Hi all,
I have been tasked with helping our aviation department develop new business opportunities. They have access to the entire IMSAR, LLC suite of sensors to include high resolution SAR radar pods, high resolution EO and IR (still imagery), and a limited FMV capability. IMSAR's sensor pods would be mounted on Cessna 172's, and piloted by extensively trained aircrews familiar with testing and operating IMSAR sensor packages.
Given what the capabilities of the aircraft and sensor packages offer, I have several questions:
1. What types of data collection can they reasonably expect a customer to request in the commercial sector?
2. What are the going rates for data collection being conducted currently worldwide?
3. Where are the "niche" markets right now?
4. What software/hardware packages are being used to process these data collects?
5. Are there opportunities to sell raw data, and to whom?
Replies
Hi Scott, what's the idea about location of processing and delivery of products to the customer / end-user? Spacemetric can offer solutions for both traditional on-line and off-line processing in a ground exploitation station, as well as handling the data on-board the aircraft, with local in-air processing and distribution of prioritised images and products to on-ground users. I have added some info on Spacemetric solutions below. Feel free to contact me in case you desire to learn about this. Bob
Spacemetric website
CUSTODIAN image library
CRAFTER exploitation workstation
Maritime Surveillance solution
Scott, a couple of follow up questions.
Does the SAR capability also have an MTI processor? If so, to what reolution?
For the 172 mounting, do you have an approved STC? If yes, is it US only or International?
Can the SAR and EO/IR imaging happen on the aircraft or is post processing required at the end of mission?
I ask because a colleague of mine is looking for a capability like this to establish an On Call Search and Rescue capability for Indonesia. His company is AviationHubAsia (Aviationhubasia.com). If you contact them through their website, his name is Stephan Edwards. He is also a member of this group.
Other use cases for this capability I can think of are surveying, materials management/measurement, Line or Rail sweeps, pipeline inspections, wildlife survey, resource potential geodesy, and search and rescue.
Do you happen to know any companies that make a Magnetic Anomoly Detectors (MAD) or GPEN radar that would fit on a 172? Underground pipeline mapping might be a niche area that could be done much more efficiently from the air, if a reliable technique and sensor could be worked out. Just food for thought.
Cheers
Wayne
Thanks All! Your responses confirmed what I was thinking... and MORE!!! I appreciate the community help on this, and it looks like you guys are really doing some great work in the field. Thanks again for the responses, and if you ever need anything from me do not hesitate to ask. Thank you!
Hi Scott,
I suggest you contact CarteNav Solutions Inc., in Halifax, NS.
They might be able to help you out: http://www.cartenav.com/
Regards,
Will
Hi Scott,
Now I understand your business case. I assume that it is your company's interest to lease out as many radar systems as possible. Is a single partner aviation company going to offer your services worldwide or would you be willing to work with several regional partners as ops providers while IMSAR, LLC develops business opportunities?
Maybe this is an inspiration? There is a Swedish sensor manufacturer which also rents out their EO gimbals in addition to selling them, see: http://www.dst.se/product-rental . AFAIK, this manufacturer mainly rents out export free EO imbals (i.e. with uncooled IR cameras), although they also offer more performant gimbals which are equipped with cooled IR cameras.
Gustavo,
Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it! IMSAR, LLC is not going to be the actual operator for these potential services, the sensors would most likely be leased through IMSAR, LLC to a partner aviation company. The website and promotional materials for any aviation services provided is still under construction. My apologies for any confusion, as this is in the very beginning phase. Thank you again for commenting, and I will definitely check out your Company!!!
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Scott,
Airborne Tecnhnologies (www.airbornetechnologies.at) is an Austrian integrator whose secondary business is to provide cost-efficient airborne sensing services worldwide with our small aircraft fleet and our GIS team. Our services portfolio comprise photogrammetric, LiDAR, hyperspectral and Daylight / IR based surveys.
Many of our past projects were acquired the traditional way through public tenders, existing contacts, events/networking and e-mail enquiries. IMSAR, LLC was known to me as a provider of small radar systems, but by visiting your website www.imsar.com, it is still not clear to me how and that you provide services at all. On your page, I only see the radar systems and their capabilities. Especially e-mail enquiries sometimes led us to niche markets which we would otherwise have never found out about.
With reference to processing software and hardware, rates for data collection ((not sure if we can disclose that though) as well as to the potential of raw data, I can connect you to our Head of GIS Services if you wish so.
Scott, no problem...I'll hold fire accorrdingly. Also, I'll PM you regarding another thought! Patrick
Patrick, as much as I'd like to have this question on LinkedIn, I think it's better to leave it here in this forum for a few weeks and if we cannot generate any discussions on the ASOG page, maybe try a link to the discussion afterwards. Thanks for your support!
Cheers,
Scott Hillman
Hi Scott,
Good questions, it made me do some research. To get a bigger vis on your questions, can I share on Linked-In, i.e., let the Linked-In ASOG connectionss have a view/comment? Just let me know.
Thanks Scott!
Patrick