AI-eXpress Workshop for Customers and Stakeholders held on 24 March 2021. Launching the new era of the satellite as-a-service. AI-eXpress (AIX) is the name of the forward-thinking project, which aims to bring to market a new concept of satellite as-a-service. In the framework of European Space Agency's Φ-lab InCubed activity, AIx aims to lower the barriers for accessing to space, making available to more and more users on-demand and in-orbit resources such as data and information ready for users' applications. All customers and stakeholders are invited to join the first online consultation workshop to learn how to get involved in the AIX project. Further info: https://www.aiexpress.eu/

1. Giovanni Sylos Labini
CEO, Planetek
Luca Rossettini
CEO, D-Orbit
Short Presentation
AIX
FUTURE EO
P20S1218-25-v1

2. 2
ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For ESA Official Use Only
InCubed introduction to AI express User Workshop
Alice Barthe – European Space Agency – Phi-Lab – 24/03/2021

3. 3
3
The Phi-Lab at the European Space Agency
Φ-lab Explore Office
Explore the innovation universe and connect
EO sensor revolution with the digital
revolution e.g. AI4EO, DTE
Φ-lab Invest Office
Stimulate competitiveness growth fostering
entrepreneurial initiatives by investment actions
from ESA member states and external
investors and management

4. 4
4
ESA Cofunding programmes
ARTES C&G
NAVISP E2
InCubed+
GSTP Make
Space Solutions
TRL 1 TRL 2 TRL 3 TRL 4 TRL 5 TRL 6 TRL 7 TRL 8 TRL9
Satellite Telecommunications
Navigation
Commercial Earth Observation
General Space Technologies
Space Entrepreneurship

5. 5
5
AIX as an InCubed activity
Innovation
Disruptive business
model, Bringing AI
at the edge
Commercial
Born from the
need of IOD
and IOV,
reducing entry
barrier to space
Earth
Observation
Well suited use
cases for EO
Payloads and
applications

6. Planetek Italia is a company
specialised in Geoinformatics,
Space solutions, and Earth
observation. We develop
systems and services for the
processing of map and
satellite data aimed at
creating geo-localized
knowledge useful in many
application areas ranging from
land monitoring to smart
cities, engineering, defence
and security, as well as
satellite missions and space
exploration.
D-Orbit is a service provider
for the traditional and new
space sectors, with
capabilities in satellite
manufacturing, launch,
deployment, satellite
operations, end-of-life
strategies and solutions,
space propulsion and related
critical software.
AIKO is a research-oriented
SME developer of AI-based
algorithms and technologies
designed to increase the
autonomy of current space
missions. Key areas of
expertise are Deep Learning,
Expert Systems and
Embedded Software design
applied to space missions, in
the domains of autonomous
decision-making, payload data
management, failure detection
and mission replanning.
PARTNERS

7. 80 people in Italy and Greece
Active since 1994
From GeoAnalytics to Sensing
SIMPLIFYING THE COMPLEXITY OF SPACE

8. ION “taxi” satellite
100 people
Active since 2011
SPACE TRANSPORTATION (RE)INVENTED

9. S PA C E
M I S S I O N S
A U T O M AT I O N
• AIKO is a deep-tech company with the mission of supporting the
expansion of humanity beyond Earth
• We specialize in Artificial Intelligence software for upstream space
applications
• Our Deep Learning algorithms are at TRL 9
• 17 employees (27 by end of 2021), active since 2017
• Over 10 active contracts between industry and agencies
A.I. FOR OUR
MULTIPLANETARY FUTURE

10. AIX Overview

11. A pinch of technology push
Can I upload new code for every task on my satellite in orbit?
A pinch of operational tactics
Can I deploy my satellites exactly when I need it?
A pinch of money saving
Can I pay only when satellite data are useful for me?

