used for both the operation and maintenance of rail systems. Positive train control, which uses GPS, operates on all 58,000 freight and passenger routes, including Amtrak and commuter rail. Required by Congress, the new technology stops trains from crashing into each other, speeding, accidentally going into work zones, and entering no-go track zones through switches left in the wrong positions. In addition, GPS is used both to test for broken rails in conjunction with laser

electronic charts, the Electronic Chart Display Information System, and under keel clearance data to prevent ships running aground.

Ships’ automatic identification system incorporates receivers and allows port and marine authorities to track locations of different vessels. VHS radio communications allow ships’ crews to communicate directly by voice.

Infrastructure

Geospatial technologies, which use GPS, have revolutionized surveying and construction.

Surveyors use these new technologies to take measures that are beyond line of sight, either from survey stations, or by carrying GPS devices in backpacks. GPS is particularly important in measurements of March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 31

SPECIAL FEATURE: GPS VULNERABILITY

coasts, remote mountain areas, and waterways, which have fewer reference points.

Construction companies use 3D laser scanning, mobile mapping, remote sensing, and tunneling. Digital blueprints can guide the locations of studs and nails, reducing errors and repeat work. GPS digital construction lowers the cost of building new highways and makes federal infrastructure dollars go further.

Electric power plants rely on GPS technology to synchronize generators and distribute energy to the grid. To prevent blackouts, electric utility operators use GPS timing services for synchronizing their generators with the grid. Only with such synchronization can utilities incorporate power from wind, solar and traditional sources.

Monitoring devices rely on timing signals from GPS to provide power to different places on the grid.

Photo Credit: John Deere & NASA

GPS-enabled tractors made by John Deere and others reduce the amount of added water and fertilizers by treating individual seeds in precise locations. Precision agriculture uses GPS technology to place seeds in precise locations. Then, these seeds can be fertilized, watered, and sprayed with insecticide, reducing the use of these products. Drones can work during fog and darkness to perform these tasks.

In July 2020, 27 representatives from the House Agriculture Committee wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to reconsider allowing Ligado Networks LLC to operate a terrestrial network.

The committee members wrote, “During planting season, if GPS were interrupted, the economic impact to the agriculture sector could amount to losses of $15 billion due to lower crop yields.”

John Deere’s StarFire GPS receivers used NASA’s global network of ground stations and the JPL software. Accurate GPS helps farmers manage their fields, for example enabling more accurate observations and crop mapping 32 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

Climate Change

GPS has become the basis for measuring Climate Change, and interference with GPS will affect scientists’ ability to determine how the climate is changing.

University of California at San Diego scientist Susheel Adusumill, lead author of a study on the measurement of ice mass in West Antarctica, said that GPS was vital to his work on the relation between snowfall and ice mass. “Without GPS, the satellites wouldn’t have given us the right answer.”

With GPS radio occultation, terrestrial weather is fed into Climate Change models to improve their accuracy. This technique is the lynchpin of weather forecasts, and any interference with GPS will devastate that technique. GPS radio occultation calculates pressure, temperature, and water vapor in the lower atmosphere. At altitudes below 10 kilometers, it can measure the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. Between 10 and 30 kilometers above the Earth, it can measure temperature altitude profiles. Between 30 and 50 kilometers up, it can measure density and pressure.

Reflectometry, another GPS-based technique, measures changes in snowfall over the US, vegetation in the Amazon and ice coverage at the poles, soil moisture, and sea surface roughness and height. A lot of climate monitoring is done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA), and interference with GPS would limit its ability to perform studies.

Solutions

When the first computers were invented, no one saw a need for the now-ubiquitous anti-virus software. Similarly, GPS was free from hacking in its early days, but now lawmakers realize that protection is needed. Three separate laws, most recently the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, tasked the transportation department with providing a backup to GPS. The LoBiondo Act required the Secretary to put in place a backup system for GPS by the end of 2020, subject to Congressional appropriations.

A report describing different technologies to back up GPS capability was published by the transportation department in January.

Although no funds from Congress have been appropriated, DOT’s new report lays out a roadmap.

DOT meticulously tested 11 different technologies that could be used in the absence of GPS signals, including terrestrial radio signals, fiber networks for timing, Iridium satellites for encrypted signals (which would be damaged

by Ligado transmitters), and Wi-Fi and cell signals for localization. The report concluded that a variety of technologies should be used to complement GPS due to multiple landscapes. Longrange broadcast beacons situated on buildings or telephone poles

M A P

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M O D E L

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perform well in cities, and low Earth orbit satellites do better in rural and maritime areas.

In addition, President Joe Biden should ask the FCC to reconsider approval of Ligado’s petition for a ground-based network close to the GPS band of spectrum. Americans depend on GPS. Outages could cause incalculable damages to the economy.

Waiting for it to fail, or for hostile powers to spoof it, is waiting until it is too late.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth

Is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, Department of Transportation; and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University.

M A N A G E

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INTERVIEW

GEOINT WILL BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL FOR A COUNTRY Strides in visualization technologies enable us to visualize remote geospatial data and compute progress of works and threats, and provide timely mitigative measures, says Sajid Mukhtar, Chairman & Managing Director, Roter Group of Companies, in an interview with Geospatial World.

Space 4.0, which is closely intertwined with 4IR, is going to shape the future of Earth Observation. How are modern technologies like AI, Digital Twin, Big Data influencing the geointelligence community?

Space 4.0, a joint work of various governments, private bodies, society and politics, is going to enable geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to be applied to a wide variety of fields and help solve problems.

Advances in remote geospatial sensors and major strides in in computing capabilities are already being harnessed in data analytics and Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality technologies.

Add ability to transfer data at lightning speeds and we would be having face to face communication in a virtual world with no pandemic bringing us to a halt.

With the increasing global geopolitical tension, how do you view the potential of geospatial services 34 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

and applications in the GEOINT sector?

For years the geospatial industry has been involved in planning, collection, processing and disseminating spatial data to provide intelligence about the national security and the operational environment. Technological advancements have made it possible to add time based data so that historical and current data can be visualized and intelligent projections can be made.

Strides in visualization technologies enable us to visualize the remote geospatial data and compute progress of works and threats, and provide timely mitigative measures.

How is the UAV technology transforming the geospatial industry?

With advancements in information technology and the advent of cheaper and smaller sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have

become the ‘go to’ solution for all surveyors and mappers. Better integration with various payloads and the ease-of-use options offered by UAVs have started revolutionizing the way geospatial data is collected in many countries.

In the field of Remote Sensing, UAVs are helping to rapidly replace traditional surveying and conventional aerial photography by providing accurate survey data and high spatial resolution aerial images (orthophotos) of the area of interest. Compared to manned aircraft, which are used in conventional photography, UAVs are cheaper to acquire and operate, and produce similar or better spatial resolution images. For now, the UAV technology is only restricted by its flight time or

endurance. With imminent innovation in battery technology and sensors, this disadvantage will cease to be relevant.

There is a need for India to expand its use and manufacture of UAVs. Do you think collaboration between the industry and the defense forces can make that happen?

Frankly, the recreational and commercial UAV design, development and manufacturing process is now very mature, and the production line is being automated. India was lagging behind because of the lack of clear guideline in manufacturing, ownership and use of UAVs. But with the proactive policy of the government in the last few years, the environment is changing.

Instead of focussing on reinventing the wheel, we should learn from the leaders to manufacture the same and apply our technical prowess to improve the current UAV technology, apply it in new fields, improve upon the payloads, make it safer, make it greener, etc.

Sometimes with all the media attention that we get, we forget that this is a vehicle and the miracle happens with the sensors mounted on it. The use and application of sensors is a different field than the vehicle that carries it. With our resources in mathematics and software skills, we should invest in adding to the miracle — AI to make the best use of this technology is just one of it.

