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EUSC annual work programme 2008and long-term work programme 2009-2010

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08European Union Satellite CentreE-28850 Torrejón de ArdozMadrid, Spainwww.eusc.europa.eu

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-81-07-178-EN-C

EUSC annual work programme 2008 and long-term work programme 2009-2010

Contact address

European Union Satellite Centre

Tel. +34 91 678 60 00

Fax: +34 91 678 60 06

e-mail: [email protected]

Postal address:

Apdo de Correos 511

E-28850 Torrejón de Ardoz

Madrid, Spain

Street address:

Avda. de Cádiz – Ed. 457

Base Aérea de Torrejón

Madrid, Spain

www.eusc.europa.eu

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.

It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu).

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008

ISBN 978-92-95034-00-6

© EUSC, 2008

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Printed in Spain

Printed on white chlorine-free paper

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Table of contentsExecutive summary.............................................................................. 05

Abbrevations......................................................................................... 09

Introduction........................................................................................... 11

1. Purpose

2. Scope

3. Mission of the European Union Satellite Centre

4. Envisioned goals

4.1. The EUSC and the European Union: support to CFSP and ESDP4.2. The EUSC and the Member States

5. Strategic objectives

6. Capability requirements

Work programme 2008........................................................................ 23

1. Areas of activities2. Work plan 2008

2.1. IMINT Data Collection, incorporation of collateral data and exploitation2.2. Product value2.3. Information and communication technology2.4. Product dissemination and links with users2.5. Cooperation with other institutions2.6. Quality2.7. Facilities2.8. Training2.9. Security2.10. Administration and personnel2.11. Finance

� EUSC long term work programme 2009-2010 (indicative perspectives).............................................................59

1 Purpose2 Capability requirements3 Lines of development

3.1. Products and services3.2. Stakeholder engagement3.3. Processes and procedures3.4. Personnel and organisation3.5. Information technology systems3.6. Training3.7. Infrastructure

ANNEX – Reference documents..................................................77

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Executive summary

T he mission of the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), an Agency of the European Union, is to support the decision-making of the EU in the field of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)

and especially the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). For this purpose, it provides geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) products and services to the Council of the EU, the Member States, the Commission, Third States* and international organisations as long as the request is relevant to the CFSP, in particular the ESDP. The geospatial intelligence resulting from satellite observation is indispensable for the assessment of the global challenges to EU’s security and the subsequent decisions about and planning of ESDP operations. The EUSC supports EU decision-makers at all levels and works complementarily to, and in cooperation with, the GEOINT resources of Member States.

The end-users of EUSC GEOINT products, particularly the ESDP operations, have shown a continued need for EUSC services. The increase in number of satellite data sources, demands for products and number and complexity of ESDP operations requiring support from the EUSC have led the Centre to define long-term objectives and specific objectives for 2008 as set out below:

Products and links with users

The EUSC must continue to function as a centre of excellence in the field of GEOINT by ensuring rapid access to imagery of high quality, by high analytical expertise and by the provision of timely, relevant and accurate GEOINT products and services.

* ‘Third States’ are Non-EU

European NATO members

and other States which are

candidates for accession to

the EU.

The EUSC will ensure full integration into ESDP operations and specifically into the operational planning and support of EU Battlegroups, which require continuity in geospatial support in view of their semestral rotation. Following the migration from product-push to an online server pull system, 24-hour geospatial support will be available for users. For this purpose, the EUSC will continue to adapt the number of imagery analysts to the growing demand for imagery analysis and to the increased complexity of tasks.

To establish a partnering relationship with all of its customers and other stakeholders and to acquire a deeper understanding of how it can best address their needs, the EUSC will develop a stakeholder engagement plan. This plan will include guidance on identifying decision-makers and gaps in the Centre’s products and services. The EUSC can facilitate the creation of a European GEOINT community.

Specific objectives for 2008 are improving access to new sources of both commercial and non-commercial data and recruiting additional analysts for the Operations Division. Furthermore, the EUSC will implement Web Map Services and develop new products like dynamic products, 3D maps, Automatic Reporting Tools and GeoPDFs. The creation of Geospatial Contingency Support packages in close cooperation with Member States will be continued and made available by electronic, including secure, means.

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Executive summary

Training

The EUSC aims to become an EU GEOINT training centre. It already assists Member States in developing their national GEOINT capabilities, providing significant financial savings to them.

The EUSC has the potential to offer training services benefiting not only the existing staff and selected practitioners, but also imagery analysts from beginner to expert level as well as decision-makers. Workshops and training can be combined specifically to match each target group.

Among the main activities of the Training Unit for 2008 are the upgrading of present courses and the in-situ organisation of IMINT (Imagery Intelligence) introductory courses upon request of the Member States.

Cooperation with other institutions

The EUSC will work intensively to strengthen working relations with the Commission, maximizing synergies and avoiding unnecessary duplication.

It will participate in the implementation of the European Space Policy as it applies to the CFSP/ESDP, as well as in external fora related to security research (e.g. Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - GMES).

In the Global Monitoring of Security and Stability (GMOSS) project, the EUSC will develop the use of environmental satellites for security applications and refine the methodology for use of nightlight data.

EUSC staff and building in Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain Photo © EUSC

The EUSC will participate in the Telecommunication Advanced Network for GMES Operations (TANGO) project by leading an evacuation demonstration and a maritime surveillance demonstration.

