SBRI: Unlocking Space for Business Feasibility Study - Phase 1

18 St. Christophers Way, Pride Park, Derby, England, DE24 8JY

Companies House number: 12415503

£198,313

Yes

No

The Automated Survey, Localisation and Navigation (ASLAN) project focuses on the development and prototyping of a Proof of Concept (PoC) Technology Readiness Level 3 (TRL3) On Board Unit (OBU) for use on transport and logistic applications. The initial focus is on rail industry applications and ASLAN is being specifically configured for an urban tram application - Coventry Very Light Railway.

The ASLAN OBU is modular in design, incorporating a positioning module comprising of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) & Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), with the other modules having control and data collection capabilities for the GNSS/IMU instruments, plus external perception sensors, which includes a computer vision system and may include other sensors (e.g., LiDAR) should they become available.

The OBU also includes capabilities for data storage, processing, computing, and connectivity modules. The intention is to make the sensor/connectivity interfaces generic, enabling plug-and-play of various instruments for testing and optimisation of the instrument suite through post-processing of the data.

The main technological output from ASLAN is the OBU and the conceptual algorithms for integrating and processing the GNSS/IMU and optical flow data to provide robust and continuous position, navigation, and timing (PNT) as part of an Automatic Vehicle Location system, designed in the first instance, for mass-transit applications. ASLAN services are based primarily on the PNT service provided by GNSS satellites; however, as an integral part of the ASLAN service will be connectivity, the project will explore the feasibility of low-latency Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communications.

A key feature of ASLAN are innovative techniques for deploying low-cost new-to-market multi-frequency GNSS chipsets that deliver geodetic grade receiver PNT products at a fraction of the cost and miniaturised using commercial off the shelf components. This allows the ASLAN system to be cost-effectively and efficiently incorporated operationally into new and existing mass-transit systems. Also, key to ASLAN, are new computer vision techniques designed to overcome the deficiencies in camera frame rates and resolutions for optical flow positioning and localisation.

The ASLAN effort is supported by the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and Murphy Geospatial (MGS), prime contractors in the Coventry Very Light Rail initiative, pioneering a cost-effective tram track design. The objective of this effort is to realise new methods in tram operations (e.g., reduction in spacing between tram assets), that yield new revenue growth opportunities, improved customer experiences and enhanced benefits, operational efficiencies, and environmental, social and governance benefits.

Explorer House Adanac Drive, Nursling, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 0AS

Companies House number: 09121572

£198,203

No

No

This Ordnance Survey (OS) project aims to understand how to unlock the value of the combination of
Geospatial, Earth Observation and Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) capabilities for the financial
sector with the ambition to deliver on Return on Investment (ROI) for the UK Space Ecosystem and
downstream services, but also to drive societal impact and environmental protection through the
appropriate use and access to EO derived data.
Ordnance Survey has been working with the UK space sector in understanding how to support the use
of EO data through to our public sector and private customer base. Through supporting Space4Climate
and new missions such as GHGsat and Heat Data, we have also uncovered key issues in awareness in
the financial services sector, coupled with huge lack of understanding and capabilities to access EO
data to deliver actionable insights.
We believe OS is in a unique position to support the uptake of EO data within the financial services
sector though a blended approach of geospatial and EO data where we can use our recognised global
brand and trusted authority in location intelligence to support the uptake of existing and less known
EO products and services. We are recognised for our thought leadership in location data, and we are
currently leading a global collaboration, The Supply Chain Data Partnership, which looks to transform
how corporations use location and satellite data to unlock asset insights that meet corporate
disclosure and supply chain transparency needs. As a result, we have some key learnings that can be
applied to this project and the EO sector, in terms of translating the value of space and how to
collaborate on a global scale.
Working with our partners and based on the user requirements, we will translate EO and geospatial
capabilities to financial services language using key experts within the sector, enabling the value of
space and the power of location to unlock value for the end user, delivering objective and measurable
results to meet the Environment Social and Governance challenge. Ultimately, the innovation is the
outputs generated to genuinely meet the need for the financial services sector to optimise the use of
AI without increasing harmful actions and reducing bias in their metrics.

