"Future Stories" is a series of interviews with Group employees about their efforts to lead to a future of Space for your Smile.

In recent summers, heavy rains, tornadoes, and other disasters have caused major damage throughout Japan. Landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains that occur over a wide area and at the same time have become a major social problem.

SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation is working to quickly detect the extent of damage caused by such natural disasters with high accuracy and utilize it for disaster prevention and mitigation by using data and AI technology that photographs the Earth from satellites.

Together with Zenrin Co., Ltd. and Japan Koei Co., Ltd., we have released LIANA, a service that monitors the aging deformation of soil structures such as slopes and embankments and Infrastructure with millimeter accuracy.

We talked to the team members about how remote sensing technologies and services, with a focus on LIANA, are contributing to solving environmental and social issues.

―――Members Interviewed

From left to right: Mr. Togawa, Mr. Nishizawa, Mr. Tomihara, Mr. Anahara, and Mr. Makio.

Current Initiatives for Materiality KPIs

―――One of the Group's key issues is the promotion of innovation that contributes to the environment and society.

Mr. Tomihara: There are three initiatives that utilize remote sensing: the first is to grasp the status of flood damage, the second is slope Infrastructure monitoring (LIANA), and the third is reservoir monitoring.

Specifically, in order to do remote sensing, we get imagery with a Low-earth orbit satellites equipped with a sensor, and we procure that imagery, apply analysis algorithms, and provide it to our customers in the form of solutions.

Of these three points, we are focusing the most on LIANA, which is an abbreviation for Land-deformation and Infrastructure ANAlysis, a service that monitors slope and Infrastructure variability risks using satellites. Land-deformation is the variation of the slope, infrastructure is Infrastructure, for example, construction facilities such as bridges and roads, and ANAlysis is the analysis. These facilities are analyzed using SAR satellite technology (an artificial satellite that uses microwave reflections to observe the earth's surface from space) technology and deliver information to customers.

LIANA is conducted in collaboration with Zenrin Co., Ltd. and Japan Koei Co., Ltd., a company that provides map databases, etc., and Japan Koei Co., Ltd. is the largest construction consultant in Japan.

For example, point cloud information in a mountain points to a landslide warning area, embankment, or other land that needs to be monitored at all times. We ask the customer to set the area they want to see, and we procure and analyze imagery of satellite imagery and SAR satellites, and display the analysis results as a point cloud on this UI.

The "Slope Fluctuation Rank" shown on the screen alerts you to how dangerous the slope movement is, in accordance with the standards issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. If you click on each point, you will see a graph that plots the mutations from the past to the present. You can see that this clicked point has moved about several tens of centimeters over the past few years. Even in situations where it is difficult for customers to make decisions on their own, we can provide advice based on the knowledge and know-how of Japan Koei Co., Ltd.

The map can be replaced not only with an aerial photograph but also with a map of Zenrin Co., Ltd., so you can clearly see at a glance what kind of houses and facilities are in the surrounding area, and you can grasp the characteristics of the area.

Mr. Anahara: The black and white imagery on the left is the satellite imagery of the radar. Microwaves are struck toward the ground, and the reflection of microwaves is represented in black and white. Like an X-ray, you can penetrate through some walls and through clouds. You can always see the ground beneath it, even on a cloudy day. The imagery on the right shows the amount of subsidence, and the blue area is where the sink is stronger. If it is a residential area, it is information that affects the Assets value.

The actual imagery that can be taken is 50 × 50 km, which is much wider, and you can take a picture of an area that fits the entire size of Tokyo in one time, and the observation time is about 7 seconds. It's a mechanism that allows you to tell which house in Tokyo is dangerous in 7 seconds.

If you use it towards a slope, it will help the manager of the slope of the mountain, and it is quite difficult to go further and further into the mountain. We also experienced a little mountain climbing with Japan Koei Co., Ltd., and it was difficult.

Mr. Tomihara: I gave up at about the second station on the way.

Mr. Anahara: It is difficult to go into the mountains and investigate, but if you can measure everything from a satellite, you can measure everything in a few seconds, so I think it can be applied to it.

Mr. Tomihara: In the conventional method, surveyors go to the location and survey it, and when we wanted to place surveying equipment on the mountain, it was difficult to understand only one part of the ridge or to grasp the variation in terms of surface because it was so extensive, but by using SAR satellites and remote sensing technology, we can cover all surfaces (points) of 50 × 50 km.

In 2021, there was a large-scale collapse after heavy rains in Atami, and it can be used by embankment managers to prevent such incident Assets s. We hope that it will be used to determine where to invest, such as which equipment should be maintained first.

―――How is it used today?

Mr. Tomihara: The electric power company has started a demonstration, and they have a large hydroelectric power generation facility in the mountains, and they have requested to monitor the slopes of nearby mountains. In local governments, it is used by departments that manage mountain slopes and sediment disaster warning areas.

We are good at information on the surface of the land, so we would like to have it used by large construction consultants and real estate agents in the city.

―――Can you tell us about LIANA's strengths?

Mr.Tomihara: I think the sophistication of analysis and the ease of use of the UI are our strengths.

Mr. Togawa: You can see where the sink is stronger by colors such as blue, and you can visually see how much it has fluctuated retroactively in the past, so you can visualize the information that customers want to know in detail.

In addition, Zenrin Co., Ltd., a Partners company, has a wealth of map data, so for example, detailed information such as whether this building is an apartment complex or a condominium, the number of floors and age of the building, how many rooms there are, and how many households are there, so in the future we would like to incorporate it into "LIANA" and add more and more useful functions.

―――Is it possible to check out a person's home?

Mr. Tomihara: Yes, in fact, is the ground of the condominium that was recently bought among the employees okay? I took a look at something like that.

Mr. Togawa: The area where I live happened to be within the analysis range, and there was no ground movement.

―――You might be able to provide the data to the condominium management association and say it's safe!

Contribution to the environment and society

―――Do you ever think about environmental and social contributions in terms of sustainability?

Mr. Makio: We knew that there was a shortage of surveyors and that it would take a lot of effort and cost to survey in hard-to-reach land. I believe that the above social issues can be solved by using it in urban development.

Mr. Tomihara: By working with Partners companies such as Zenrin Co., Ltd. and Japan Koei Co., Ltd., we have gained insights that we cannot obtain on our own Partners.

―――Please tell us about LIANA's future challenges.

Mr. Togawa: Even now, we receive a lot of comments from customers such as "I want this kind of function" and "I would like to see more of this," and I would like to always think about that when developing applications. In addition, there is data other than satellite data that affects landslides on slopes, so I would like to combine such information to make it a better service.

Mr. Nishizawa: Our goal is not only to create LIANA, but also one, two, and three more sustainable services that solve social issues and are sought after by customers.

(Interview date: April 5, 2023)

The LIANA service enables wide-area, low-cost monitoring during normal times, and contributes to the reduction of anxiety about disasters and the creation of safe cities Infrastructure.

Related Links:

Zenrin Co., Ltd.: Overall Top | Zenrin Co., Ltd. (zenrin.co.jp)

Japan Koei Co., Ltd.: Japan Koei Co., Ltd. (n-koei.co.jp)

SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation: Space Business (skyperfectjsat.space) | List of Services | LIANA