Furthermore, the EUSC will continue its cooperation with the European Defence Agency on the Tactical Imagery Exploitation Station (TIES) project.

EUSC is also cooperating with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the ESA Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility (HMA), which has the objective of facilitating access to earth observation data from multiple missions, using the Data Delivery System as an infrastructure to download imagery at the EUSC.

Last but not least, opportunities to strengthen cooperation with organisations such as the United Nations, NATO or EUROCORPS will be sought.

The achievement of these objectives will be influenced by technical and political developments. The Member States’ continued commitment to the EUSC’s development will determine whether the EU will have at its disposal the GEOINT capability it needs for its CFSP and ESDP agenda.

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CAMEO Collaboration Application for Management of EU-led Operations

CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy

CJA Council Joint Action

CME08 Crisis Management Exercise 2008

COTS Commercial off-the-Shelf

CWS Companion Website

DDS Data Delivery System / Data Dissemination System

DGE Directorate Générale Externe

EC European Commission

EDA European Defence Agency

EFQM European Foundation for Quality Management

EO Earth Observation

EOP Earth Observation Programme

ESA European Space Agency

ESDP European Security and Defence Policy

EU BGs European Union Battlegroups

EU OPS WAN European Union Operational Wide Area Network

EUMC European Union Military Committee

EUMS European Union Military Staff

EUSC European Union Satellite Centre

GAC GMES Advisory Council

GCS Geospatial Contingency Support

GEOINT Geospatial Intelligence

GEOSS Geospatial System of Systems

GIS Geographical Information System

GMES Global Monitoring for Environmental and Security

GMOSS Global Monitoring for Security and Stability

HMA Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility

IA Imagery Analyst

ICT Information Communication Technology

IMINT Imagery Intelligence

IT Information Technology

JRC Joint Research Centre

KSAT Kongsberg Satellite Services

MGCP Multinational Geospatial Coproduction Programme

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

MSG Meteosat Second Generation

OGC Open Geospatial Consortium

OITS Operation Information Technology System

OPS Operations

OPS WAN Operational Wide Area Network

RFI Request for Information

SATCEN Satellite Centre

SG / HR Secretariat-General / High Representative

SitCen EU Joint Situation Centre

SNE Seconded of National Experts

SOA Service-Oriented Architecture

SPOT Satellite pour Observation de Terre

TANGO Telecommunications Advanced Network for GMES Operations

TEU Treaty on European Union

TIES Tactical Imagery Exploitation Station

UNEP United Nation Environment Programme

VSGS Virtual Satellite Ground Station

Abbreviations

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Image of the satellite Spot 5 Photo © David Ducros — Distribution Spot Image

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1. Purpose

This document includes the work programme of the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC) for the year 2008 in accordance with the decision taken in Council Joint Action (CJA) 2006/998/CFSP of 21 December 2006 amending Joint Action 2001/555/CFSP on the establishment of a European Union Satellite Centre.

2. Scope

This document constitutes the frame for the execution of the operational work as well as support and development activities, as reflected in the corresponding budget proposal for the same year.

Within the frame of long-term development, this programme comprises a continuation of development activities carried out during the 2002-2007 period, as well as identification and description of new development areas. The annual work programme for 2008 is accompanied by a draft long-term work programme, as required by the CJA.

This plan will be deployed through the activation of concrete tasks and projects, including operational task execution, development activities, studies, etc. The plan will be carried out making use of the EUSC resources, as appropriate. The Director will supervise the deployment of this plan involving coordination and support resources in conjunction

Introduction11

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with heads of divisions. The plan might be reviewed upon request of the Director.

3. Mission of the European Union Satellite Centre

In accordance with the CJA, the EUSC shall, in coherence with the European Security Strategy, support the decision-making of the European Union in the field of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in particular the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), including European Union crisis management operations, by providing, as appropriate, products resulting from the analysis of satellite imagery and collateral data, including aerial imagery, and related services.

The EUSC shall, when directed by Secretary General / High Representative, provide geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) products and services to:

n EU Council and its bodies;

n EU Member States or the Commission;

n Third States, as defined by the CJA, that have agreed to the Provisions set out in the Annex to the CJA;

n International organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, if the request is relevant in the field of CFSP, in particular of the ESDP.

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4. Envisioned goals

The Work Programme 2008 and the indications for 2009 and 2010 are steps towards a long-term objective. The long-term objective depends on the roles the Centre should play in future. In order to achieve this long-term objective the Centre needs to implement capability enhancements systematically and consequently. The duration of the adaptation process may be influenced by technical and political developments, but it depends critically on the commitment of Member States to pursue this objective. This includes the provision of appropriate resources.

The proposals are based on the assumption that the EUSC will be working in addition to, in cooperation with and in complement to EU Member States’ resources which the EUSC cannot and should not aim to compete with.

4.1. The EUSC and the European Union: support to CFSP and ESDP

n The Centre’s mission is to support the CFSP, in particular the ESDP with products and services.