Enterprise Centre University Of Reading Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, Reading, Berkshire, England, RG6 6BU

Companies House number: 05967399

£144,156

Yes

No

Recent experience has led to the re-evaluation of wildfire risk in Europe. Wildfires in Greece, Turkey and Spain have become more frequent, with recent events in Greece causing widespread damage and loss. During the heatwave of 2022 France experienced a large wildfire event, and wildfires were seen in the UK, a country not traditionally considered a wildfire risk from the perspective of property insurance. There are currently few data products or models that address European wildfire severity or risk and those that do have significant technical drawbacks for the purpose of risk analysis and pricing.

WISE - the Wildfire Severity Index - will be the first product designed to inform insurers and risk managers of the severity of live wildfire events in relation to historic experience. By combining data on the extent, intensity and duration of previous historical fire events, and comparing this to current fire season data, the project aims to generate a range of fire metrics and tools that allow risk and climate analysts to access relevant, reliable data in a fast and secure manner with high levels of credibility and reliability. Drawing on freely available satellite and climatic data from the likes of ESA, NASA, Copernicus and ECMWF, WISE will produce accessible, affordable analyses of interest to a wide range of insurance professionals.

The partners behind WISE are Assimila and Aon plc. Assimila is one of the UK's leading Earth Observation science and application companies with a focus on land surface processes with applications in climate risk, agriculture and health. Assimila will lead all technical aspects of WISE to develop and demonstrate a working prototype for market testing and validation. Working with Assimila is Aon plc, one of the world's leading professional insurance and risk businesses employing >50,000 people in 120 countries. Aon Climate Risk Analytics team with work with Assimila to develop WISE and use their own knowledge and expertise to develop the WISE proposition, acting as primary client and advising on wider industry prospects for WISE applications and commercialisation.

17 Boundary Street, Liverpool, England, L5 9UB

Companies House number: 07457227

£195,650

Yes

No

With SBRI funding and established commercial interest from lead customer/partner Pole Star Space Applications Limited (industry leaders in the areas of vessel monitoring, marine domain awareness and global ship tracking), BolgiaTen Limited aim to establish the feasibility and solution design of developing a maritime trade vessel monitoring and logistics risk assessment SaaS platform, leveraging advances in AI/ML methods in combination with satellite Earth Observation (EO) data to provide near real-time tracking of trade vessels and identify, validate and verify anomalistic shipping behaviour. Utilising machine vision, the solution will combine EO data with various forms of maritime intelligence data (financials, manifests, sanctions data etc.) with an initial focus on assessing risk and provenance of shipping coming into UK ports, significantly increasing revenue opportunities for relevant parties (e.g. cargo owners, stakeholders) as well as enabling more accurate assessments of ESG metrics.  

This concept has been designed specifically to address key challenges within maritime intelligence (90% of all international trade, >58K international merchant ships p.a.) related to logistics management, sanction compliance and illegal transportation identification by providing a holistic provenance tracking platform. Longstanding challenges within this area include transmission gaps, poor quality transmissions and intentional disabling of AIS transmitters.  

SBRI grant funding will greatly accelerate development (12-18 months) and exploitation aided by lead customers/partners, Pole Star (industry leaders in the areas of vessel monitoring, maritime domain awareness and global ship tracking) within the global maritime analytics market, forecast to reach $2.18Mn by 2028 and support future application for mapping entire supply chains globally. 

6th Floor Gordon Chambers, 90 Mitchell Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G1 3NQ

Companies House number: SC557385

£192,548

Yes

No

Maritime applications of remote sensing data play a huge role in modern life, supporting industry, security and climate resilience measures within the UK and beyond. Maritime data enables rapid response to natural and manmade disasters, supports monitoring and maintenance of coastal ecosystems and underpins a huge, global shipping and logistics industry. Many maritime applications rely heavily on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data obtained by satellites, which can provide
insights and information beyond the capabilities of optical instruments used in many other remote sensing applications. However, SAR data is complex and requires significant processing before it can be ingested or actioned by many end user applications. SAR data is often exploited by end users in image form, which differs significantly from its origins as digitized echoes from an active sensor. These images often have SAR-specific anomalies and eccentricities which must be corrected
or removed to maximise the utility of the data.