Better integration with various payloads and the ease-of-use options offered by UAVs have started revolutionizing the way geospatial data is collected in many countries Roter Group is a very unique company offering surveying solutions and services through its own portfolio and partner network. How does Roter’s comprehensive capabilities help its customers?

As a group, we have always been committed to serving the surveying and mapping industry with our equipment, software and services.

Since the times of my grandfather (way back in 1936), we manufactured instruments as import substitute used in construction of the Ganga Canal.

Later my father introduced opto-mechanical instruments for surveying and then I had the opportunity of introducing opto-electronic, GNSS and LiDAR instruments and building strong software solutions around various applications. Now I see my son, who is the fourth generation, going a step ahead in large scale surveying and mapping by introducing state of the art UAVs. We finally completed 360⁰ surveying dream (land, air and underground) like no other company in the world.

When it comes to service, we provide specialized services like

making 3D models of vehicle test tracks that are accurate to sub-millimeter levels that help the automobile industry to develop safer vehicles and lower prototype cycles. One of our achievements was to map the cavity formed in the Himalayas during a tunnelling work that had stopped the project for a couple of years.

How do you foresee the future of GEOINT?

With big strides in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, the demand for data is going to shift from periodic data acquisition to continual acquisition. We are moving from the traditional information technology to an era in which information is provided at the point of need. With the opening up of the geospatial industry and Space 4.0, there is soon going to be a demand for miniature and nano satellites that cater to specific requirements.

GEOINT is going to be one of the greatest collaborations of various technologies and would make neighbours of those living on the other side of our celestial ball.

India, with its vast technical resource, is poised to be one of the primary suppliers of these services and has a great chance to lead on this road, and become a 'Vishwa Guru'.

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 35

INTERVIEW

Smallsats for Resilience, Connectivity and Insight The smallsat segment will develop as a robust, affordable and pervasive architecture that can easily scale to address a wide range of human needs, says Alex Fox, Executive Vice President, HawkEye 360.

By Meenal Dhande Can you tell us a bit about HawkEye 360 in terms of the sectors it serves and the expansion plans?

HawkEye 360 is a leading commercial provider of Space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics. We use satellites flying in formation to detect, characterize and geolocate a broad range of RF signals. We primarily serve the defense, intelligence and homeland security sectors, and are working to expand into commercial shipping, insurance and communications markets. This expansion goes hand-in-hand with the growth of our satellite constellation and capabilities. We recently commissioned our first next-generation satellite cluster called ‘Cluster 2’, which has vastly superior collection capacity, RF frequency coverage and geolocation accuracy.

The smallsat segment offers flexible services through advanced data analysis and downlinks. How does HawkEye 360 provide the fastest services to its customers?

There are three key areas of focus — innovation, integration and capacity. We have the ability to quickly integrate proven, leading-edge technologies to meet customers’ needs. For defense and intelligence clients, timely, shareable, accurate tactical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) is essential to their day-to-day activities. The threat environment is continually evolving and they need the ability to deliver new capability in 36 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

months, not years. HawkEye 360 has, and continues to show how we can rapidly innovate and deliver new capabilities affordably and reliably.

We are integrating our products and services into existing client workflows. Many clients have tools and it is important for them to have a common trusted platform for their integrated intelligence needs. They need to operate the way they are trained; then need to focus on the mission and not the application.

Through the recent launch of Cluster 2 and through more next-generation satellite launches planned over the coming months, we are expanding our capacity to meet a wide range of requirements across the RF spectrum. This includes near persistent coverage over any area of the world, timely delivery of our data and analytics, and growing our signal library and product offerings based on the ongoing needs of our clients.

INTERVIEW

How do you think the smallsat segment and its services will develop in the coming years?

This segment will develop as a robust, affordable and pervasive architecture that can easily scale to address a wide range of markets. For example, we saw the shift from using mainframes to affordable clustered PCs as a new way to address the exponential growth needed for information systems to support an always-connected world in a high transaction environment. Smallsats offer a platform for expanding reach to every geography on the planet affordably and for a wide range of solutions. Smallsats and their associated support systems will become a pivotal layer of our global architecture and provide the resilience, connectivity and insights to connect, protect and enrich our lives.

Can you tell us about RF Data Explorer and Mission Space, and how will they benefit the geo-intelligence community?

Mission Space is the first commercial platform purpose-built to facilitate the analysis of HawkEye 360’s RF geospatial intelligence. It operates in the Amazon Cloud, providing clients with the ability to visualize and identify patterns of life. Automated alerts are issued based on patterns and events important to our clients. Mission Space is the primary platform for providing clients access to our products and services as well as integrating non-HawkEye 360 intelligence sources into the visualization and analytics process. Because of its ease of use and purpose build functionality, it will accelerate user adoption of commercial RF geo-intelligence (GEOINT) across the global defense, intelligence, commercial and humanitarian sectors.

The threat environment is continually evolving, and the defense and intelligence clients need the ability to deliver new capability in months, not years

For RF Data Explorer, we partnered with Esri to create an add-in for ArcGIS Pro. We co-developed RF Data Explorer to make it easy for Esri’s large userbase to access and integrate HawkEye 360 content into their existing workflows. This integration alongside other types of intelligence data provides a powerful capability to bring together multi-source data and analysis for more effective identification and understanding of key patterns of life. We believe this layer of RF intelligence is critical for understanding the environment and for using other types of satellites effectively. For example, our satellites can look at an area of view between 2,500-4,000 square kilometres, whereas other small satellites have a very small footprint. This makes HawkEye 360’s data extremely valuable for tip-and-cue strategies — quickly finding areas of unknown activity within a large area.

38 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

What is the role of GEOINT in the new Space race?

GEOINT is all about awareness of our environment, so that we can anticipate, understand and react to important changes in a responsive manner. The new Space race involves providing affordable, effective Space-based platforms that can collect and analyze our environment to enable proactive responses needed to achieve targeted outcomes. HawkEye 360 is a key part of the NewSpace ecosystem because we deliver a new layer of GEOINT that detects, characterizes and locates signals across land, air, sea and Space.

Our satellites can listen for signals across large areas and use this information to tip and cue collections by other satellites and systems which have limited area collections, such as imaging satellites. For example, we recently used our maritime data to detect the Chinese fishing fleet infringing on an exclusive economic zone near the Galapagos Islands. Without having the fleet’s geolocation, the chance of detecting this activity (or any mobile, unknown activity) using an imaging satellite is very small. Radio Frequency (RF) detection, characterization and geolocation (RF GEOINT) are key layers of the new Space race.

CASE STUDY

data. The exponential increase in its availability in the recent past has made it a powerful tool for intelligence gathering.

In September 2020, following a mysterious explosion at Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced the construction of a new underground nuclear facility. The announcement triggered a race among GEOINT analysts to uncover the whereabouts of the new facility.

The challenge

According to experts, the global, daily visibility offered by satellite imagery is having an impact on the behavior of countries, especially with regard to high-interest activities, which could be viewed as security threats by other nations.

A PICTURE WORTH THOUSAND WORDS Planet data helped analysts uncover underground nuclear facilities in Iran.

W

ith a major shift in global geopolitics in the last few years, the significance of modern-day technology in gathering accurate and actionable intelligence has increased

significantly. An example of this is satellite imagery, which provides the power of visualization in real time. For years, satellite imagery has been used by the geo-intelligence (GEOINT) community to gather relevant

Geo-intelligence analysts routinely study and analyze numerous activities related to security risks. But how do they analyze activities that are performed covertly?

The requirement

Following the explosion at the Natanz nuclear complex, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis and his team from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) were keen to learn more about the development of the new plant. MIIS specializes in analyzing pressing geopolitical issues, such as the development of nuclear capabilities in regions of high interest. In addition to March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 39

using open source intelligence, the institute relies on satellite imagery to understand patterns of life and detect and monitor ongoing changes on the ground.