To fulfil its mission, the EUSC must function as a centre of excellence in the field of GEOINT. To warrant its relevance for CFSP/ESDP decision-making it must also ensure that it is fully integrated in the supporting intelligence cycle. It must establish

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close structural links with its prime customers in the EU structure, such as the EU Military Staff (EUMS), the Joint Situation Centre or the Policy Unit as well as the Member States.

n The European Security Strategy refers to key threats and global challenges for the European Union. The challenges to Europe’s security are global. Europe must therefore prepare for global involvement. Satellite observation and the resulting geospatial intelligence and information are ideally suited to support a challenge of global range.

The EUSC must continue to assure its rapid access to imagery data of high quality and its high analytic expertise.

The EU decision-makers need a sound basis for their judgement of key threats, and GEOINT is indispensable for the assessment of many of them. For this purpose, the Political and Security Committee (PSC) and the EU Military Committee (EUMC) must be aware of the Centre’s role and capabilities and products.

n The EUSC as provider of support to ESDP missions and operations

GEOINT is at the beginning of any operation or mission. In the conduct of any operation, professional and actionable GEOINT is a force multiplier. This is the more important the more difficult it is to afford adequate force.

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n In the Helsinki Headline Goal 2003, approved by the European Council in 1999, the Member States decided to put at the Union’s disposal forces capable of carrying out the tasks as set out in Article 17.2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), i.e. the Petersberg tasks. The Headline Goal 2010, endorsed in June 2004, envisions that MS will “be able by 2010 to respond with rapid and decisive action applying a fully coherent approach to the whole spectrum of crisis management operations covered by the Treaty on European Union”.

The “five illustrative scenarios”1 as strategic planning assumptions provide guidance for the EUSC for the type of task to prepare for. Indeed, the EUSC has acquired considerable experience in most of these task types.

n For Rapid Response, the European Union Battlegroups concept envisages two Battlegroups to be on standby simultaneously for deployment at very short notice. Battlegroups are usually multinational. Composition and lead nations change every six months, and so do assigned headquarters.

The EUSC has to meet the readiness requirements of battlegroups.

n The EU Geospatial Information Concept, approved and regularly updated by the EUMC2 applies to the EUSC and envisages the provision of timely, accurate and guaranteed GEOINT by the EUSC as a key enabler for ESDP. The EUSC services are foreseen to meet the EUMS requirements. The

1 Separation of parties

by force; Stabilisation,

reconstruction and military

advice to third countries;

Conflict prevention;

Evacuation operations;

Assistance to humanitarian

operations

2 ESDP GeoSpatial Concept;

EU Military Committee;

14095/1/04 Rev 1 14 March

2005 COSDP 638

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Concept suggests GEOINT co-production by the EUSC, Member States and others.

n The EU needs an institution that provides continuity of planning and decision support. This support needs to be available to EU decision makers on all levels and at any moment of the decision making process, independently from contributions from Member States which may be temporarily unavailable due to other commitments.

4.2. The EUSC and the Member States

n The Member States are the core actors of the CFSP and the ESDP. Member States are acting as contributors to EU operations. They are also involved in operations either individually or in cooperation with others.

The EUSC must work in cooperation and consultation with and in complement to GEOINT resources of Member States. The Centre cannot and should not try to compete with Member States’ resources. On the contrary, the EUSC is dependent on close collaboration with important GEOINT communities in Member States.

n In relation with these communities, the EUSC should play the role of facilitator and act as an interface between the Member States and the users of GEOINT in the EU.

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Introduction

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n The EUSC can be an effective facilitator for cooperation between Member States, e.g. in the context of joint operations, the promotion of joint standards and in improving interoperability.

n The EUSC as provider of GEOINT for Member States

Member States can, in accordance with Article 2 CJA, issue task requests. In particular those Member States who temporarily require additional GEOINT capacities for specific tasks may chose this option. For the EUSC, tasking by Member States is highly welcomed because it strengthens the links between them and the Centre, and almost invariably the Member State tasking reflects a wider interest also shared by other Member States.

n The EUSC and Member States’ non-commercial imagery

If Member States wish to make national resources, such as their non-commercial space assets, available to support the ESDP, the EUSC is an ideal conduit due to its security culture and its experience in handling non-commercial imagery and classified data.

n The EUSC as European GEOINT Training Centre

The EUSC already assists Member States, upon request, in their development of national GEOINT capabilities, and, as a central resource, is well placed to facilitate greater collaboration amongst

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Image of the satellite KOMPSAT 2 Photo © KARI – KOMPSAT-2 — Distribution Spot Image

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Member States in training geospatial analysts. Such a collaborative approach offers significant financial savings to Member States.5.

Strategic objectives

Strategic objectives are broad categories that describe where EUSC’s effort will be directed to achieve its mission and envisioned goals. These objectives are continuous and long-term.

Stakeholder and sponsor engagement

The EUSC will be actively engaged with the Council of the EU and the Member States in order to align itself with the stakeholder’s and the EUSC’s envisioned goals.

Users, products and services

The EUSC will aim to:

n be recognised as a leading provider of high quality and relevant GEOINT products and services to support CFSP/ESDP;

n attain full integration of EUSC capabilities into ESDP operations;

n be recognized as an essential partner in the EU Geospatial Intelligence community;

n be recognized as a key operational tool for the EU in its external relations;

n follow the developments whenever space is a relevant issue within the CFSP/ESDP.

