Abstract
(English)
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The HeliNet project aims at designing an integrated network based on HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) unmanned solar platforms. The main features of this infrastructure are its reconfigurability, flexibility, quick deployment, zero environmental and human impact. The HeliNet permits the exploitation of the stratospheric segment, and is suitable for several cost effective and interoperable applications in various strategic fields such as localisation, environmental surveillance, provision of telecommunication services. The project addresses all aspects of the HeliNet design. A stratospheric aerodynamic HALE platform, named HELIPLAT, is designed (included the solar and fuel cell energy subsystem), and a scaled size prototype is manufactured in order to perform static tests. The network design is carried out, considering various geographical coverage areas; a common communication interface is addressed, in order to guarantee the flexibility of HeliNet as for possible applications. Finally, the study of 3 pilot applications is performed, in the fields of localisation (including the possible integration with the Galileo system), environmental data processing and transmission, provision of broadband services. The project is carried out by a transnational and multisectorial partnership of research departments at universities and companies.The Signal Processing Laboratory of EPFL is mainly involved in the Environmental Surveillance tasks. We develop an optical payload able to demonstrate the interest of the Helinet concept for surveillance tasks like environmental monitoring. Therefore we study the on-board image acquisition devices, develop on-board image processing and compression algorithms, include the image data in a communication stream down to the ground, and develop image post-processing techniques that will run on powerful workstations on the ground. Image selection and compression, super-resolution and image analysis techniques have been mainly investigated, in collaboration with our work package partners, i.e. Fastcom Technologies SA (Lausanne) and Politecnico di Torino.
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