To gain a full understanding of the development of the construction, high frequency, high-resolution tasking imagery was required.

The solution

Planet’s solutions for the defense and intelligence sector offer unique capabilities, such as “always-on monitoring”, with rapid tasking to provide visibility into global events at the speed in which they develop.

Daily cadence of Planet imagery helps to understand patterns and identify deviations from normal activity.

As soon as the announcement of a new nuclear facility was made, using daily satellite imagery from Planet’s Dove constellation, Dr. Lewis’ team tracked early indicators of construction near Natanz. After obtaining the first indication of anomalies with PlanetScope, Dr. Lewis used Planet SkySat 40 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

for a high resolution image of the suspected construction. The SkySat image showed a new construction area to the left of Natanz. It appeared that new roads were being built into the mountains, potentially for an underground facility. This is an excellent example of the power of tip and cue workflows in defense and intelligence. Both Planet’s medium- and high-resolution constellations played a key role in monitoring and reporting

on changes at the site.

The benefits

High cadence satellite imagery can play a crucial role in providing greater transparency into happenings around the world. In this case, Planet data helped identify the location of the new facility in the initial days of the construction. This meant comprehensive monitoring without any room for speculation.

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ARTICLE: COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

3D Geospatial for Defense Spectrum Management As the world becomes ever more connected, the communication infrastructure is critical. Effective spectrum management and network planning are vital for mission-critical safety communication users.

By Pavan Kumar

A

communication network is the backbone of any military operation.

All military branches — the Air Force, Army, Navy, etc. — are assigned substantial ranges of radio frequency bands or have permanent access to radio frequencies to meet their missions. A solid command and control system depends on control, surveillance, reconnais-

sance and reporting systems. The requirements for these systems can only be met with the use of radio systems. Further, defense agencies rely on electromagnetic radiation for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) applications, such as missile early warning and signals intelligence.

However, with the explosion of wireless devices, the detection

and classification of signals in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum is a growing concern. The technology is running fast and has brought a wide variety of user services. And not every user is a friend. Potential adversaries have weapon systems, particularly electronic warfare (EW) platforms, designed to challenge a country’s ability to use the spectrum effectively. The increasing demands of wireless systems also impose requirements on the spectrum regulator. This is where the role and value of an efficient spectrum management and monitoring system come in.

Spectrum management and monitoring system

Technical analysis, frequency administration, international and national coordination, and resolving interference issues of the spectrum require a capable, multi-service system. An effective spectrum management and monitoring system should be comprehensive, providing all the capabilities to control the valuable radio spectrum assets of the defense forces.

The system supports defense forces at a central level with strategic, long-term spectrum management. It aids in the design and procurement of new techniques and frequency management. The hierarchical frequency management process from the long-term planning at the central level down to the short-term needs at tactical level is one of its many potentials.

Network planning through 3D geospatial 3D radar coverage volume 42 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

Effective terrestrial radio communication for defense (Air Force, Army,

Going forward, the demand for tools giving a flexible capability to handle technical analysis of coverage, interference and optimization of the spectrum utilization will only increase

Dynamic satellite footprint calculation

and Navy) applications in rugged terrain and EW threats give rise to exceptional demands concerning reliability and durability. Altair WRAP offers the analysis and computational tools required for all applications to meet these demands. WRAP is a country-level 3D geospatial information and spectrum management system.

The basic input for WRAP comes from maps, i.e. GIS and topographical databases and on top of these datasets 3D modeling takes place. It does the entire radio network planning — where to have transmitters, receivers, etc.

It assist in frequency allocation within the available band and based on the allocations it starts tracking, for example, a military vehicle.

Radar coverage

WRAP’s radar coverage feature is useful, especially on the border areas having ground based radar.

GIS and Clutter (unwanted reflections from terrain and sea) can be included. The detailed geodata gives better results — height, elevation, terrain and many other

parameters can be checked.

WRAP helps in detecting blind spots as well as targets (given altitude) with Radar Cross Section of 100m2, 10m2, and 1m2. Line-ofsight coverage for optical sensor systems along with the range for radio sensors such as direction finders and surveillance receivers can be calculated. The impact of jamming on the radio communication coverage can also be analyzed.

Satellite communication

Satellite communications generally use multiple frequency bands to transmit data more quickly, enabling long-distance transmissions. WRAP, a comprehensive software tool, has the functionality for most computational and analysis requirements within radio communications and data transfer in a vast frequency spectrum. Footprints from satellites on the Earth’s surface can be calculated to determine coordination areas. Earth and terrestrial stations radiating towards the geostationary orbit can be analyzed for potential interference to satellites.

Other satellite interference in military communication can be fatal for missions. WRAP calculates the equivalent noise increase in receivers in satellite networks due to interference from other satellite networks. It calculates interference between Space services and terrestrial services, coordination contours (often power flux density) for satellite emissions, and interference in Space from terrestrial stations (for instance, along the geostationary orbit).

As the world becomes ever more connected, the communication infrastructure is critical, be it terrestrial or Space. Effective spectrum management and network planning are vital for mission-critical safety communication users. Going forward, the demand for tools giving a flexible capability to handle technical analysis of coverage, interference and optimization of the spectrum utilization will only increase.

Pavan Kumar Is Senior Vice President, Global Indirect Business at Altair Engineering March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 43

ARTICLE: D&I SOLUTIONS

It Starts with a Good Defense (and Intelligence) The technology and solutions that the D&I community spearheads provide value to several other domains, such as aviation, emergency management and response, smart cities, telecommunications, transport and logistics, among others. By Melisa Harder

D

efense and Intelligence (D&I) as a domain has long been evolving as a leading force in technological innovation. This is because the technology and solutions that the D&I community spearheads not only allow collaborative ways to share, extract, store and grow data, but also provide value to several other domains, such as aviation, emergency management and response, smart cities, telecommunications, transport and logistics, among others.

There is a long history of innovative technologies being developed across the D&I domain that go beyond operations and into our everyday lives. For instance, superglue and microwaves to

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canned food and digital cameras.

Even the Internet, which is the cornerstone of modern society, was brought to the world via D&I. Great strides in the D&I community have brought a similar, cyclical trend concerning location-based technologies. 2D maps on traditional paper have evolved to modern 3D data visualization through digital twins, optimized use of the Cloud, and much more to help better inform the D&I community. These developments have led to benefits for other domains like agriculture, Space and smart cities.

Within the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), we have been able to harness the community behind several standards

and other R&D developments, starting with sponsorship from organizations inside of the D&I community, and subsequently applied for broader use: GeoPackage – a portable database for sharing and displaying geospatial data that is optimized for use on mobile mapping systems.

What started out as a way to deliver geospatial data to troops in remote locations is now guiding first responders, humanitarian efforts and hikers as they make their way through areas with limited to no mobile/cell coverage.

CDB – a standardized model and structure for a single, ‘versionable’, virtual representation of the Earth. This Standard has become well-integrated with

numerous other use cases and is even being adapted to work with gaming engines.

Moving features — allows for the consistent tracking of moving objects as seen from Space or other remote sensors. This OGC standard allows transportation authorities to automatically identify an accident/traffic jam, including its density, and plan a response accordingly.

Multi-sensor integration – brings together multiple sources of sensor data, such as remote imagery, data from sensors and other geospatial datasets to gain a more comprehensive picture.

Protocol optimization – was developed so that if a soldier has a limited bandwidth data connection, he can still receive the required data without compromising on security. These host of technologies like Cloud service security and standard streaming are now used by anyone with a smartphone and a mapping application.