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Introduction

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Internal business processes

The EUSC will continue to work to:

n implement a comprehensive approach to capability development that encompasses through-life capability management, whole-life cost management and project management best practice;

n maintain an effective quality management system – based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model – for all relevant EUSC processes;

n maintain an effective security environment for all relevant EUSC processes;

n encourage and facilitate innovative thinking and exchange of ideas about all aspects of the EUSC’s work.

Staff, organization and culture

The EUSC will aim to:

n adapt the number of imagery analysts to meet the growing demand for imagery interpretation, and increased complexity of tasks;

n provide staff with essential training and opportunities for professional development;

n develop core competencies for analysts in GEOINT;

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n develop mutually beneficial partnerships with outside organisations;

n be a customer-centric organisation and deliver products and services focused on achieving customer satisfaction and enduring relationships;

n provide flexible capabilities to support EU operations, including a surge capacity that can be deployed at short notice within the EUSC.

Resources

The EUSC will aspire to:

n optimise the effectiveness of all resources (staff, money, time);

n optimise the budget for source data (commercial and non-commercial satellite imagery);

n optimise the accounting system.

6 Capability requirementsThe EUSC will have to keep pace with the growing number, diversity and complexity of commitments within the CFSP/ESDP.

The political, operational and technological trends are clear: the EUSC needs to plan mid- and long-term capability enhancements, which have to be combined with the necessary funding. Additionally, with the new sources and data types becoming available and the inevitable need for

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Introduction

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technology refresh, the EUSC needs to implement changes to sustain its current level of capability and assure its viability in the future.

The drivers for EUSC capability growth include:

n Broader mission and tasking

The growth in significance of CFSP/ESDP and the increasing number and complexity of ESDP operations requiring support from the EUSC mean that, in the future, there will be a wider variety of task types and a larger volume of tasking placed on the EUSC.

n New sources

There will be a growth in both the number of satellite data sources and the variety of satellite data types, as well as new ways of accessing source data.

n New services and products

The number of users of EUSC services and products is likely to increase. This will drive demand for an increased level of output as well as demand for a wider range of services and products.

These drivers will challenge the current capabilities of the EUSC and are motivating the EUSC to become more productive, more flexible and to achieve faster response times. Because the scope for further internal efficiency improvements is limited, the EUSC will have to match the increasing trend of EU operational commitments with further investment in mid- and long-term capability enhancements.

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Opening of the European Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina Photo © Council of the EU

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Work programme 20082�

1. Areas of activities

The EUSC performs its mission under the operational direction of the Secretary-General/High Representative and the political supervision of the Political and Security Committee, taking into account the priorities of the Council.

Task types

In 2008, the EUSC shall focus its mission towards supporting its users in the prevention and management of the following key threats, as defined by the European Security Strategy: Terrorism, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Regional Conflicts, Failed States, Organized Crime.

In order to focus on these issues, the EUSC shall carry out tasks, which may include the following:

n support to EU operations in the framework of ESDP, including the EU Battlegroups (EU BGs);

n contingency planning;

n control of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

n support to EU counter-terrorism policy;

n support to humanitarian aid missions;

n support to EU counter-organized crime policy;

n general security surveillance: regular monitoring of areas of interest with particular focus on those defined within the Council’s Watch List.

GEOINT data collection, incorporation of collateral data and exploitation

In order to continue to produce high quality GEOINT, special attention will be dedicated to the processes guiding data collection, incorporation of collateral data and its exploitation.

To perform its mission effectively, the EUSC needs to ensure timely access to a wide range of data sets from commercial and non-commercial sources.

The following are key areas of improvement:

n speed of access to satellite data;

n variety of satellite data sources;

n optimisation of data budget.

In order to achieve higher optimisation of the data budget, the EUSC will continue to look for new ways of limiting unnecessary double acquisition of commercial imagery available at national and EU level and shall explore the possibility of access to non-commercial imagery from EU Member States’ sources.

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Work programme 2008

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Product value

The EUSC shall enhance its capability to identify the suitable quality characteristics for each product and execute its tasks correspondingly. Particular focus will be put on achieving timeliness without detriment to usability, completeness or accuracy.

Access to archive products will be improved as well; in particular, remote access facilities will be improved.

Because of the continued need demonstrated by end-users of EUSC products, and particularly because of the needs of ESDP operations, the existing capabilities to deliver GEOINT services shall be enhanced depending on available resources.

Product dissemination

The EUSC shall focus on improving the dissemination of its products and services in the following ways:

n strengthen the intelligence cycle, and especially the relations with end-users;

n develop interoperable facilities and promoting their use.

Permanent, systematic, timely and secure communications with end users are crucial for the EUSC mission. A central goal of the EUSC is for its products and services to reach end-users in a fast and secure way. Therefore, the EUSC will dedicate special attention to helping EU

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and national users to streamline the communication paths to strengthen the existing feedback mechanisms.

Within its training program, the EUSC will provide training courses for end users and decision makers in order to achieve a higher level of integration of EUSC products into the EU and the national decision-making processes.

Archive management

The EUSC archive constitutes an important asset. Technical and organisational measures to guarantee rapid access and reusability of the information shall be implemented.

Relevant intermediate products with added value shall be archived on safe media and be efficiently restored on the operational IT systems on request.