12. THE TRADITIONAL EO VALUE CHAIN
Space Access
Poor Flexibility
Limited Autonomy
Missed Observation
Poor quality or
irrelevant downlinked
data
Stream of Data

14. See
Touch
Taste
Saliva
Smell
Quantity Timing
Selection
Chewing
HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM & THE FOOD VALUE CHAIN

15. A SHARED VISION

16. Networks of “heterogeneous, distributed Ground Segments”
Swarms of ”cooperative and competitive Space Agents”
UpStream and DownStream mixed in the FOG
of the Continuous SpaceStream
to reach the goals of
Responsiveness, Reactivity, Low Latency,
Deep Customization and Complete Integration
in Secured and Traceable Environments

17. We Put some Brain, Tongue and Knife on ION… AI-eXpress

18. ▪ AIX on-board component loads the specific “space” APP on
the satellite(s) and manages all the Uberised HW resources
▪ AIX ground component defines a Space App-Store
virtualizing the hardware.
A SPACE ECOSYSTEM AS-A-SERVICE

19. Data as a
Commodity
The increased commoditization of satellite
data
The exponential growth of nano-, micro- and
mini-sat constellations, all based on strong
standardization of the SW and HW
The availability of high-performance
computing resources
The shift from human to machine users.
AI-EXPRESS will be
implemented via new
operational concepts
and novel
technologies driven
by customers’ needs
and requirements
AIX DESIGN DRIVERS
Constellations
growth
On Board
Computing
M2M
All the resource spare time becomes
exploitable
Uberisation of
resources

20. POSSIBLE USE CASES
From continuous monitoring to critical change detection

21. AI-EXPRESS VALUE PROPOSITION
▪ AI-eXpress makes configurable AI available on-board
▪ AIX functions directly integrated to payloads’ data and satellite’s bus
services
▪ Provides configurable mission concepts on-demand (out of the
already flying elements).
▪ A real test and demonstration environment and a validation tool
▪ It can manage different experiments together
▪ Can transform Stakeholders in Shareholders
From AIX to AIX

22. Technical Description

23. AIX enabling infrastructure: the AIx-BOX
A “payload” providing services
to other payloads…

24. ▪ ION CARRIER SATELLITES equipped with the “AIX BOX”
(i.e., higher computational power and AI at the edge )
▪ a cloud-based APPX-STORE interfacing with the satellites
(ION and its payloads)
▪ the hybrid infrastructure allowing transactions secured by
smart contracts based on M2M blockchain technologies
THE AIX ACTIVITY

25. payload implementig
on-board services for
other payloads
orbiting platform
hosting several
payloads and also
small satellites
on-board resources
as-a-service
smart software
framework infrastructure
implementing services
and abstraction layers
ground segment
as-a-service for
operations
APP-Store for
in orbit services

27. AIX BOX
▪ High performance computing platform
▪ SW framework
(abstracting the S/C bus & the computing platform)
▪ Data bus Interfaces
▪ On-board services framework
(imaging libraries & AI…)
▪ SW programming interface
(& dev environment)
▪ Smart contracts HW infrastructure (uController)
▪ Security Ring HW infrastructure (uController)
AIX BOX

28. AIX ON-BOARD SENSORS
▪ 1 or 2 Earth Observation Intelligence
sensors per mission (to be defined according to
applications & needs)
▪ Earth Intelligence sensors (very low power, always
active, wide swath and 0,5Km resolution)
▪ reference: S-2 like with 4 to 12 bands (VIS+NIR) is the
minimum
▪ configurable to application needs (trading SNR to
spatial and spatial to spectral resolution for instance)
▪ …third-party «contributing» sensors

29. ON-BOARD SERVICES
▪ Bus data distribution
(time, sat position, attitude & sensors pointing… )
▪ Inter-payloads communications
▪ Computing time
▪ Mass memory
▪ Data downlink bandwidth
▪ «space-tweet»: low bandwidth, low latency channel
(alerts and actionable info)
▪ M2M interfaces
▪ I/F to third-party P/Ls hosted on the satellite
AIX On-Board Services
AIX BOX

30. APPX STORE SERVICES
▪ AoI monitoring
(change & novelty detection)
▪ Image processing functions library
(filtering, bands co-registration, geo-location…)
▪ NN library
configured and trained for the embarked sensors
(event detection, image classification …)
▪ On-board communications (bus)
▪ Storage & downlink management
▪ FDIR (for third-party P/Ls hosted on the satellite)
AIX App Store & Services

31. APPX STORE
A “catalogue” of ready-made (validated) Apps and
basic building blocks
▪ Configure & deploy Apps
(applications ready-to-use: choose your App, AoI,
frequency and activate it on-board )
▪ Services workflow
(combine basic services as building blocks)

32. DEV KIT
The kit is intended to the AppX developers
▪ AIX SW toolchain
▪ Programming interfaces
▪ Simulation and Validation tools
(& service stubs)
▪ Your favourite ML framework