In this project, Craft Prospect will develop AI-powered SAR data processing solutions which will be delivered initially as a straightforward, user-friendly application for customers of SSTL's NovaSAR mission and also target other SAR missions and services and their use cases. The application will perform critical data calibration and correction tasks, generate actionable information and insights and allow end users of maritime SAR data to rapidly respond to features and information in the data without the high level of intervention and effort currently required to process SAR data. The application will be rigorously tested on relevant test scenarios and edge cases and the machine learning components developed using explainable practices to ensures trustworthiness and quality.

101 Springfield Road, Barrhead, Glasgow, Scotland, G78 2FT

Companies House number: SC678490

£199,629

Yes

No

Satellite data used with machine learning or artificial intelligence technologies has unparalleled potential to map and assess the natural world, including understanding and predicting environmental risks, monitoring change over time, and designing mitigation measures.

Despite rapid advancements in these capabilities within the space sector and academia, relatively few sectors (UK and global) take advantage of these technologies to inform their activities. This can lead to critical limitations in the progression of sector developments and offering, and in uptake of new services. This is particularly true for the financial services sectors, where new forms of sustainable investment are growing in popularity but appetite remains tentative. This is due in part to lack of confidence in sustainable investment markets, including the nature markets, as there are no standardised processes for assessment, risk analysis, and validation. This could be provided using satellite data and AI, but due to distrust in these technologies their usage for this application remains limited.

The project consortium is engaged with stakeholders providing investment opportunity identification to customers using AI analysis of market trends to explore new services. The consortium has designed a service framework to provide standardised space-based assessment, risk analysis, and monitoring of natural assets, incorporating technologies for increasing trust, transparency, and ground-truth validation.

The project brings together the expertise and specialisms of three UK space companies to demonstrate the feasibility of an end-to-end service that uses space technologies to increase confidence and encourage investment in natural assets. This will showcase the UK space sector's capabilities in full end-to-end space services, and drive sustainability and natural regeneration programmes through increased investment.

Enterprise Centre Innovation Park, Triumph Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, NG7 2TU

Companies House number: 03645072

£198,125

Yes

No

This proposal will contribute to a next generation safe, high value position and navigation service to improve the accuracy and assurance of position data for transport and logistics. A key market for the technology is the autonomous transport market, where assurance is a critical information metric. Specifically, the project will significantly increase the precision and assurance of the GMV PPP corrections service across the UK through integration with the Ordnance Survey OSNET network of continuous operating GNSS reference stations (CORS). The OSNET network will provide an unprecedented density and assurance of GNSS data across the UK, providing a quantity and quality of data that has previously been uneconomical for GMV alone to collect.

The National Space Strategy has identified Navigation augmentation and Navigation value added services as the largest growth opportunities in the space sector after satellite broadband. The project will develop a high value service which will be exploited by a variety of users across the UK, opening up new opportunities for value added Location Based Services. The project aims at integrating existing assets from the partnering organisations to deliver a first of a kind demonstration of the performance improvements that can be achieved in bringing together public networks and infrastructure with private sector commercial services

European Way, Southampton, United Kingdom, SO14 3Z

Companies House number: 11444362

£200,000

No

No

The UK is a maritime nation. Approximately 95% of our international trade is transported through our
ports, which form a crucial link in the supply chain networks that fuel our economy. Climate driven changes to the coastal environment, coupled with the net zero imperative are creating new challenges for the Ports sector. Significant maritime trends include digitalisation, and a shift towards smart ports, which leverage innovations in technology to deliver greater intelligence, efficiency and security to minimise operational disruption. Space enabled Intertidal Mapping for Safe and Efficient Port Operations brings together satellite earth observation driven innovation in coastal observing developed for environmental research, with the practical needs of the Port sector. The work will assess the benefit and potential for large scale intertidal monitoring to inform the management of shipping channels and increase understanding of the coastal processes and trends. The aim is to demonstrate a scalable, globally applicable tool that can deliver carbon reduction through more targeted dredging, and operational efficiencies through greater environmental intelligence.

