Project description
Developing software for better seabed data access
With climate change posing an ever-increasing threat to our planet, mitigation, protection and adaptation efforts are high on the global agenda. Ocean ecosystems and, more specifically, seabed activity can be extremely important to ocean surveillance. Because of this, methods for seabed surveillance directed at benthic habitats, morphology, depth and other changes are important. The EU-funded 4S project will work to reinforce the current toolset for ocean and seabed observation. It will do this by developing a cloud-based software dubbed 4S (Satellite Seafloor Survey Suite) that would utilise United States satellite LiDAR and Copernicus data as well as drone imagery to give users plentiful data concerning seabed activity.
Objective
4S will address a current data and solution gaps from coastal and offshore stakeholders, which are the ability to generate and access spatial and recent information on seabed, such as benthic habitat, morphology, depth and change and trends. Digital information on these are crucial to respond to EC maritime directive, environmental impact studies and engineering offshore activities. We will address this gap by developing an online, cloud based software, named 4S – Satellite Seafloor Survey Suite – which empowers the users to benefit from satellite capabilities and specific aquatic EO algorithms. 4S Suite will have APIs allowing to integrate it into hydrographic software and user’s workflows, as will developed and demonstrated. 4S will harness Copernicus data together with US satellite lidar data and – optionally – integrate client airborne (drone) imagery and on-site data. The underlying algorithms, which will reach highest TRL level during the project duration, will address aspects of physical modelling, machine learning and sensor fusion procedures and will introduce breakthroughs of the current state of the art. Both, algorithm innovations and the webapp, will be jointly designed and evaluated with the users, of which some are part of the project team. Other stakeholders, many of which have signed supporting letters, will participate in 7 use cases which cover four countries, the Caribbean and several selected sites globally. With this intense evaluation and co-design we will achieve a reliable evaluation of the process and global outreach to the offshore and coastal stakeholders. The development of a sustainable business based on 4S will be driven by the industry partners, which contribute with 52% of the workload. Based on the existing solution gap we expect a continuous and strong increase in the user uptake and thus economic sustainability, which will lead to the growth of the European blue economy and, as social benefit, directly respond to the UNSDG 14.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsdrones
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
82229 Seefeld
Germany
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.