Onboard Processing: GREAT, a precursor to the first Italian space mission for GNSS Reflectometry

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GREAT – GNSS REflectometry Artificial intelligence-enabled Test-bed

GREAT aims to develop and validate an innovative GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R) airborne test-bed as a precursor to the first Italian space mission in this field. Through dedicated flight campaigns over land and sea, the project targets enhanced environmental and territory monitoring with high spatial resolution. GREAT will deliver key geophysical products such as sea surface wind, soil moisture, biomass, and marine altimetry. The integration of AI on-board processing and GNSS-R/SAR techniques will enable near real-time data exploitation for applications in civil protection, meteorology, and agriculture. Read more about in the Projects section.

  • Funded by Italian Space Agency (ASI)
  • Developed by proposed by a consortium including TASI, Unisannio, CNR-IFAC,  GEO-K, Uniparthenope, UniNA (Federico II), Intecs Solutions, MAPSAT, AizOon

Onboard Processing: AIKO and GEO-K Together in the ASI-Funded AISAR Project

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AISAR is a research project aimed at revolutionizing the processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data directly onboard satellites.

Traditionally, SAR image processing is carried out on the ground, requiring satellites to downlink large volumes of raw data. This approach leads to high communication costs and limits the feasibility of real-time applications.

AISAR overcomes these constraints by integrating artificial intelligence–based SAR focusing and compression algorithms directly onboard the satellite. This onboard processing paradigm dramatically reduces data transmission requirements while maintaining high image quality. The project also demonstrates the operational value of in-orbit SAR data processing through practical use cases such as ship detection, underscoring the strategic relevance of autonomous onboard intelligence. Further details are available in the Projects section.

By enabling onboard intelligence, AISAR enhances satellite efficiency, reduces dependence on ground infrastructure, and unlocks faster and more responsive applications in environmental monitoring, security, and emergency management.