Additionally, the D&I community is known for leveraging, exploring and building on innovations developed outside the community, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, modeling and simulation, and cloud computing and security. These technologies have the ability to enable collaboration between departments, agencies, organizations, countries and domains, so that the world can become location data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable).

2D maps on traditional paper have evolved to modern 3D data visualization through digital twins, optimized use of the Cloud, and much more to help better inform the D&I community GEOINTEROP: Enabling collaboration in D&I

Within OGC, the D&I working group has been working to enable collaboration through the development of a Commercial GEOINT Interoperability Reference Architecture (GEOINTEROP) in the form of an official community practice document and accompanying resources. Its ultimate vision is the complete integration of a nation’s imagery and geospatial capabilities to provide intelligence and information. The underlying concept of “complete integration” is an underpinning principle that applies not only to the D&I community, but to all communities with an interest in location.

The goal of the GEOINTEROP Reference Architecture is to provide an optimum combination of specific industry and “de jure” standards that can be employed by technology or service providers to promote rapid mobilization and/or integration with GEOINT applications, systems and enterprises.

Collaboration beyond D&I It’s the collaboration between a diverse number of domains and communities that makes OGC such a useful membership organization. We see

‘interoperability’ as more than just the interweaving of systems — it’s as much about the interweaving of communities.

Communities within OGC bring their geospatial problems to our working groups, Innovation program and member meetings to collaborate with the best minds in the business to work on their solution. After a standardized solution is developed in the open, with many different collaborators offering their expertise and insight, the solution can be designed in such a way so that it benefits the community as a whole We continue to work with our D&I partners to generate solutions to their location problems, while also connecting them to other areas in the marketplace where ideas and expertise can be exchanged. This has ranged from R&D initiatives with new technologies to revolutionary global standards. By closely involving D&I in an open, consensus-based standards development process, we are making sure that the fruits of this labour can be enjoyed by anyone.

Melisa Harder Is Director of Business Development at Open Geospatial Consortium

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 45

ARTICLE: GEOSPATIAL INSIGHTS

CAPTURING REAL-TIME ECHOES OF EARTH’S HEARTBEAT Real-time persistent global monitoring enables defense and intelligence organizations to receive first-to-know insights that can be used for critical, mission-specific decision-making.

By Brian E. O’Toole Using high-revisit satellite imagery, BlackSky’s Spectra AI has detected the utilization of major facilities at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Parking spaces shown in green are rarely used, while red indicates frequent occupancy. BlackSky customers can also understand inflow/outflow of cargo and monitor airline maintenance activity

W

ith rapidly changing economics and evolving technologies, real-time geospatial insights have become an affordable reality. In fact, 60-minute average revisit rate and 90-minute average product delivery are almost here. Global monitoring can provide patternof-life intelligence beyond what has been possible with traditional image collection. Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques make it possible to process millions of observations daily from Space, air, environmental sensors, asset tracking sensors, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Internet-enabled narrative sources to automatically deliver situational awareness within minutes of an alert or an event.

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Real-time persistent global monitoring enables defense and intelligence organizations to receive first-to-know insights that can be used for critical, mission-specific decision-making, which can have far-reaching implications.

The process of convergence of significant foundational elements to move geospatial capabilities forward has already started.

This convergence of geospatial information, using a network of sensors, signals and predictive analytics, is the basis of BlackSky’s Spectra AI platform.

It provides deep levels of awareness for a constantly changing world. The company’s satellite constellation offers advanced tasking and a high revisit rate that provides enhanced situational awareness and enables

monitoring for pattern-of-life incongruities, which can impact missions and decisions.

Persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

BlackSky is already harnessing the power of unique geospatial information through its work with several defense and intelligence organizations and programs.

Under the AFWERX Persistent ISR Challenge, we aim to create a comprehensive Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) system that covers the entire globe. The US Air Force and Department of Defense are using end-to-end persistent ISR monitoring solutions to support their find, fix, track and assess missions. In these missions, the global monitoring and intelli-

gence solutions are aligned to the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) architecture for in-theater, near real-time situational insights. Using the imaging constellation and Cloud-based Spectra AI platform, which incorporates object detection and change detection, the time from data collection to decision point is decreased remarkably.

Another significant inflection point is the acceleration of the Department of Defense’s ability to leverage low-cost, high-performance, small-imaging satellites to inform future operational systems. The tactical ISR missions have led to the development of a critical concept of operations (CONOPS), including tactics, techniques and procedures.

Critical infrastructure and construction monitoring

Tracking construction and infrastructure events is another area where geospatial insights can be useful for defense and intelligence organizations.

Technological innovation moves forward with the aim to automate the quantitative AI and ML analysis of Space-based imagery to perform broad-area searches for natural and man-made events using time-series imagery. The Spectra AI platform can develop a responsive system that can automatically monitor large-scale construction of critical infrastructure, such as military bases, ports, dams and airports.

Further, the platform can be used for site monitoring and global intelligence. Specifically,

Though we don’t know what the next crisis will be, geospatial intelligence will play an essential role in monitoring the situation and measuring its impact it examines the pattern-of-life activity at these types of landmarks to understand the flow of traffic and recognize general activities. This can be a valuable way to monitor how these sites are being used, the patterns of usage and the way that infrastructure may be impacting other environmental factors or neighboring structures.

Crisis response and supply chain security

To assist with pandemic recovery efforts, we monitor the efficacy of global COVID-19 mitigation efforts at overseas US military bases for the US Air Force — a concept that will continue to evolve. Leveraging Spectra AI and its predictive decision-making can help protect critical supply chains and ensure the protection of deployed personnel.

The pandemic has underscored the importance of having rapid access to data and analytics during a global crisis. Having first-to-know insights provides an opportunity to make more informed decisions and respond with a deeper level of understanding and context. Though we don’t know what the next crisis will be, geospatial intelligence will play an essential role in monitoring the situation and measuring its impact.

The demand for real-time intelligence is growing in a number of areas, such as tactical defense, land use monitoring, for gathering humanitarian information and understanding industrial and environmental changes. It has become a nexus for various sources of geospatial data and AI and ML analytics that fuel technology platforms driving a dramatic paradigm shift. This shift will usher in a new era of near real-time capture of anomalies, change and transition that can impact and influence the daily life around the world.

Going forward, contributors in the defense and intelligence arena will need to demonstrate the ability to rapidly innovate, while delivering first-to-know insights and on-demand intelligence. As these organizations discover the value of real-time geospatial insights, it is becoming a must-have decision-making resource. This resource is one that the geospatial intelligence industry will continue to push, with a mission of leveraging technologies and solutions towards a future of nearly endless possibilities.

Brian E. O’Toole Is CEO at BlackSky

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 47

ARTICLE: HYBRID THREATS

Geospatial Information to Tackle Hybrid Threats Geospatial information systems help in making informed decisions that are built on accurate information by way of drawing maps and visualizing data to clearly judge which option is the best for that particular situation. By Dr. Josef Schroefl

H

ybrid threats can be simply defined as strategies in which attackers bank initially on a combination of propaganda in the media and social networks until relying on classic warfare.

The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) characterizes hybrid threat as: • Coordinated and synchronized action that deliberately targets democratic states and institutions’ systemic vulnerabilities through a wide range of means • Activities that exploit the thresholds of detection and attribution, as well as the different interfaces (war-peace, internal-external security, local-state and national-international).

• Activities aimed at influencing different forms of decision-making at the local (regional), state, or institutional level, and designed to further and/or fulfill the agent’s strategic goals while undermining and/or hurting the target.

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The attribution problem

Attribution is one of the biggest problems when it comes to cyber or hybrid activity. Often, states use criminals or third-party groups in sabotage and subversion activities, making tracing difficult. Overall, threat actor sophistication has been seen to have increased in the past year, making detection and attribution more difficult. When we look at the six Ws of any piece of information: who, what, when, where, why, what for, and also ask how, we quickly see that one of the most important parts of any information is the ‘where’.