Links with users

The EUSC will improve its links with users in the following ways:

n make full use of the new EUSC Brussels Office established within the SitCen/EUMS premises;

n achieve better connectivity for data transmission including the use of the future EU OPS WAN;

n continue to improve links with Member States and other key partners important for EU deployments in order to strengthen user-oriented intelligence cycle;

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n increase activities in support of external communications and corporate image.

Cooperation with other organisations

In compliance with its mission, the EUSC shall identify cooperation opportunities with other institutions and partners putting focus on:

n joint operations and exercises;

n the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Program (GMES);

n the implementation of recommendations of the European Space Policy (2007) in the field of CFSP/ESDP;

n new earth observation initiatives;

n training initiatives;

n initiatives for improving the access and distribution of geospatial and collateral data.

Quality

To achieve its objectives the EUSC shall continue to activate all the enablers of excellence. These include: leadership, processes, people, resources and partners.

In order to integrate and balance the contributions of such enablers, a total quality approach shall continue to be pursued following the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model.

Work programme 2008

Facilities

The EUSC will maintain the operational effectiveness of its infrastructure as the physical basis for its operational capability.

It shall ensure that the new temporary infrastructure for GMES activities constructed during 2007 is fully integrated in the overall EUSC infrastructure model.

The EUSC shall commit resources for regular building maintenance as well as specific repairs and replacements.

Training

Training will continue to be one of the key services offered by EUSC, with the central objective being the continuous professional development of participants.

The EUSC shall continue to develop and offer high-quality training programmes for its staff and for external users, both at EU and national level. In situ training and other innovative methods of dissemination of knowledge from the field of GEOINT shall be further developed.

In addition to this, the training programme will fulfil the mission of serving as an EU focal point for national imagery intelligence (IMINT) and GEOINT experts and as a useful guiding mechanism for developing national GEOINT capabilities.

Training for the EUSC Imagery Analysts will remain an essential element to guarantee the quality of EUSC products. In addition, the advent of new

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Work programme 2008

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commercial and non-commercial sensors will present additional training needs.

Security

The EUSC constitutes a security area fulfilling the requirements set in appropriate EU security guidelines. Because of its security policies, the EUSC is able to handle EU and national data at high levels of classification.

Following Article 10.1 of the CJA, the EUSC applies the Council Security Regulations (2001/264/EC). It has adapted them to its specific environment, ensuring that the respective standards are observed.

For the EUSC, security continues to be a prime objective in fulfilling its mission. The EUSC works on classified tasks and handles classified data. It must continue to be recognised as a reliable partner in security matters by its counterparts, customers, data suppliers and cooperation partners. This is also a necessary precondition for access to non-commercial imagery.

Imagery interpretation products are dual-use items and, in wrong hands, can be harmful. The EUSC’s security culture ensures responsible handling and safeguarding of such data.

Special focus on secure communication links with users, most notably through the Operational Wide Area Network (EU OPS WAN), is crucial in order to achieve the required performance in terms of accessibility and timeliness.

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Daily work at the EUSC Photo © EUSC

Implementation of the European Space Policy (2007) in the field of CFSP/ESDP

Following endorsement by the fourth Space Council (composed of the Council of EU and the Council of the European Space Agency) of the new European Space Policy3, the EUSC plans to dedicate special attention to the implementation of the recommendations from the Policy as they apply to its area of work.

European Space Policy states in the chapter “Security and Defence” that Europe will substantially improve coordination between its defence and civilian space programmes “within the framework of existing EU principles and institutional competences.”

The Resolution on the European Space Policy4 points out that the Council “affirms the need to set up a structured dialogue with the competent bodies of the Member States and within the EU Second and Third Pillars and the European Defence Agency for optimising synergies between all aspects of the European Space Policy within the framework of the existing attribution of competences.”

EUSC, as a Second Pillar agency, intends to participate actively in all those activities that relate to space applications within the CFSP/ESDP area.

3 Commission of the European

Communities: »European

Space Policy,« Com (2007)

212 final, Brussels, 26 April

2007.

4 Council of the European

Union: »4th Space Council:

Resolution on the European

Space Policy,« Brussels, 22

May 2007..

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Work programme 2008

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2. Work plan 2008

2.1. IMINT Data Collection, incorporation of collateral data and exploitation

IMINT Data Collection and incorporation of collateral data

The EUSC will:

n operate within the assigned data budget, optimising resources through any possible improvements of the agreements and contracts with the providers;

n arrange access to new sources of commercial data, whenever such systems become available; access to new systems (e.g. TerrasarX, Radarsat2, Worldview) is expected for the beginning of 2008 and Rapid Eye by mid-2008;

n improve access to high-resolution data; data query and provision of both imagery and collateral data by new providers/system owners such as GeoEye and Rapid Eye;

n continue to improve the access time to data, including urgent reaction measures, through improved operational agreements with the providers/systems owners;

n prepare for the access to satellite images from current/future non-commercial civilian/military earth observation (EO) systems, in particular Helios II, COSMO-SkyMed and SAR-Lupe during 2008 and, in the longer term, other systems such as Pleiades and MUSIS.

Visit of EU High Representative/Secretary-General, Javier Solana, to the EUFOR headquarters, DR Congo: meeting with the commanders of the European Force and the different contingents deployed Photo © Council of EU

Data exploitation

The products of the EUSC are now using commonly accepted raster and vector formats to ensure reuse and integration into different systems. They are delivered using GIS technology, including visualization tools allowing the final users to perform further incorporation and analysis of data.

