SPACEIMAGING TM/

OSS SPEECH as presented by Tish Vajta-Williams

The theme that I have been asked to talk about is whatSpace Imaging will do for you. I have somewhatmodified that to present what I see as a mutualchallenge between you as a potential user of ourremote sensing data and we as a provider of thatproduct. But first, I would like to show you a threeminute video that briefly introduces Space ImagingInc. (SII).

Before I expand my thoughts on our mutual challenge, Iwould like to start with a brief status of where SpaceImaging is today.The SII business is earth information. Our

intention is to provide a new source of remotesensing data. We have been working for over fiveyears in getting this business started. In early Octoberwe announced a major milestone in that in addition tothe investment committed by Lockheed last April, E-Systems (ESY) Board of Directors approved theircommitment as a major investor in SII. The Lockheedcommitment amounted to an investment of $150Million. ESY has committed to $100 Million. Thecombination of this commitment provides SII the basisfor proceeding with the initiation of our contracts fordelivery in late 1997 of the capability required.Lockheed will be the prime contractor and willsubcontract to ESY for the entire ground segment.Lockheed will provide the system integration as well asbe the integrator of the spacecraft and payload. ESYwill be the integrator of the ground segment,providing the receipt of the satellite data, imageprocessing functions and customer service support.Eastman Kodak has been selected as the contractor forthe optical telescope integration including the optics,focal plane and electronics. We are working with Kodakto establish a strategic alliance and extend their

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support to us in other areas of relevant interests suchas digital technology. We hope to have the SII Boardof Directors formally close the first round ofinvestment this month. This milestone obviously hasbeen very important for us and we are elated that ithas been met within the schedule and investmentcommitment originally planned Our next milestonewill involve obtaining our regional affiliates committed.We have strong interest in several regional areas andare close to closing those commitments.

My first chart pictorially displays Space Imaging's remotesensing data as the new source providing a baselayer for other information layers required relevantto specific applications. We would like to partner withthose entities that are currently using remote sensingdata, and support their applications as well as createnew markets. However, our intentions are to reducesome of the labor intensive efforts which exist todayin using available remote sensing data by applyingour high throughput digital image processingexperience. Our efforts will concentrate on timelydelivery of our data. We will establish a streamlinedprocess for users to understand what might beavailable in our archives and if not, the potential fornew collection, which on the average can be collectedwithin 1-3 days anywhere in the world. We will becreating browse imagery data bases containing"thumbnail" or "snippets" of our imagery that will beavailable through distributed communicationpaths, such as 1-800 numbers, Internet, orImagenet. Our ground stations will be receiving a320 Mbits/sec data stream. Our image processingcapability will be designed to provide a throughput forthis data stream in real time. This is four times thedata rate capability of todays' commercial systems.We believe that this capability will provide new and

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revealing remote sensing data about our earth to theprivate sector, governments, and the public.

Why is this a challenge?The onslaught of the information "flood" is already upon

us. How many of you end up with a stack ofmagazines, papers, and articles piling up on a week toweek basis. Isn't it wonderful to subscribe to theWashington rags: Washington Technology, SpaceNews, Electronic News, GIS Publications. But how canwe keep up? I remember discussions I had with CIA'sorganization FBIS not very long after the demise ofthe Soviet Union, when every former Soviet btoccountry's broadcasts were suddenly available. Itbecame very difficult for them to keep up with the newflood of data, and to be able to extract that which was ofintelligence interest. Our mutual challenge is toclearly define the data requirements pertinentto the desired information.

What is information? Information is data placed incontext. Of increasing interest, is the time aspect ofinformation. This then requires relating time andspace in context. For SII the attributes of our data isspatial and spectral in a universal time domain. Thuswe believe our data has the potential to provide youinformation-- if your requirements for informationhave been translated correctly. This can only bedone in partnership with the users of our data.We want to provide information--not flood the marketwith extraneous data. You as members of OpenSource Solutions clearly understand finding the kernelin the vast amount of open source information beingmade readily available today. We want to providethis "kernel" as directly as possible.

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What will Space Imaging provide?Our intentions are to provide better than 1 meter

panchromatic and 4 meter multi-spectral resolutionremote sensing data. We have developed a list ofstandard products that we believe will meet themarket segment applications we have projected. The listof our products are described in the chart. By standardproducts we mean those products that lend themselvesto being produced via highly automated processes. Bystandardizing we believe our efficiencies will increase--allowing a lower cost product to our users. Our metricaccuracy and image quality will be able to meet the1:2400 map scale with limited ground control points.Without ground control points we will be able to meet the1:24000 map scale. Our world will be digital. We wantour digital product to be compatible with you businessenvironment. We want to facilitate you being able toingest our products, display and fuse other informationinto your applications.