The people planning hybrid threats mostly use intelligence in two principal ways. They either employ their own intelligence capabilities to support planned or ongoing hybrid threat activities, or make attempts to affect the target state’s intelligence operations. In both cases, the actors seek to undermine the target state’s capability to develop and

maintain situational awareness.

This is exactly where geospatial information is highly required.

The US defines geospatial intelligence as “the intelligence about the human activity on Earth, derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information that describes, assesses, and visually depicts physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth”. Therefore, high-quality strategic information is necessary for well-founded decision-making in order to uncover hybrid activities. By recognizing the possibility of a hybrid attack by an opponent, the summary of the intelligence not only offers a potentially decisive defense capability, but also forces the attacker to react quickly.

Furthermore, there is a high chance that the opposing side will refrain from the attack if it fears that the threat has already been discovered.

Hybrid threat scenario

The scenario description of hybrid influencing can be roughly divided into three phases.

PHASE 1 — Preparation: This phase begins in times of deepest peace, can extend over years, and is characterized by blurring traditional dichotomies and creating ambiguities. Individuals and societies have an inherent preference for thinking in dichotomies (truth/lie, friend/enemy, etc.) and our decision-making is largely based on this way of thinking.

However, ambiguities hinder decision-making at individual and collective levels by creating confusion and distrust. Through well-coordinated disinformation campaigns, the aggressor causes ambiguities that impair judgment and trust in political or social actors and institutions.

Basic knowledge and verification of truthfulness of statements takes a back seat. Being "under the radar" as much as possible so as not to be recognized and to obscure the targets is one of the characteristics of hybrid activities in this phase.

PHASE 2 — Destabilization: This phase is characterized by further undermining public confidence in democratic institutions, manipulating democratic decision-making, questioning basic values of the society. It goes up to attacks against strategic infrastructures, as well as impairing the decision-making ability of the political leadership. The basic tenets of Western societies and democratic decision-making, such as freedom, rule of law,

This graphic illustrates that at the beginning of hybrid influencing, the aggressor is unknown. But as the attacks continue, the target and nature of the attacker becomes clear

equality, individualism, openness and tolerance are manipulated in order to endanger these values.

While in phase 1 the aggressor tries everything to disguise himself and his goals, in phase 2, the fog of anonymity around the attacker and his goals is cleared.

PHASE 3 — Violent clashes up to war: The presumptive opponent in this phase is looking at escalation of violence. While all tactics of the hybridization of phase 1-2 continue, the state crisis can develop in this phase from regionally limited civil clashes to an open armed conflict/war. The worstcase scenario occurs if the armed groups use weapons of mass destruction to pursue their targets and/or a comprehensive destruction of the critical infrastructure with a comprehensive blackout.

Perceiving, preventing threat

Hybrid threats, supported by geospatial information systems (GIS), initially target intangible assets and develop into attacks on the sovereignty of states — with far-reaching economic, political and social impacts. Many options for hybrid influencing on states/ societies, such as long-term and large-scale industrial and financial manipulations, are currently barely perceived in the context of

hybrid threats, but could drastically change the geostrategic balance of power. If a country is sufficiently resilient, or is using geo-intelligence, it can detect the possibility of a hybrid attack and can prevent the same. As the worst-case scenario means a comprehensive blackout along with armed conflicts, a coordinated use of all government instruments, including the armed forces, is required to avert such a possibility.

In the case of hybrid threats, internal and external security are closely linked, and the attacks often occur where they overlap.

Cyber threats in a hybrid threat strategy are the power of the weak, and when effectively used and even supported by GIS, can give significant advantages to the weaker side, as well as create a future conflict potential where military instruments are also deployed. Therefore, geospatial information systems help in making informed decisions that are built on accurate information by way of drawing maps and visualizing data to clearly judge which option is the best for that particular situation.

Dr. Josef Schroefl

Is Deputy Director, COI Strategy and Defense at European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 49

INTERVIEW

SAR Data Offers Unique Opportunity for GEOINT Sector We are approaching a point where the GEOINT community will begin to understand historical and ongoing trends and anomalies on a global scale with higher levels of reliability, regardless of cloud coverage or time of day, says Payam Banazadeh, CEO & Founder, Capella Space, in an interview with Geospatial World.

Space 4.0 is intertwined with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and is going to shape the future of Earth Observation. How modern technologies like, Digital Twin, AI, will drive the Space industry, and impact the GEOINT sector?

Ten years ago, satellite imagery was a relatively scarce resource that was limited to the domain of large government agencies and a few companies with large satellites. In only a few years, this dynamic has changed. Today, it’s possible to view, analyze and disseminate geospatial intelligence based on millions of images of our Earth and make better decisions impacting our physical, social and economic well-being. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will make it possible for analysis to keep up with the pace of data creation and guide experts on when and where to look.

Earlier, this phenomenon was mostly limited to the domain of optical imagery, but cloud cover and limited night-time visibility meant that we could only have a “partial Digital Twin” of our planet.

The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) segment is seeing a massive increase 50 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

in the number of high resolution, high revisit sensors that are capable of 24/7 all-weather monitoring. We are approaching the point where the GEOINT community will begin to understand the historical and ongoing trends and anomalies on a global scale with higher levels of reliability, regardless of cloud coverage or time of day.

Geospatial information and near realtime change detection analysis are particularly crucial for intelligence agencies. In terms of unique value proposition, what does Capella Space offer to defense and intelligence agencies?

We offer customers on-demand, self-serve tasking and delivery through our online Capella Console, so that our customers are directly tasking and steering the satellites themselves — without delays and security risks posed by middlemen. This is a first for the SAR segment.

Our imagery is unmatched, as the 50 cm x 50 cm resolution that we offer is twice as

high as anything available previously. SAR images have typically been difficult for visual analysis due to noise and speckles, but Capella’s unique, long dwell Spot mode allows for better image clarity.

The low speckle is a function of Capella’s satellites focusing on an area of interest for as long as 60 seconds, which is an order of magnitude larger than what has traditionally been available. That means detecting granular features and objects like various classes of vehicles, aircraft and vessels that are of interest to our customers. In our first light imagery from our most recent launch, we were able to spot the fins on Russian submarines.

Latency, often referred to as the “other enemy on the battlefield”, is a major concern for defence forces. How can this issue be addressed?

We are designing systems that can be used specifically by the combatant commands, so that they can maintain a strategic informational edge and save lives. In order to do this, we need to deliver data at market-leading temporal and spatial resolutions. Our Web-based Capella Console is the first of its kind and is the market’s only truly automated order-to-delivery system. Building for automation from the start will help our customers access mission-critical information within hours, and it has the potential to save lives.

By leveraging the global coverage provided by the AWS Ground Station and combining that with Capella’s automated and real-time approach to collecting Earth Observation data, we make it possible for our customers to achieve timely insights that can help them save lives and protect the health of the planet.

Our imagery is also unclassified, which is advantageous in terms of dissemination and sharing of information. Government agencies can collaborate easily with one another due to fewer restrictions, and information can easily be shared with international mission partners.

What lies ahead for the GEOINT sector, and how will Capella Space contribute in shaping the next-generation GEOINT enterprise?

Data is a powerful asset, and the more information you have about what is happening on Earth, the more opportunity there is to improve the livelihood of everyone on it If the last decade saw an explosion in optical imagery, this decade is starting with a growth in SAR innovation. Capella Space is sitting at the confluence of more frequent and affordable launches, innovative new SmallSat designs and advances in Cloud computing in a growing SAR market. Going forward, data is going to play an incredibly important role for the GEOINT sector.

We have seen the way data has transformed industries over the last decade, from healthcare, financial services to retail, and that same opportunity is there for the geospatial intelligence community.