33. THE EVOLUTION OF MISSIONS
…INTO
A HYBRID ECOSYSTEM
multiple missions in one,
thanks to the “space” app store
and software-defined workflows at
the edge

34. APPS

35. Basic AIX processing blocks:
▪ Position, attitude & pointing
data processing
▪ Bands co-registration
▪ Optical sensor’s spatial
resolution enhancement
IMAGE PROCESSING LIBRARY

36. Deep learning & Automation

37. DEEP LEARNING & AUTOMATION
▪ AIX offers the possibility of executing
Deep Learning applications in space,
integrating the actionable information
into the automation framework
▪ DL applications enable the datascience
on-board.
▪ AIX takes care of automation chain.
EO Payload
App
Manager
Reasoning &
Automation
Platform
status
DL App

38. REASONING AND AUTOMATION
▪ Getting the most out of the extracted insights
▪ Once Deep Learning applications will have extracted useful and timely informations from
EO data, actions and responses will be triggered by the Reasoning & Automation module.
▪ The Reasoning Module will implement data prioritization & selection functionalities, in
addition to system commanding (on a later stage).
Reasoning &
Automation
Module
Actionable
decision
High-Level information
Platform status
External constraints

39. Clarity is a deep learning-based application
that enables advanced EO payload data
processing.
It has been designed to be compatible with
the majority of on-board computing systems
for Earth Observation missions, and is
provided as one of AIX applications.
Heritage: TRL9
APPLICATIONS: CLARITY

40. APPLICATION: SHIP DETECTION
Ship detection from space has been
identified as a potentially interesting
use case by several players in the
European and US ecosystem.
Heritage: low TRL

41. INTEGRATION WITH MARKETPLACE
AIX App Store & Services
DL
App
choose
configure
activate
The AIX App Store is
envisioned to be a
collection of applications
ready to be deployed to
an AIX device.

42. FOR DEVELOPERS
▪ You can use your favourite DL engine in
designing and implementing App.
The dev kit will compile them for AIX
framework.
▪ DL Apps do not need to be to worry about the
actual hardware target available on-board.
▪ Objectives: ensure the widest range of
compatibility between different frameworks
& development environments.

43. Business Model

44. CUSTOMERS AUDIENCE
AIX has been conceived to address the needs of:
▪ For EO algorithm applications and services developers, prototypers, testers and innovative &
disruptive operators, AIX gives you the possibility to:
▪ use and process satellite data just after sensing – at the space edge – by using all the AIX blockchain-based HW and SW
onboard resources
▪ Experiment and develop efficient data processing workflows
▪ Produce timely and accurate information that customers need and at a price they can sustain.
▪ For HW and SW space component developers, prototypers, testers and innovative & disruptive
operators, AIX gives you the possibility to:
▪ Integrate your components onboard of AIX ecosystem
▪ Perform fast and effect IoV campaigns
▪ For Companies that want to become shareholders of the AIX ecosystem, thanks to the
blockchain-based AIX services, you can:
▪ Purchase enabling HW and SW technologies and integrate them on your satellites to become part of the AIX federated
constellation
▪ Embed your space technologies, sensors, memories, radios, on our AIX spacecraft(s), to be used by all the AIX
customers
▪ Deploy your app on the AIX marketplace

45. PRODUCTS & SERVICES
AIX App Store & Services
AIX BOX
AIX On-Board Services
AIX BOX
Includes the AIX-BOX and a software framework enabling the on-board
services intended to the other sub-systems and payloads. It includes also
the SW development kit, with a set of ready-made applications, and the
tools allowing the development of new ones
The AIX-BOX is imbedded in a satellite Carrier (e.g. D-Orbit’s ION Carrier)
and provides its services to payloads hosted onboard. In this way several
payloads can pay-per-use the access to the AIX capabilities, services and
environment
A development kit (SW only) intended to the implementation of
applications that are based on the AISF framework and that can be run on
any AIX On-Board Service. This will enable the “app-store” selling model.
A set of services à la carte based on AIX On-Board Services with a public
catalogue and an “app store” approach (AppX Store). Services will include
EO data acquisition, processing (actionable info extraction) and downlink.
They can be combined together to build custom applications. Ready-made
applications (e.g. fire detection and warning service) can also be made
available on the app-store.