A revision of all methodologies and procedures currently in use including all templates and standards has taken place. A regular semestral revision will be established.

Link with budget linesThe financial resources needed to achieve the above-mentioned objectives are included within the 2008 Operational Budget lines, as follows:

n Chapter I Articles 1 to 7, Personnel Costs

n Line III.1.A, Imagery, Access to Data Sources

n Line III.3.A, Collateral Data Management

n Line II.6.E, Data Transmission

n Line III.5.A, Aided Web Search

n Line III.3.A, Reference Facility, Operational Consolidation

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Work programme 2008

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A customised tool for Imagery Analysts (IAs) called ‘Rapid Coder’ (developed in 2007) is now in operational use. This tool improves the performance in creating vector files, and will be further improved in 2008.

The migration to a Windows OS environment will permit the IAs to have all the tools needed for the analysis process in their workstations, thereby improving the overall performance. In addition, this will reduce the time for data transfer. The preparation of the corresponding Standard Operational Procedures will be completed in 2008.


n Chapter I Articles 1 to 7, Personnel Costs, Experts



n Line III.5.A, Aided Web Search

n Line III.5.A, HMA

Collateral data

The EUSC will continue to assess the capabilities of existing COTS as well as tools under development for assisted search of open sources.

New services will be made available for permanent storage and for access to the collateral database.

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Envisaged increase of the Operations Division’s workforce

The number of imagery analysts is still insufficient to meet high-priority requirements such as operations support, particularly if such operations should take place in non-benign environments. The EUSC’s support to EUFOR Congo has demonstrated that clearly. In order to be adequately prepared for requirements from EU Operations the EUSC needs to develop its workforce accordingly. The EUSC therefore envisages three additional B3/5 posts for the Operations Division.

The reinforcement of the existing teams is also anticipated.

The development of additional skill areas will be carried out as required by the new user requirements. In particular, the EUSC will develop its capability for the interpretation of high-resolution radar imagery. IA skills will have to be developed accordingly.




n Line III.2.A. Upgrade of OITS Common Resources

n Line III.3.A. Reference Facility, Operational Consolidation

n Line III.5.A. Aided Web Search

EU HR/SG Javier Solana visits the EUSC, Accompanied by Director Frank Asbeck, October 2006 Photo © EUSC

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The EUSC will continue improving cooperation with users in accessing collateral data through the Request for Information (RFI) system.



2.2. Product value

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT)

Improvement of the geographical accuracy of imagery, vectors and final products by using higher-quality imagery and products, such as the Reference3D products from SPOT Image will be pursued. The possibility of building and in-house capability to create Digital Elevation Models (DEM) will also be explored.

New capabilities in the use and analysis of different imagery sensors and techniques (e.g. radar) will be put in place in 2008.

Creation of a Geospatial Database

In order to improve the speed of delivery of EUSC products and services, both for external users and for internal purposes, a Geospatial Database including all the EUSC’s intermediate products (e.g. reports, vector data and orthorectified imagery) will be established.

Creation of tailored, geospatial intelligence services

A fast implementation of Web Map Services is currently ongoing within the GMES framework. The EUSC will continue to work on the definition of the products/services to be provided as well as methodologies and procedures.

Work programme 2008

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n Line III.2.A. Upgrade of OITS Common Resources

n Line III.3.A. Reference Facility, Operational Consolidation

n Line III.5.A. Aided Web Search

The EUSC will continue in its work on the development and implementation of new products such as: Dynamic Products, 3D Maps, Automatic Reporting Tools and GeoPDFs.

Vector and image format standardization

EUSC raster and vector data are based on commonly accepted standards in order to ensure reusability and integration into different systems.

The EUSC recently started a project aiming at integrating MGCP standards into the existing vector structure and will continue to leverage progresses in this area.

Geospatial contingency support packages

Further implementation and creation of GCS packages will be pursued in close cooperation with Member States. GCS packages will be made available online, both in a secure, classified way and in a non-secure way over the Internet.

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Work programme 2008

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2.3. Information and communication technology

The overall goal in 2008 for ICT is to provide high levels of service availability and good quality of service. Improvements will be made in resilient activities such as: data access and storage, network and functional infrastructures.

The Technical Development Programme activities for 2008 will encompass the apects detailed below.

Reference Facility Kernel 3

The Reference Facility is a three-year development project aimed at implementing an open and standards-based (ISO/OGC) Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) at the EUSC. Its primary purpose is to underpin and support the evolutionary upgrading of the EUSC information infrastructure used throughout the EUSC’s operational process to:

n improve the workflow and collaboration between the personnel involved;

n provide better tools supporting task execution;

n enable access to data acquired from a third party or created by the EUSC during previous tasks;

n enable Internet access;

n enhance the dissemination of products to the customers.

The following activities will be carried out during Kernel 3:

n implementation of a Service Registry;




n integration of existing software components into services (data import/export components);

n adapting existing applications to the SOA;

n adding services (e.g. Catalogue, Web Feature) to the External Portal and in the EU OPS WAN;

n integration of COTS used in imagery analysis (e.g. ERDAS, ArcGIS) and of the EUSC Data Model into the Reference Facility;

n implementation of additional services as required by the EUSC.

