Software, not Hardware: Revolutionising Satellite Data Acquisition

Project Information

Blink

Grant agreement ID: 699132

DOI

10.3030/699132

Project closed

EC signature date 20 August 2015

Start date 1 September 2015

End date 29 February 2016

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Space

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

AMPHINICY DOO ZA RACUNALNE AKTIVNOSTI I ZASTUPANJE
Croatia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Blink (Software, not Hardware: Revolutionising Satellite Data Acquisition)

Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2016-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Blink is an ultra-fast satellite telemetry acquisition and processing solution entirely built in software. The aim of the solution is to replace expensive and hard-to-maintainable hardware demodulators currently used in the satellite industry and to provide an affordable, scalable and flexible solution for both big and small satellite missions. The aim of the feasibility study was to discover and analyse technical and business aspects and define concrete actions necessary to offer Blink on the global satellite market.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Within the feasibility study, we have visited our potential customers and interested stakeholders in Italy, Germany, France, Slovenia and the US. We have presented the product and gathered feedback. Also, we have performed the market survey using specially prepared questionnaires, both technical and business nature. The results helped us to define a business plan and to approximate expected company growth regarding the number of employees and turnover, as well as to determine guidelines to prepare a roadmap for further development. We received extremely positive feedback for Blink regarding its functionalities and performance. Several companies showed interest for Blink demonstration in their operable environment as can be seen by several Letters of Intent. The collaboration discussions are already in progress.
During the Phase 1, we have prepared a time-frame for customization and preparation for delivery of the system for each type of customer and have put the price tag on proposed business models based on the results of the meetings with the customers.
Furthermore, we have created a technical roadmap for system implementation in the further period, including milestones and required budget.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

During the feasibility study, beyond purely technical and business discussions, a few wider fronts in potential impact of Blink to the humanity were opened:
- Amphinicy has been holding presentations about Blink on several events, including Horizon 2020 SPACE Information Days in Ljubljana, organized by the European Commission and COSMOS2020. Among attendees there were satellite providers from SmallSat industry working on missions that include smarter usage of natural resources and ensure security in human lives. They identified Blink as an adequate part for their data acquisition chains, especially in Adriatic and Alpine regions (e.g. river flow monitoring, sea pollution detection, agriculture, meteorology, etc.).
- During the discussion with big industry stakeholders like Telespazio and SES, Blink has been put into context of technology enabler for new missions that will put Europe at a forefront of Space exploration and technologies (e.g. fast monitoring and analysis of data from launching rockets on a new EU launchers as response to SpaceX)
- EU start-ups identified Blink as an affordable solution for their existing plans in Earth observation missions. This way Blink is boosting growing trend of Space start-ups in the EU by providing them with technology that fits, and puts the EU next to the USA (Silicon Valley) considering the number of space start-ups.

All the above implications are completely in line with the Copernicus program.

Blink brochure 2

Blink brochure 1