46. HOW YOU CAN USE AIX (P/L OPERATORS)
▪ You own a P/L and you want to make it smarter
▪ Providing it with advanced computing capabilities and a catalogue of apps where developers an users
can implement new skills or process data to increase the value of the data you P/L generates.
▪ You can embarck either a AIX BOX on your satellite or use one of the regular hosted payload
opportunities on the ION Carrier, for example.
▪ Using off-the-shelf applications on the AppX store
▪ Enabling advanced ways to analyse data generated by your P/L that you may have not thought about
or you had not time to develop, fostering collaborations with app developers and the space community.
▪ This can be done both on your own satellite with a AIX BOX, or embarking your payload as hosted in a
carrier equipped with the AIX BOX such as ION.
▪ Writing your own app for your P/L
▪ Giving the possibility to P/L operators to access to a large variety of data analyses. This is also a great
opportunity for University students to test in space their algoritms or analysis tools.

47. HOW YOU CAN USE AIX (ACTIONABLE CUSTOMER)
▪ Use processed data from one of the apps of the AppX store
▪ Select one of the possible apps in the APPX store and start getting processed data and
information from one of the payloads of the AIX ecosystem.
▪ Writing your own App
▪ You can write you own app thanks to SW development kit and can start processing data
generated from space as it is best suited for your particular application.
▪ At the same time, you can share your app with other users, that can perform similar analyses,
while contributing to the development of your app (either financially or technically… or both).

48. HOW YOU CAN BE PART OF AIX
▪ Purchase enabling HW and SW technologies and integrate them on your
satellites to become part of the AIX federated constellation
▪ Embed your space technologies, sensors, memories, radios, on our AIX
Carrier(s), to be used by all the AIX customers
▪ Deploy your app on the AIX market place, the AppX store

49. REVENUE MODELS
▪ Payloads Operators will benefit from:
▪ By adding value to the her/his data generated in space
▪ Selling information (or payload time) to actionable users through the apps of the AppX
store
▪ App Developers will benefit from:
▪ Selling the processed data generated by the payload to final users through the app, either
with a subscription model, or a pay-per-use model (actual models on the mobiles’ app
stores can be duplicated)
▪ Actionable customers will benefit from:
▪ Having an interactive enviroment where actionable information can be bought, along with
the possibility to validate new models and analysis, fostering collaboration with data
creators and data processing developers.

50. Engagement Opportunities

51. Early in orbit
demonstration
The overall objective is to
address innovative mission
concepts, fostering novel
architectures or sensing that
enable to meet user-driven
science and/or applications by
means of spacestream.
The latter built on the pillars of
state-of-the-art AI techniques,
edge computing and
blockchain”
RESHAPING THE SPACE VALUE CHAIN
Solid science or
commercial goals
End-to-End application
concept demonstration
Learning by failure
made possible

52. OPPORTUNITIES
HOW YOU CAN GET ON BOARD
Opt#1. Set and share your needs (contributing
to AIX system consolidation) for:
▪ Discuss how to make feasible EO services not
sustainable today
▪ (EO) P/L selection & AppX
▪ Technologies & Protocols
▪ Service Workflow & Business Model
▪ Implementation Priority
What you get with opt#1:
▪ Early access
▪ Feature implementation

53. OPPORTUNITIES
HOW YOU CAN GET ON BOARD
Opt#2. Run your own technology in space
(contributing to AIX system validation &
innovation)
▪ Service usage: simple and complex
workflows, with or without AIX custom
algorithms
▪ Bring your P/L, or in general your Space
Component, validate it In Orbit (IoD/IoV
campaign) and share its time in “pay-per-
use” with the AIX system
What you get with opt#2:
▪ Early access
▪ Feature implementation
▪ direct collaboration and support with
the design and validation team
▪ validation/demonstration of your
scenario in space
▪ operational usage in space

54. OPPORTUNITIES
HOW YOU CAN GET ON BOARD
Opt#3. Build your appX (contributing to AIX
marketplace validation & innovation)
▪ Deploy your app to the AppX market place
and share its usage in “pay-per-use” with
the AIX system
What you get with opt#3:
▪ Early access
▪ Feature implementation
▪ access to AIxdevkit
▪ direct collaboration and support
with the design and validation
team
▪ app validation in space
▪ app selling on the store

55. ▪ Survey Analysis submit your interest in
being active part in the program
▪ One2one interview from April 2021
▪ Next Workshop September 2021
▪ Maiden flight Q4 2022
NEXT STEPS & SHORT-TERM ROADMAP

56. https://www.aiexpress.eu
aiexpress@planetek.it