Unit 7/8 Temple Studios Temple Gate, Temple Meads, Bristol, England, BS1 6QA

Companies House number: 11022970

£199,892

Yes

No

This project and the delivery of the Advanced Infrastructure Monitoring by Satellite (AIMS) system
will deliver an innovative cloud-based User Interface to enable aggregation of innovative Satellite
and trainborne Terrestrial video data sources. This 6-month project delivery will combine and deliver
critical data to end-users in Network Rail and organisations and suppliers in the wider industry, to
facilitate extensive digital monitoring of climate-impacting risks to rail infrastructure. The below
Satellite data formats will be collated and presented in the AIMS platform across known areas and
challenges facing Network Rail to help deliver insight into climate challenges facing the rail sector:
Hyperspectral data will be tested in areas where we have already identified high vegetation
impact and will enable the monitoring of canopy coverage, movement and tree species.
This aligns with trainborne terrestrial data already being captured that monitors
contamination on the railhead during leaf fall season.
Earth Observation data will be tested to identify localised low spots of flood defences
which could allow overtopping (i.e. high-risk flood sites). This aligns with data already being
captured from static remote cameras strategically installed throughout the network to
monitor trackside bodies of water for flood warnings.
3D Imagery will be tested in areas that have been subject to land movement or have the
characteristics of potential land movement i.e. embankments and cuttings. This aligns with
trainborne data and geometry data already being collected from in-service and monitoring
trains.
Combined data will be tested to accelerate the building of a digital asset map by
identifying and locating lineside objects of multiple lineside assets. Many assets are currently
listed on spreadsheets and databases held in siloed departments and organisations; this
approach will enable a more intuitive and digitised means of monitoring equipment installed
in the network.
Further critical insight will be derived using intuitive Machine Learning ability across the aggregated
data, to enhance opportunities for mitigating action to improve future rail climate resilience and to
expand on the established benefits of terrestrial data for rail infrastructure monitoring.
The AIMS system will drastically improve opportunities for the management, triage, and monitoring
of potential infrastructure-impacting events in efforts to safeguard the rail industry against service
impacts and costly repairs. AIMS will facilitate flexible and repeatable data aggregation pertaining
to critical locations, with the perceived opportunity to delivery monitoring benefits across further national infrastructure within the Highways and Utilities industries.

Meriton Foundry, Meriton Street, Bristol, UK BS2 0SZ

Companies House number: 15088716

£199,597

Yes

No

There is an emerging market for measuring, monitoring and paying for Biodiversity net gain (BNG) in the UK. Biodiversity units have a statutory definition, but there is scope for interpretation in classifications and application of methodology.

Scope for bad actors, costly search and selection and high costs of BNG verification, alongside long-term monitoring requirements and risks to delivery over the 30-year lifetime of BNG projects, create poor incentives to ensure promises are carried out, raise challenges to growing the market and trusting outcomes. Nevertheless, the UK BNG emerging market is an early forerunner of likely developments globally, offering the opportunity for UK participants to become front runners in global markets.

