Page 130 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

Harris Corporation (https://www.harris.com/) recently
field tested the prototype. “When we show HICO IPS
to our customers, they immediately see the value Artificial intelligence, which is
of accessing data through a web application,” said already helping astronauts on the
Amanda O’Connor, business development manager.
Users of coastal remote sensing data range from ISS, is also providing a promising
commercial fisheries that determine prime fishing approach for solving crimes.
locations to public health officials assessing the
potential need for swim advisories.
Users need no prior knowledge of image acquisition
or processing to get meaningful answers quickly,
and the tool needs no calibration. Artificial intelligence is set to play a major role in future
During its 5-year operation, HICO collected space missions. More automation can reduce ground
approximately 10,000 hyperspectral scenes of operations, costs and risks. ESA astronaut Alexander
Earth, most of them available through http:// Gerst will build on previous research. He will test an
oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Although HICO is no intelligent mobile crew assistant following his launch
longer operating, the HICO IPS framework can use to the ISS in the summer of 2018.
other remote sensing instruments, including future
imagers on the space station as well as satellites. Although the initial crew training project of 2003–2005
provided a small step in artificial intelligence, it led
“HICO IPS bridges the gap between the theoretical to a completely different domain: security. Space
science mission of the ISS and something people can Applications Services developed a tool that could
consume and use,” O’Connor added. “As a taxpayer, cope with most factual questions and display the
that makes me happy. This application is bringing return results. It became possible to find specific video feeds
on investment to the public who helped finance the in surveillance cameras from thousands of hours of
space station. That really underscores the relevancy recordings. Hereafter, the same technology was used
of the ISS as a National Lab.” for training crisis managers at airports for real-time
Space station-based Earth sensing and imaging also decision making. The staff were trained in a simulator
supports other technology, including the German Space to detect incidents and potential threats.
Centre (DLR) Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer A decade after the space trial, European engineers
(DESIS), a hyperspectral sensor for the Multi-User started working on the semi-automated scanning of
System for Earth Sensing (MUSES). DLR and Teledyne huge amounts of data from a wide range of source—
partnered on DESIS, which is a visible to near-infrared e.g., written records, footage and social media—within
imaging spectrometer. DESIS supports both scientific seconds. The software does the laborious parts of a
research and humanitarian and commercial purposes. crime analyst’s job with a single click. The Belgian
Examples of its applications include land cover police are now evaluating it for cost-effective
classification, biomass assessment, drought impact intelligence gathering and analysis. The software
assessment, forest health monitoring, water quality could become a commercial product by mid 2018.
monitoring and oil spill monitoring and assessment.

Small Computers Tackle Big Tasks
Artificial Intelligence for Solving Crime in Space
Artificial intelligence, which is already helping astronauts Tiny processing boards perform giant tasks onboard
on the ISS, is also providing a promising approach for the International Space Station. These business-
solving crimes. In an era of security concerns, the smart card sized tools, called Q-cards, also provide rover
use of police data is critical for uncovering leads. It can navigation and run the payloads of many satellites.
detect suspicious patterns, reconstruct scenes and
highlight promising avenues of investigation. The origins Xiphos Technologies (http://xiphos.com/), a Canadian
of this machine intelligence date back almost 15 years, company specializing in computing and network
when efforts were aimed at preparing astronauts for communication for harsh environments, developed
space. The Space Applications Services company and tested the Q-card data processing technology
developed question-answering software for training for the space station. In addition to running
astronauts on ESA’s Columbus research laboratory. conventional software code, the cards use

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