Integrated Satellite Services

Combining the space assets Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation and Satellite Communication with non-space technologies is a highly dynamic and innovative field and opens up new areas of applications and markets. Building on its extensive expertise and experience in geo-information, remote sensing, GIS, and communication and information technologies, GAF applies a holistic approach in order to provide effective and efficient services and solutions.

The ability of GIS to seamlessly integrate data with varying structures and scales is a key factor for multi-criteria analysis, as well as decision-making and planning processes. This is particularly true for the management of environmental risks and natural or man-made disasters.

The creation of solutions combining terrestrial data with space assets like Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation and Satellite Communication opens up new markets for satellite technology. Currently, the usage of satellite technology is not yet widely established in some industrial sectors. In Europe, mainly Satellite Navigation has found sustainable access to industrial applications and even to the consumer market. Satellite Communication is still limited to small niche markets in Europe due to the tight GMS network. Earth Observation is of increasing importance. However, the Satellite Services of the Copernicus programme have recently become available and will be gradually expanding in the coming years. In addition, upcoming satellite systems with increasingly higher resolution and shorter time intervals become available and so both the interest of the public and the industry are growing steadily.

GAF constantly seeks to develop and implement innovative new applications and services for its clients. New services based on synergies between space technologies and geo-information are identified, defined and analysed in concept studies. The aim of such studies is to initially demonstrate the feasibility and financial viability of the services and then to ascertain specific requirements by interfacing directly with users and stakeholders. Based on a detailed requirements analysis, the solution will then be realised as pre-operational demonstrator service. An extensive pilot demonstration phase including evaluation and assessment ensures that the solution is ready for supporting the business processes of the clients and is mature for operational usage in the market.

Our approach aims at enhancing the cooperation with the large-scale industry to enhance established processes and to demonstrate the added value of satellite services. Thus, in addition to domains like the communications industry, the agricultural and the forestry sector, today additional customer groups - from the logistics industry, the insurance industry and from organisations specialized in environmental technology  - can benefit from the usage of Satellite technology. The applications and services for these new customers are significantly outgrowing the stage of demonstration projects and are increasingly accessing the operational processes of big industry and governmental stakeholders, thereby ensuring a long-term sustainable cooperation.