Through the collaboration, SITCEN will be able to access ICEYE earth observation capabilities. The aim is to bolster Nato’s data-driven assessments for decision-makers.
It is the first time the NATO HQ has worked with the company, but Iceye already has a number of agreements in place with governments that are members of Nato. In 2021, for example, the U.S. Army turned to ICEYE for SAR mission imagery.
The company itself highlighted the use of data for security and national defence:
“Iceye provides high-accuracy SAR satellite imaging and data to support situational awareness and decision making in defence and security settings,” said Pekka Laurila, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder. “We are proud of the opportunity to cooperate and support NATO users and decision-makers with data from the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation, owned and operated by Iceye.”
The company’s latest SAR satellites can provide 25cm ground resolution. And the situational awareness exists in all weather and light. To date, its constellation consists of 48 SAR satellites in orbit.
Dwell mode
In June 2023 we reported that Iceye introduced a new imaging mode, dubbed “Dwell”, for its small satellites.
It enables the radar imaging satellites to focus on a single point on Earth as they pass overhead, combining more information into a single 25-second data collection. Its aimed at users needing to extract more information from radar imagery, including movement and direction of man-made objects, for example vehicles.
The Dwell product has three components: high-fidelity SAR image (to reduce the speckle artifacts common in SAR images), colour subaperture images (to better distinguish vehicles and buildings from natural backgrounds) and the use of video (built from the multiple sub-images that comprise a Dwell collection).
SAR
An advantage of synthetic aperture radar – compared to typical optical imagery – is that it enables day-night, all-weather imaging. It can be described as a type of active data collection. A sensor records the amount of energy that reflects back to it. This makes it responsive to surface characteristics, such as building structures and atmosphere moisture.
It is a “synthetic” aperture because it combines a sequence of data acquisitions from a shorter antenna. This is to simulate what would be a much larger antenna.
The company has 700 employees. It has offices in the UK, Finland, Poland, Spain, Australia, Japan, UAE, Greece, and the US.
Image: Iceye – View of Nato headquarters in Brussels
See also: Iceye, Space42 jv to bring satellite manufacturing to UAE
