Davra alongside two other Irish companies, Skytek and mBryonics, were awarded funding from the European Space Agency (ESA; www.esa.int) to develop an integrated satellite and distributed ground sensor system to monitor mine tailings storage facilities in remote locations. These systems are being developed in hopes that they will improve both remote and on-the-ground monitoring. Evaluating data from multiple is expected to enhance efficiency, reduce long-term costs, and lessen the duration of each project. Paul Glynn, Davra CEO, expressed his excitement about the contract, sharing that it is “one of our most exciting IoT projects to date.”
Skytek received funding support under ESA’s InCubed Programme to develop an advanced application to allow insurers to assess the real time scale of cargo in ports once offloaded from a ship and hence, their potential liability in the case of an accident. Experts at Skytek will create applications that will examine types of cargo to help manage busy ports, control incoming ships, organize sizable containers and develop effective guidelines. The ESA also awarded funding to Galway based mBryonics to develop a software-defined optical transport network to deliver very high throughput Earth Observation data downloads from the space segment to a distributed ground segment
The European Space Agency, a multinational organization that manages a wide variety of projects that mainly fall under researching technology that can enhance space exploration, such as satellites, telecommunications, unique spacecraft and advanced robots, has announced continued partnerships with Irish companies being a priority.
“I am delighted to be announcing more contracts between Irish companies and the European Space Agency. I am particularly pleased that these contracts will support our companies to strengthen their capabilities in the field of earth observation, enabling us to achieve the goals of Ireland’s National Space Strategy for Enterprise,” John Halligan T.D., Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development said. “[This is] in addition to supporting the aims of Future Jobs Ireland, which places a focus on embracing innovation and technological change, transitioning to a low carbon economy, and developing talent and enhancing skills in areas including big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.”