Application of satellite data offers scope for partial to complete verification and validation of BNG at scale and low cost - with trade-offs between resolution and cost. Application providers relying on the few open or paid satellite data sources must differentiate themselves in terms of proprietary data processing and application algorithms which they are reluctant to expose to scrutiny. Application consumers (financial actors, market participants) face search, validation and selection costs to engender trust in their potential contribution to measurement and monitoring of BNG.
This grant enables SafeEarthSolutions Ltd to specify, prototype and test an independent system for the validation and verification of Statutory Biodiversity Unit measurement using satellite data. The system will engender trust and confidence in the use of satellite data amongst end users (financial actors and market participants) at low cost, while satellite data providers will be spared the risk of their IP being exposed during due diligence, enabling a greater role for satellite data in the new market for biodiversity net gain. As such our proposal offers an immense boost to unlocking space data applications in the UK and soon to be global market of Biodiversity Net Gain

Regus Offices, 93 George Street, Edinburgh,Scotland, EH2 3ES

Companies House number: SC595836

£199,773

Yes

No

The world needs a massive increase in investment in nature in order to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises. Although banks, large corporations, and asset managers have already allocated billions of dollars for nature investment, this must be increased significantly and quickly if we are to meet a 1.5oC warming target and prevent the extinction of an estimated million species at risk. Investors need high-quality nature data to help them identify opportunities, undertake due diligence, structure deals, and meet risk reporting requirements.

However, in practice nature is an emerging asset class, and is poorly supported with data and analytics compared with established investment classes. This is especially the case in tropical developing countries, which have huge potential to develop nature investments, but where regulatory regimes, infrastructure, and expertise are limited. These factors are among those that have hindered the acceleration of investment in nature-based solutions, to the detriment of the environment.

Space Intelligence is at the forefront of nature data generation, intersecting AI, satellite data analytics, and ecology, and providing high-integrity maps and analysis across the world. We count some of the world's largest companies as our clients, supporting them to invest in nature with confidence. We are now making our expertise and data products accessible to the financial services industry, supporting a wave of new investment in nature.

In a combined qualitative and quantitative project, we will first critically engage with banks and asset managers to understand their due diligence, risk management, and transaction processes in depth, identifying the gaps that hinder investment in nature assets. Second, we will use these insights to co-create a new interpretative algorithm to ingest satellite-derived data sets, and to automatically produce the data and analysis that the financial services sector needs for the investment decision-making process, and which can be incorporated into their existing technology stacks.
We will scale and commercialise this technology with selected partners to significantly increase our
engagement with the financial services sector, bringing satellite data analytics to finance decision-makers, opening a new market for space technology. This will provide significant commercial opportunities for our fast-scaling business, generating new stable revenue, creating jobs and supporting UK Plc.

Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, England, W1S 4BS

Companies House number: 11610934

£199,987

Yes

No

The project focuses on producing an online software tool that enables financial institutions to more
confidently and transparently invest in nature. Investment in nature has doubled to $12.7B in 2023
compared to $8B in 2022 through markets such as the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as well as
timber and agriculture. These forms of investments are new to many investors and funds who lack
the in-house technical capabilities to perform necessary financial and environmental due diligence.
Recent news revealing the poor financial and environmental performance of many natural capital assets within the VCM highlights a need for good quality analytics to enable and encourage
financial institutions to invest in nature.
To address this dearth in technical capability and analytics Treeconomy proposes using satellite
imagery and measurements to construct a holistic overview of potential natural capital assets to
inform investors' decision making process. Using satellites greatly reduces the cost and time taken
to perform due diligence compared to the current standard of outsourcing expensive and lengthy in
field surveying. To further reduce the technical barrier to entry Treeconomy will build this functionality into our existing natural capital and carbon monitoring platform 'Sherwood' enabling customers to perform their due diligence at the click of a button. This will allow an investor to quickly understand any potential liabilities and opportunities and enable faster nature positive investment. Building upon satellite-based due diligence checks we further propose a solution which addresses the current scale and accuracy limitations in monitoring carbon sequestration within natural capital assets. Knowing the sequestered carbon within a site is important in determining potential financial opportunities
and is often undertaken after an initial due diligence check. Using modern machine learning models in conjunction with terrestrial, drone and satellite data we will quantify the carbon stored within a site by upscaling the satellite data to provide a richer and more accurate understanding of the carbon on the ground.
Providing quick and effective satellite-based checks for nature based investments will greatly boost
nature investments, resultantly providing incalculable benefits to the environment and society.