Since aerial data represents the resolution mostcompatible with our market interests, we are interestedin partnering with existing aerial channeldistributors. We will be collecting and using aerial datain prototyping our products and functions. How you asour customer want to make use of our capability iscritical to our mutual success. We solicit your feedback,and will offer the results of our prototyping. I haveexamples of one of the products we intend to create-the1meter pan sharpened product. As a background, weconducted an aerial collection of 1 meter panchromaticand 1 meter multi-spectral digital data to use as our testimage data for prototyping our standard products. Thefirst image shows two multispectral scenes, one at 1meter and the other at 4 meters. These images clearlyshow the additional blurring of the image in the lowerresolution scene. The second image scene displays the

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RGB multispectral data at 1 meter, and the 1 meterpanchromatic data fused with the 4 meter multi-spectraldata. Notice that there is almost no discernable differencewith the fused product using lower resolution (4 meter)multispectral data and 1 meter panchromatic with that ofthe scene using 1 meter multispectral data only. This 1meter pan sharpened product can therefore takeadvantage of the resolution of our panchromatic datawith the spectral content of our multispectral data.

The timing of Space Imaging is opportunistic. It isthe right time.

There is a convergence of motion. My next charts desc4ibesactivities that relate to this motion and convergence.1) The changes in the world order are allowing

movement worldwide. Countries are taking over theirdestinies and people are taking over their lives.Changes in world order are demanding worldwideinformation and sharing of that information. The needfor information is growing. Changes in ourdomestic society are demanding choices. Thesechanges are creating "edge" cities. Cities that aremaking decisions relative to their own interests butreside as suburban entities to major metropolitanareas. These changes are also creating peoplechoices-to work at home and thus to haveinformation available locally and more readily as well.

2) This in turn is changing the business dynamics.Businesses are increasingly expanding their presenceinto many countries and are including diverse culturalinterests. Businesses require up to date worldwideinformation to provide distributed services.Information is power. It influences business decisions.It provides the competitive edge.

3) These changes in the world order and the resultingdownsizing of the defense/intelligence budget has

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created the need for changes in government policyallowing defense contractors an opportunity tocompete competitively. The government's willingnessto reduce export barriers and approve licensessuch as those of Space Imaging has allowed us to makebusiness decisions to pursue such opportunities.

4) There is a blending of military/commercialapplications, particularly regarding remote sensingdata. The military support for non military crisis andthe unpredictablilty of these crisis demands newsources of data and the relevant information. Ourtiming is right here as well. We can take advantagetoday of knowledge, experience, and maturetechnology obtained through past defense/intelligencecontracting and apply it to the commercial world-- butin many ways technology development today is beingdriven by the commercial and public interests.Therefore the opportunity for transfer of what welearned as defense contractors is a narrow window ofopportunity that may not present itself again ascommercial technology leaps forward.

5) Today the availability of low-cost high speedcomputing networks are providing extremelycapable low cost platforms. In addition, low-cost imagemanipulation software is readily available. Twentyfive years ago when the microprocessor was firstconceived--the idea of a computer on a chip--hasresulted in what is estimated as 10 Billion processorsand micro controllers are in use today in everythingfrom an appliance to automobiles. Faster cheaper chipswill continue to drive down pixel processing costs.These will combine with devices to store, print,communicate, and edit digital images. Our Kodakfriends will help us with their digital cameras, compactdiscs, and digital tape.

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6) Finally, but not least is the exploding informationmarket. The potential for the information highway toincrease the bandwidth available to be able to moveuncompressed digital imagery is being aggressivelyworked. Bandwidth is certainly in high demand. Lastweek in Chicago, hundreds of companies anduniversities discussed the converging telephone,computer, and television business as well as otherissues of the information age. They were discussingthe "Information Overload". Thirty three emergingtechnologies, applications, and new products were-ndisplay, each promising to help manage theinformation overload.

In summary, it is the right time for Space Imaging. Myfinal chart describes our vision for the future. Theopportunity is there for both of us. The challenge is towork together to achieve what can truly be aunique Open Source Solution.

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THIRD INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM on NATIONAL SECURITY & NATIONAL

COMPETITIVENESS: OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS Proceedings, 1994 Volume II -

Link PagePrevious Intelligence Conversion: Constructive Contributions to Business Intelligence Capabilities from Government

Information Technology Programs, by Mr. Michael Weiner, President and CEO, TextWise (PART TWO)

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