Reference Facility operational consolidation

During 2008, the EUSC will phase in the operational implementation of the Reference Facility. Following the migration of client platforms to Windows OS, the redefinition and the redistribution of the operational services and servers will also be carried out.

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Work programme 2008

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Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility (HMA)

The ESA-led HMA project aims at developing a portal for access to EO data from major imagery providers through standard interfaces for cataloguing, ordering, mission planning and online data access. In this frame, the EUSC is defining user requirements and participating in the design of the portal interface, and in the testing of the prototype. The EUSC is also defining data delivery means: existing terminals able to upload and receive open standards data via commercial telecommunications means.

After a trial period, the HMA will start providing valuable services to the EUSC, optimising the data ordering process and facilitating access to EO mission data from archives and from programming. Furthermore, a telecommunication infrastructure for imagery data delivery will be deployed based on commercial telecommunications services.




n Line III.5.A, HMA Manpower, HMA Telecomm. Infrastructure

Virtual Satellite Ground Station (VSGS)

The basic concept behind the VSGS is that the EUSC should be able to utilise the Kiruna (Sweden) and the KSAT (Norway) satellite ground stations

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EUBAM Rafah, February 2006 Photo © EUBAM Rafah




n Line III.2.A. Operational Equipment and Software

with nearly the same operational functionality as if the station were located in Torrejón. This gives the EUSC operational advantages such as access to multi-mission stations where programming and reception of data from different satellites can be performed. It also gives possibilities for frequent contacts with polar orbiting satellites.

The VSGS Demonstrator 2 has proven to be a fast and reliable way of getting data (from EROS and Formosat). The VSGS should be seen as a quick and practical point of delivery for commercial data from those suppliers that would agree to download their imagery at Kiruna and provide the Swedish Space Corporation with the capabilities to pre-process the data before they are transmitted to EUSC. Negotiations for accessing radar imagery using the same approach will start with the Norwegian KSAT ground station in Tromsö.

The next step is to turn the VSGS into a fully operational tool. This would require: the integration in an operational ordering/delivery system (HMA), commercial agreements with imagery suppliers, and fine-tuning of procedures to reduce even more the time between image taken and image received at EUSC.

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Work programme 2008

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Regarding connectivity with the Council General Secretariat and with user’s HQs, the EU OPS WAN shall be fully operational in 2008 (CAMEO).

2.4. Product dissemination and links with users

The EUSC will continue to make links with end-users one of its highest priorities, with the final objective of optimising the tasking cycle and further improving the quality of its GEOINT products. Because of the fluctuations of the designated points of contact in the EU institutions, Member States, Third States and international organizations, the EUSC intends to continue to foster permanent and systematic working relationships with them, both through regular meetings in the EUSC (Technical Working Group, Expert Users Forum) and with in situ visits. It plans to offer improved and upgraded methods of dissemination of its GEOINT services and products.

The purpose of improving links to end-users is to give them direct access to EUSC GEOINT products and to support ESDP decision-making as stipulated in the CJA. Several types of links are envisioned by the EUSC and will continue to be developed and perfected in 2008.

EUSC Brussels Office

The EUSC Brussels Office will provide support and specialist technical advice on imagery analysis to (among others) DG E VIII, EUMS and the Joint Situation Centre. Furthermore, support in the preparation of briefings, presentations, reports and other products (making use of EUSC products and services) will be given.




n Line III.4.A, Operational Equipment and Software

Download Central

The Download Central will be used as a web repository of EUSC GEOINT products classified up to RESTREINT UE. Classified files will be encrypted prior to their publication in the Download Central. The Download Central may also be used for task-related communication with end-users. Any user included in the list of end-users (Council of the EU, Member States, Commission, Third States, international organizations) will be able to apply for access to the Download Central.




n Line III.2.A. Operational equipment and software

The detached IA will liaise between Brussels and the EUSC in order to improve and speed-up coordination and execution of tasking, and to participate and represent the EUSC in meetings as appropriate.

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SatCen Earth

SatCen Earth will serve as a publication mechanism that enables users to view EUSC GEOINT products. It will use fast compression and streaming of 3D data. The period of publication of individual products/processed imagery will be unlimited or until the replacement of the products/imagery with a new version.

The software needed by users to install SatCen Earth will have to be downloaded from Download Central. Any user from the list of end-users (Council of the EU, Member States, Commission, Third States, international organisations) will have the right to apply for access to SatCen Earth.

Web Map Services

The EUSC will implement an Internet-based service designed to provide authorised users with online, OGC-compliant Web Map Services. This interactive service will give users the possibility of remotely creating and visually displaying information in a map-like format of one or more data layers from the EUSC database. In addition, authorized users will have access to links enabling the download of underlying data. The EUSC will be adding more capabilities in the future in order to fully meet the OGC implementation specifications.

SATCEN Link

The SATCEN link provides a secure information exchange infrastructure for data and voice between the EUSC and the Council General Secretariat. The link will be accredited to transfer information up to CONFIDENTIEL UE.

Work programme 2008

Mission EUSEC DR Congo; SG/HR Javier Solana visit to Burnia, DR Congo

Photo © Council of EU

2.5. Cooperation with other institutions

Cooperation with the European Commission

The Centre will work intensively in order to further develop the working relations with the Commission, especially DG RELEX, DG ENTR and DG JRC. As stated in the recently updated Joint Action, the Centre will aim to maximise synergies and avoid unnecessary duplication by exchanging expertise and advice in those areas where the activities of the Community have a bearing on the Centre’s mission and where the activities of the Centre are relevant to those of the Community. In this regard, special attention will be given to exploring all areas of complimentarity of work of the Centre (field of CFSP/ESDP) and the Commission.