Data is a powerful asset, and the more information you have about what is happening on Earth, the more opportunity there is to improve the livelihood of everyone on it.

I saw an opportunity to use SAR to fix significant limitations in the Earth Observation industry, and shortly afterwards, the US Department of Defense validated that customer need. The commercial markets are not fully accustomed to working with SAR data, so we are using this opportunity to make SAR more commercially appealing by making it easier to visualize, consume and purchase.

The global challenges facing the world today, such as the pandemic and Climate Change, have pushed governments across the globe to want to expand and grow the SAR market much faster than before, because this kind of data can literally help save lives. As SAR providers explore these new use cases in the commercial markets, governments will benefit from it with access to entirely new applications.

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 51

ARTICLE: ACCURATE PNT SERVICES

PROTECTING GNSS

Constructive action is required globally if we are going to develop safe, secure infrastructures for providing highly accurate and precise PNT services that are relied on to keep our society operating. By Guy Buesnel

A

ccess to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has become a fundamental expectation and a mainstay of the modern world. While the low strength of GNSS signals received on Earth means that they are particularly vulnerable to RF interference, multipath and atmospheric events, the use of GNSS to obtain precise timing and positioning data has become ubiquitous.

In many cases, systems have dependencies on GNSS data that are not readily understood or recognized. The impacts of GNSS denial or disruption on these systems are largely unknown or untested, so when a disruptive incident does occur, the consequences are at the very least unexpected and can cause complete failure of dependent systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the task to secure our GNSS signals even more urgent. The recent blockage of the Suez Canal by a large container ship demonstrates just how quickly our just-in-time supply chains can be severely affected by an event.

Increasing risks

During 2019 and 2020, there was a concerning rise in the number of GNSS jamming and spoofing incidents worldwide. Several of those incidents have had widespread impacts, including, for 52 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

example, the reported spoofing of commercial shipping in the Black Sea in which hundreds of ships were affected, as well as the recent report by Eurocontrol that over 3500 GPS outages were reported to them in 2020.

Internal flights in the northeast of Norway lost GPS reception multiple times in 2017 and 2018.

This was attributed to jamming from nearby Russia — either as part of a Russian military exercise, or as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the NATO exercise Trident Juncture. Russia, however, denied the allegations.

Military jamming exercises in the United States are also having an increasing impact on commercial and private aviation – such that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has appealed to the FAA to recognize military GPS jamming as a safety risk.

These nation-states initiated jamming and spoofing incidents often have the unintended consequence of affecting significant numbers of commercial users who have the misfortune of being located in the range of the powerful equipment that is available to nation states.

Real impacts

In June 2019, iHLS reported that container ports in Haifa and Ashdod experienced loss

of GPS reception, attributed to the ongoing Syria conflict.

GPS-guided autonomous cranes were unable to operate, meaning the ports had to revert to manual methods of loading and unloading cargo. This incident has echoes of the hourslong shutdown experienced by an unnamed port on the US East Coast in 2014, in which the source of the jamming was never identified, or at least not made public.

In 2016, more than 20 ships off the Crimean Peninsula reported that their electronic chart displays were showing their location as being on land.

This was widely attributed to Russian GPS spoofing equipment designed to protect President Putin from possible drone attacks. The theory gained credibility with a March 2019 report by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies which also notes similar incidents in the Black Sea’s Kerch Strait.

On 23 September 2020, The US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a new warning on GPS interference affecting commercial shipping, following reported instances in eastern and central Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf and multiple Chinese ports.

There is increasing evidence that criminals are using GNSS jammers routinely for the theft of luxury cars or cargo shipments.

The jammers are used to mask the location of the car when it is being stolen, then the location of the shipping container.

Taking it a step further, it was reported that cargo thieves in North Florida used GPS jammers with a stolen refrigerated trailer containing a temperature-controlled shipment. In this incident, the hauling tractors were swapped out by the cargo thieves.

The GPS Week Number Rollover is a phenomenon that happens every 1024 weeks (19.6 years). The GPS broadcasts a date, including a weekly counter that is stored in only ten binary digits.

The range is therefore 0–1023.

After 1023, the internal value "rolls over", changing to zero again. Older software that is not coded to anticipate the rollover to zero may stop working or could be moved back in time by 20 or 40 years. The New York City Wireless Network, which controls traffic lights and other key functions within the city, was adversely impacted for 11 days in April 2019.

A report concluded the outage could have been prevented had firmware updates been conducted in advance of the rollover event.

Each of these incidents show that commercial users (and parts of our supply chain) are at risk from the possible impacts of GNSS disruption. Even if they are not the intended targets, all it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. With

such impactful repercussions, why do these attacks continue to fly under the radar and go unaddressed while ransomware makes headlines daily?

Improving security

The “Father of GPS”, Dr Bradford Parkinson proposed the “Protect, Toughen, Augment” framework for securing GNSS. This is a constructive approach to improving the overall security of systems dependent on GNSS for precise PNT data. “Protect” covers operational-type measures, such as improved legislation, regulations and standards, “Toughen” covers improving the resilience of the system (including the GNSS receiver), and “Augment” is concerned with the use of complementary technologies to augment GNSS. Applying the framework to improve GNSS security is the most cost-effective way to carry out a risk assessment and audit existing GNSS dependent systems. The audit should include an assessment of the system’s current levels of robustness and resilience against real world threats and its ability to detect anomalies, as well as confirm the software and firmware are up-to-date.

Risk assessments and audits should also identify where and how the precise positioning and timing info is used and what the constraints are on integrity, continuity and availability of GNSS inputs in addition to any impacts of degraded performance.

Creating a recovery plan in the event of significant disruption is also an important consideration.

The strong need for an assured, secure PNT for critical national infrastructure has even led to GNSS being singled out as a priority area Constructive action is essential

Our widespread dependencies on GNSS means it is essential to secure its use in all critical application areas. Having the ability to carry on as normal when GNSS is denied or degraded is obviously a highly desirable state of affairs. The US and UK have both been proactive in raising awareness of GNSS vulnerabilities by developing frameworks and strategies that will reduce sole dependencies on GNSS in crucial areas, such as national critical infrastructure. The strong need for an assured, secure PNT for critical national infrastructure has even led to GNSS being singled out as a priority area in the recently published UK Integrated Review.

However, this is not enough.

Constructive action is required globally if we are going to develop safe, secure infrastructures for providing highly accurate and precise PNT services that are relied on to keep our society operating.

Guy Buesnel

Is PNT Security Technologist at Spirent Communications​

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 53

ARTICLE: DATA GOVERNANCE

GETTING A GRIP ON THAT DATA In societies transformed by the digital revolution, the questions of governance revolve primarily around data — the governance of data and new forms of governance with data.

By Max Craglia & Henk Scholten

W

e are not sure when it started to change.

In the past, governments were the main collectors of data about lands, people and resources. Today, the commercial sector collects vast amounts of real-time data and knows more about society than governments — not just at the aggregate level, but down to the behavior, preferences and real-time location of individuals.

So, how does this shift in knowledge, and therefore power, among these key actors (the state, the commercial sector, people and machines) affect the governance of human society? How can we shape our futures in an increasingly fast-evolving technological, social and physical environment? More fundamentally, can we shape our future at all, or are we just passive objects of decisions taken elsewhere?

We started with these questions about four years ago with a small group of enthusiasts in setting up the Digitranscope1 project at the Centre for Advanced Studies of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC). We have since involved more than 300 colleagues from governments, academia, industry and civil society to try and find some of the answers that we have now published in the Digitranscope Report2 on the Governance of Digitally-Transformed 1 https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/communities/en/community/digitranscope 2 https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/digitranscope-governance-digitally-transformed-society 54 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

Emerging data governance models

Society. We realized very quickly that in societies transformed by the digital revolution, the questions of governance revolve primarily about data: The governance of data and new forms of governance with data.

