FORESTS

Fire Observation and Remote Environment and Sea Thermal imaging by near Space solutions

Challenge :

Ultimate objective is to offer an affordable persistent high altitude mean of observation and data transmission. To achieve this, several technical challenges must be met; operation and powering at low temperature of instruments, coping with weather conditions during launch and retrieval, ensuring a controlled autonomous navigation system, easy maintenance & high reliability of whole system (balloon and payload).

Currently this technology has only been developed worldwide in the USA , so achieving this technological challenge will position Europe in a privileged position to compete in the HAPS sector for its multiple applications: Earth Observation (fire prevention and monitoring, illegal fishing surveillance, crops monitoring), Communications (IoT, 5G) and Defence, adding unique capabilities to Europe surveillance forces.

Short description of the solution :

FORESTS is a project aiming to operate a European high altitude modular multi-mission’s system integrated into a stratospheric balloon (HAPS).
By flying from 18 to 25 km above the ground/sea, FORESTS will cover a large area (about 200,000km² with a 500km diameter) for extended time missions (up to several months).
Equipped with sensors tailored to the missions and connected to the ground via a high data rate and secured bidirectional datalink, FORESTS will cover a large scope of missions depending of sensors and flight altitudes:
• Fire early warning system and assistance to firefighters to anticipate fire movement (using infrared cooled or uncooled cameras)
• Maritime pollutions (oil spill detection, unidentified floating objects…)
• Ship quantification and qualification over a specific EEZ (maritime exclusive economic zone)
• Emergency communication during and after natural disasters
• Gas leak detection (pipelines, GNL tank storage & terminals)
• Near space laboratory
and others to be later on imagined.

Project objective :

The main project objective is to develop and test a fully functional HAPS system prototype and to perform a Proof of Concept (POC) in order to qualify:
• FORESTS’s compactness and ease of operation (number of people and skills required, time to deploy, operate and store, environmental and regulation constraints)
• The complete FORESTS’s functional chain from the air segment to the ground station and its interface towards remote operators via available networks
• The range of sensors compatible with FORESTS’s payload structure and associated services and applications

 Expected results :

The main results are among the following:
• To demonstrate the value of using HAPS as the “missing link” between aircrafts flying close to the earth’s surface and satellites orbiting in space
• To design a compact and transportable solution in a shelter solution including all the components of the system to be deployed: balloon, sensors, ground segment and its antenna
• To make a modular payload structure welcomed into the balloon’s basket and easily compatible with a large scope of sensors to cover a wide area of applications
• To use commercial off the shelf sensors, traditionally used at lower altitude, combined with data treatment to deliver expected and valuable pieces of information to end-users
• To propose a fully integrated system which can be used by any end-users, whatever is location, thanks to a native and secure interface (web service, cloud)

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