Technology
Alpha Data powers NASA’s climate change mineral dust detector on the International Space Station
Edinburgh, Scotland-based electronics company Alpha Data has supplied hardware on the International Space Station (ISS), which will examine the chemical composition of atmospheric mineral dust. Data gathered by the NASA instrument – the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) – will help scientists understand more about how deserts and arid regions affect Earth’s climate. Flown to the ISS on 14 July aboard a SpaceX
Dragon cargo capsule, EMIT was installed on the Space Station’s truss a week later and made its first measurements on 28th of July. Te instrument features mission-critical Alpha Data hardware developed in partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “EMIT consists of a state-of-the-art imaging
spectrometer capable of investigating visible and infrared spectra to determine the make-up of mineral dust clouds. It will fill a critical gap in our understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and factors driving climate change,” said David Dolman (pictured), Alpha Data Senior Design Engineer for FPGAs, Electronics and
Soſtware. “Tis instrument sets a new standard in high-performance onboard processing – in compression and cloud screen – as well as storage of data.” Te FPIE-D (Focal Plane Interface Electronics
– Digital) provided by Alpha Data plays a critical interface role between the spectrometer, the ISS and ground teams. Scanning continuously over 328 spectral bands, Alpha Data’s FPIE-D can handle high data rates whilst operating in a hostile, high-radiation environment. Te electronic module digitises, stores and relays detailed images of target regions, built up as the orbit of the ISS crosses an area of interest. Te high-performance FPIE-D hardware was designed and manufactured by Alpha Data in Colorado, the US, whilst the soſtware and firmware that runs and configures the Adaptive SoC-FPGA-based system was developed by the company’s specialists in Scotland. Te EMIT FPIE-D design is based on a
standard Xilinx Zynq7100 board as an XMC – an off-the-shelf board that Alpha Data customised for space and the specific mission. Te
Alpha Data Senior Engineer, David Dolman, holding the Focal Plane Interface Electronics – Digital (FPIE-D)
customisation also required some components be replaced with space-grade equivalents. Te FPIE-D board is reprogrammable,
radiation-tolerant kit, suitable for various demanding uses with stringent certification processes, ranging from laboratory conditions to long-term operation in Earth’s orbit.
Future cameras will be used in the fight against AI-generated fakes
PreAct Technology, the Oregon, US-based developer of near-field flash LiDAR, says that future cameras will be able to distinguish between real scenes and AI- generated deep fakes. The digital age has begun to blur the
lines between reality and fiction, making it challenging to discern fact from fabrication. With the advent of deep fakes and advanced CGI, the fidelity of visuals is repeatedly being questioned. Nowhere is this more evident than in computer vision, which will be pervasive in many industries. However, the very technology
responsible for these concerns will also be the solution, says PreAct. For example, computer vision will easily differentiate between AI-generated and real faces, since micro-expressions and minute facial movements that are inherently
human can’t be entirely mimicked by AI. Also, AI-generated visuals often leave behind patterns at the pixel level that can be indicative of their artificial nature. Every digital image or video comes with metadata about when, where and how it was captured, and by verifying the integrity of this metadata, future cameras can validate the content. Cameras can also be linked to
Blockchain or similar decentralised databases to verify the source of the content, ensuring its legitimacy. Blockchain is a decentralised ledger system renowned for its tamper-proof design. Once data is added to the Blockchain, it becomes immutable, meaning it can’t be altered without the network’s approval. The intersection between Blockchain technology and depth sensing can also
help. This way timestamps can be created in real time, which help to distinguish genuine footage from forged content. Equally, depth sensing is a technology that measures the distance between sensor and objects, which will add that extra layer of information to an image or video. Unlike conventional 2D images, depth maps provide a 3D spatial understanding of the scene, giving the captured moment a unique signature, hence making it challenging for AI to generate depth data akin to that of the real world. PreAct is now building a system
that fuses sensor data with camera technology. Such a system is expected to have profound implications, especially in industries that rely heavily on the authenticity of visuals, such as automotive, security and law enforcement.
www.electronicsworld.co.uk November 2023 05
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