Why is this important?

Because you will all be familiar with the increasing political and media attention given to Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is seen as a key enabling technology for the future development of societies and nations. Whilst many countries are developing their national strategies to become world-leaders in AI3, controlling the data upon which AI applications and products are developed is just as important as mastering the development of AI algorithms.

Why now?

In the past 20 years, data publication for reuse, via catalogues and portals, was seen as the end of the process of data collection, analysis and use by the (public sector) data custodian. It was often also perceived as a burden because the organization publishing the data was not a direct beneficiary of the value subsequently generated by third parties or accrued by society as a whole in terms of greater 3 See for example https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/ai-watch/ national-strategies-artificial-intelligence_en for the EU and https://oecd. ai/countries-and-initiatives for a more global perspective.

transparency and accountability. Observing the Big Data platforms at work, it became noticeable that to them data publication was the beginning of the value-creation chain, not the end. In fact, social media platforms and search engines do not even create the original data, they let the users do so. They then integrate the users’ data, add value through analytics, repackage into products or services, and sell to third parties, thus monetizing the added value created. This shift in the datafication paradigm has led to an increasing call for public authorities to also shift from publishing datasets in portals to open access via machine-tomachine Application Protocol Interfaces (APIs) and add value to the data they publish by adding the intelligence via analytics on who uses the data for what purpose4.

Smart city platform of Duisburg

From data analytics to digital twins

Digital twins, which are digital replicas of living or non-living things, have been used in the industry for several decades — largely as an extension of computer-aided design. They allow simulation and testing of artefacts before moving into production.

With the vast increase in sensors networks and computer processing, digital twins have seen a significant growth in every sector, particularly in the environmental domain and urban management5. While the growth of Big Data has required a closer integration of data and processing into virtual platforms, digital twins integrate simulation into these platforms strengthening the move towards dynamic and interactive environments based on data streams and feedback-loops.6 So, technology and policy environments are changing rapidly, posing challenges for the governance of society and also offering new opportunities.

Governance of data

In the current digital society, the dominant model for the governance of personal data is the one 4 For an overview of AIs in government see https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/ publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/application-programming-interfaces-governments-why-what-and-how 5 For a survey of digital twins see https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ repository/handle/JRC122457 6 See on this IoT 2.0 and the INTERNET of TRANSFORMATION (Web of Things and Digital Twins): A multi-facets analysis.

Snapshot from one of the digital twins that won the competition among the elementary schools of Warsaw

established by a few ‘big-tech’ companies that are collecting, aggregating and financially exploiting massive amounts of personal data. Yet, other actors beyond those companies are progressively becoming involved in controlling personal data and producing value from it through different practices. These actors include public bodies (such as local administrations), private entities (comprising small businesses and startups), scientific and civil society organizations, activists, social entrepreneurs, and citizens themselves. We explored some of the models for the governance of data that are emerging from the practices of these actors.

In particular, we identified four key models: data sharing pools; data co-operatives; public data trusts; and personal data sovereignty. The goal of our analysis was to investigate to what extent they support different, more balanced power relations, and how they redistribute more equitably the value generated from data across society, compared to the current practices of ‘big-tech’ corporations.

March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 55

ARTICLE: DATA GOVERNANCE

Whilst many countries are developing their national strategies to become worldleaders in AI, controlling the data upon which AI applications and products are developed is just as important as mastering the development of AI algorithms

the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, Geodan, the Dutch Cadastre and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water using MinecraftTM to raise awareness through gaming of young adults in two schools in Amsterdam and Warsaw on the tradeoffs needed in the energy transition. Moreover, we were able to contribute to a big event in the stadium of the Ajax football team in Amsterdam, where 500 children used the Digital Twin of their city to design a new sustainable neighborhood.

On that occasion, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) signed a partnership agreement with the Dutch EduGIS Foundation.

Our analysis shows that particularly data co-operatives and public data trusts seem to be good models to share more equally the value generated through data analytics to all the parties involved.

They are in their infancy, but we see a shift in policy, at least in Europe, to encourage these alternative models of data governance and increase the social value derived from data. The Data Governance Act7 proposed by the European Commission goes in this direction.

Last but not least, we used AI and modeling to explore how governments could design personalized policies focusing on those who are in the greatest need, like digital platforms use consumer profiling to develop personalized services. We used synthetic population to avoid using personal data, and applied this technique successfully in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to model the impact of reopening different economic activities.

New forms of governance with data

Shaping the future

We ran some experiments to see how we could use digital twins at national and urban level, and in gaming environments to reach more effectively different audiences. For city administrators and analysts, we leveraged the digital twins of the cities of Amsterdam and Duisburg to develop a city operating system that would integrate the different data flows pertaining to mobility and energy and visualize the real-time analytics and simulations via city dashboards. The experiments allowed to interact with city officials and decision-makers, and develop a mutual understanding of what is needed and what is possible. The explorations were successful and there is already a request from both cities for the implementation of the overall system.

In another experiment, we were able to leverage the Digital Twin of The Netherlands developed by

7 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/data-governance-act 56 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

We started with the fundamental questions: can we shape our future? The answer is a resounding yes! Governments have a key role to play in shaping the regulatory environment, companies have, of course, a big role as engines of innovation and growth, but all of us as individuals have a key role too by exercising our rights and becoming empowered citizens of the digital society. If there is a take-away message from the Digitranscope journey, it is that the governance of our digitally transforming society is challenging and complex, full of opportunities and pitfalls, but then ultimately it is up to all of us to shape it. We cannot afford to leave it to others.

Max Craglia

Is Senior Expert at European Commission Joint Research Centre's Digital Economy Unit

Henk Scholten

Is Director Innovation at Geodan; and Professor of Spatial Informatics at School of Business & Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

POLICY MATTERS

FLYING CONCERNS For drones to really contribute to a country’s innovation and economy, a thriving commercial industry supported by a set of favorable and forward-looking policies is a must. In the case of India, the new Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 may not be conducive for a budding industry. There are things to be learnt from other countries.

By Avneep Dhingra

D

rones, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have been traditionally used by the Armed 58 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

Forces for military operations.

The concept of drones could well date back to 1849, the year Austria attacked Venice using unmanned balloons stuffed

with explosives. However, in the last decade, the UAV technology has rapidly accelerated, and the application areas have expanded well beyond military,

law enforcement and security industries. Drones are today delivering goods and medicines to people, aiding in construction projects, making agricultural and mining practices efficient, and transforming surveying.

“With advancements in information technology and the advent of cheaper and smaller sensors, UAVs have become the ‘go to’ solution for all surveyors and mappers. Better integration with various payloads and the ease-of-use options offered by UAVs have started revolutionizing the way geospatial data is collected in many countries,” says Sajid Mukhtar, Chairman & Managing Director, Roter Group of Companies. According to the World Economic Forum, the infrastructure sector is the single most promising area where drones could have a significant impact on the global economy, underscoring the potential for drones to help establish better infrastructure in developing countries.

For drones to really contribute to a country’s innovation and economy, a thriving commercial industry supported by a set of favorable and forward-looking policies is a must. In the case of India, drones continued to face resistance and restrictions in the civil/commercial space even a decade after they were first used by the military in 1999. That’s because there weren’t any rules and legal standards regulating these aerial vehicles. The first document on the laws governing drone activities came in the

form of a public notice issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2014. The notification made it mandatory to take permission to operate drones for civil purposes.

It was only in 2018 that India announced the rollout of the first-ever regulations for commercial drone operations.

Since then, the drone industry in the country has witnessed substantial growth on account of increasing awareness, technological advancement and growing adoption across sectors.

The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 further highlighted the importance of UAS, and there were reports predicting the drone industry growth at a whopping 20% CAGR over the next few years.

However, now there are fears that the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation may break the industry’s growth momentum.

What’s wrong with 2021 rules?

To start with, the new drone rules bear a striking resemblance to regulations in the Licence Raj days, as they introduce a thick bureaucratic layer into processes and supress innovation. Surprisingly, these rules are also in contradiction to the Government of India’s larger policies of self-reliance, good governance, and enabling ease of doing business. Here’s what’s wrong with the 2021 rules: Prior authorization Unlike in the past, the new rules require everyone associ-

With advancements in information technology and the advent of cheaper and smaller sensors, UAVs have become the ‘go to’ solution for all surveyors and mappers Sajid Mukhtar Chairman & Managing Director, Roter Group of Companies.

ated with the drone ecosystem to undertake a registration in the capacity of an ‘authorized’ importer, manufacturer, trader, owner or operator by submitting an application with DGCA. Those eligible to apply for the authorization include individuals who are Indian citizens and have attained at least 18 years of age, or companies that are registered and having their principle place of business within India. In case of a company, its Chairman and at least two-thirds of directors have to be Indian citizens, some of who may require a security clearance.

After receiving the authorization, the next step is to submit a separate application to the civil aviation authority to obtain permission for the manufacture or import of a prototype drone, which will be assigned a unique identification March-April 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 59

POLICY MATTERS

The global commercial drone market is expected to be worth $8,527.4 million by 2027

FLYING SPACE

The Indian drone market is expected to be worth $1,810 million by 2026

The global market expansion can be attributed to increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence and the growing utilization of the product across several applications in the forthcoming years

The market stood at $1,590.0 million in 2019 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25.07% between 2020 and 2027

Source: Commercial Drone Market, 2020-2027 Report by Fortune Business Insights; and India UAV Drones Market, By Type (Fixed Wing, High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE), Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, By Payload, By Equipment, By Component, By Application, Forecast & Opportunities, FY2026 Report

number with a 10-year validity.

Importantly, the new rules do not mention any timeline within which these authorizations will be granted.

Fresh authorization The Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 list out a fresh certification to confirm that the class and type of a UAS meets the specified requirements — “Certificate of Manufacture and Airworthiness”. This certification has to be obtained by an “authorized UAS manufacturer/importer”, which means a person/company authorized to manufacture or assemble a UAS or any of its parts or components. Since the rules do not clearly define ‘components’, each and every small part needed to build a drone may require DGCA approval before it can be imported.

Further, the import procedure would require an applicant to obtain a Certificate of Manufacture and Airworthiness followed by another application to DGCA, which would issue an import clearance and recom60 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | March-April 2021

mend the application to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, which would subsequently grant an import license.

“Drone manufacturing in India is still dependent on import of sensors and actuators which do not get made in India. The need for permissions and licenses for import and manufacturing of every small component would put a lot of constraints and lead to indefinite delays,” says Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder & CEO, Marut Dronetech.

The new rules also require the UAS manufacturer or importer to establish authorized maintenance centers in India with adequately trained personnel, in line with the Manufacturer's Maintenance Manual. Imagine a certificate seeker’s agony if the component in question is a bolt or bearing.

DGCA has reserved the power to appoint testing laboratories that will carry out testing to ascertain compliance. “The Indian drone industry is practically in its infancy. The ecosystem and support network is slowly

starting to take shape. At such a critical juncture, the UAS 2021 rules have thrown new challenges at a fledgling industry,” adds Vislawath.

Authorization for R&D Under the new rules, all research and development organizations in India, including startups, authorized UAS manufacturers, or accredited institutions of higher education, need to take a prior authorization from DGCA to carry out R&D. Again, the term

Such strict requirements are going to stifle and destroy this nascent industry if timely relaxations and support is not given Prem Kumar Vislawath Founder & CEO, Marut Dronetech

‘R&D’ has not been defined, so there is no way to understand the scope of the restriction. “The drone industry is a high-technology industry that needs to keep pace with technology through continuous R&D. With new rules in place, R&D may be severely hampered, as every stage and step would require various permissions and authorizations,” explains Vislawath.

Even after the DGCA authorization is obtained, test flights for R&D purposes would be permitted only in certain premises within a maximum height of 15 meters, preventing testing of the actual capabilities of longrange drones. “The R&D restrictions set forth in the rules, such as

only being able to fly at 15 meters, not allowing individuals to do research and no provision for product iteration are impractical,” says Ankit Mehta, CEO, ideaForge Minimum equipment requirement To obtain a Certificate of Manufacture and Airworthiness from DGCA, drones are required to be equipped with a host of components and features, such as GNSS receivers for horizontal and vertical position fixing, Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) or return to home option, geo-fencing capability, flashing anti-collision strobe lights, among others. It is feared that such a long list of haves will prove to be counter-

The UAS Rules 2021 pose a challenge to 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' due to the variety of component level restrictions that have been brought in. As per the rules, it is actually easier to import a drone for certification rather than engineer one from the ground up in India Ankit Mehta, CEO, ideaForge

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POLICY MATTERS

The import procedure would require an applicant to obtain a Certificate of Manufacture and Airworthiness from DGCA, followed by another application to the same authority, which would issue an import clearance and recommend the application to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, which would subsequently grant an import license productive and will have cost implications. “The minimum equipment requirements, especially for a 360-degree collision avoidance system and an emergency recovery system, are excessive and should not be made mandatory equipment as they are not applicable in all scenarios and configurations.

These are going to only add cost and lead to delays in systems without necessarily adding to safety,” adds Mehta.

Picture elsewhere

In contrast to the rules introduced in India, drone regulations in some other countries provide a more conducive environment for the commercial industry’s growth. For instance, in the US, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) rules allowing for small drones to fly over people and at night came into effect recently. According to reports, this is a significant step towards the use of drones for widespread commercial deliveries. The FAA said that these rules will address security concerns by requiring remote identification technology in most cases to enable drone identification from the ground.

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Similarly, in the United Kingdom, the talk around drone deliveries picked up pace recently after the country’s Civil Aviation Authority gave its nod to beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) test flights. Meanwhile, the country’s national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey has been quietly helping drone companies to prepare for future success in the delivery world.

However, in India, despite having given permission to hyperlocal drones to conduct delivery tests, the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 say no to payload — leaving companies like Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo disappointed.

According to DGCA officials, the country’s drone infrastructure is still not “delivery-ready”.

Unlike the rules in India that are feared to have an adverse impact on industry R&D, Transport Canada’s Drone Strategy to 2025, the first of its kind for the country, lays specific focus on research — listing out plans to support industry R&D and collaborations between government and private stakeholders. The document provides a strategic vision for drones, with a focus on raising awareness of the signif-

icance of drones, the untapped economic potential of the sector, and the priorities that will drive Transport Canada going forward.

While the drone rules in the European Union focus equally on safety and privacy, the latter doesn’t seem be a key concern under the new regulation in India.

For instance, the term privacy is mentioned just once in the rules, and the process of taking consent from people before a drone is flown over them doesn’t even find a mention. “Drones should fly while ensuring the privacy of a person and its property during operation,” say the rules, without mentioning how this will be ensured. The rules further say that the government can exempt any of its agencies to deploy drones if it is in the “interest of security of India,” or in “national interest”, leaving a major scope for privacy violations.

Future concern

At a time when the Indian government is promoting technology innovation and commercialization, and laying stress on fair and flexible business practices, the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 appear to be a bundle of contradictions. If India has to become the “drone capital of the world”, an ambition expressed by the Civil Aviation Ministry no too long ago, these new rules would have to be changed. Perhaps an outward-looking approach would be best for flying into the future.

Avneep Dhingra Associate Editor Policy & Public Affairs avneep@geospatialworld.net

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