Participation in the GMES project

The EUSC will:

n focus on the coordination, management and promotion of all activities related to the involvement of the EUSC in EOP at national and at EU level;

Link with budget linesThe financial resources needed to achieve the three above-mentioned (download central, SATCEN earth and SATCEN link) objectives are included within the 2008 Operational Budget lines, as follows:



n Line III.3.A, Technical development, Evolution SATCEN Earth and Download Central

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n support the EUSC Directorate on strategic matters related to the participation of the EUSC in the implementation of the European Space Policy as it applies to the CFSP/ESDP;

n assure the participation of the EUSC in external fora related to security research (e.g. GMES);

n support the EUSC Directorate to develop a coordinated approach on the European Space Policy with other relevant EU and national agencies or bodies;

n report on all 2008 GMES Advisory Council (GAC), EC GMES Bureau and ESA Space Office meetings where the EUSC is represented;

n follow up the negotiations (budget and partners roles to be discussed with the EC and the panel of experts) for the two new projects which will likely start in 2008 in order to maximise the benefits related to EUSC participation;

n participate in new consortia responding to GMES calls, if appropriate;

n undertake the management and coordination of the external GMES Earth Observation projects including the budget and manpower resource planning;

n follow up the implementation of the agreement for the EUSC involvement in the international charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’.

Participation in GMOSS and TANGO projects

The EUSC will transfer technology, methodologies and products to operational use as follows.

GMOSS

n develop the use of hotspots from environmental satellites (Terra, Aqua, Envisat, MSG) for security applications;

n refine the methodology developed in GMOSS by the EUSC for the rapid processing of nightlight data to determine areas of damage and relocation of affected population after natural or man-made disasters;

n evaluate and benchmark algorithms developed in GMOSS for automatic counting of objects of interest;

n continue the development of a search engine to collect databases for security applications;

n continue the activities under the MoU between Austrian Technologies and the EUSC on threat analysis for critical infrastructure (e.g. oil and gas infrastructures);

n continue research to increase the number of processes in map compilation that can be fully or semi-automated.

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Work programme 2008

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TANGO

n prepare an evacuation demonstration to be led by the EUSC; this demonstration will take place with telecommunications and a situation centre in the field in a remote location where the telecommunications platform developed by TANGO will be used;

n prepare a maritime surveillance demonstration to be led by the EUSC; the scenario is the monitoring of a suspect ship in EU coastal waters and on the open seas;

n develop appropriate telecommunications facilities for early warning and alarms related to Critical Infrastructure Protection.

Cooperation with EDA

The EUSC is working closely with the EDA on the Tactical Imagery Exploitation Station (TIES) project. The EUSC will host the TIES workstation and national experts for the period of the trial scheduled to end in October 2008.

The TIES workstation is intended to support EU operations and deployments in future. The EUSC staff and detached national experts participate in the project as instructors, testers and future operational users. Furthermore, IA’s will be made available for temporary deployment to provide geospatial forward support to EU operations.

The EUSC is also liaising with the EDA to see if other project team activities (e.g. open source collateral search engines) will be of relevance for geospatial support to CFSP/ESDP.

Cooperation with ESA

The ESA Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility (HMA) has the objective of establishing uniform access to heterogeneous EO data from multiple missions, including national missions and ESA Sentinel missions. The EUSC will extend the HMA capabilities for programming EO satellite sensors whenever possible and use the DDS where appropriate as an infrastructure to download imagery at the EUSC.

Other areas of cooperations

Opportunities will be sought to improve cooperation with external partners, especially with NATO, the UN and EUROCORPS. Of special relevance is the strengthening of cooperation with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The EUSC will provide geospatial support for crisis management exercises such as CME08.

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Work programme 2008

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Link with budget linesThe financial resources needed to achieve the above-mentioned objectives are included within the 2008 Operational Budget as follows.

n Chapter IV, External Projects Expenditure

n Chapter VII, External Projects Funding.

2.6. Quality

The EUSC will continue its excellence programme led by EUSC managers and involving staff at all levels of the organisation. The improvement plan will be aligned with the strategy defined for 2008 and will be harmonised with the prescriptions of the new version on the EUSC Staff Regulations.

The EUSC has advanced in the EFQM recognition scheme and it is planned to achieve the EFQM recognition Four Star of Excellence during 2008.

Link with budget linesThe financial resources needed to achieve the above-mentioned objectives are included within the 2008 Operational Budget as follows.


n Line III.12.A, Consultants

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On a technical level, the EUSC will establish contacts with similar national institutions working in the field of space.

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[left] EU HR/SG Javier Solana visits the EUSC accompanied by Director Frank Asbeck, October 2006

[right] Daily work at the EUSC Photo © EUSC

Work programme 2008

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2.7. Facilities

In order to maintain the good working environment for the EUSC, regular building maintenance as well as specific repairs, replacements and updating are necessary.

The building was constructed in 1992 and some of its systems and installations are very old and failure-prone. At the same time, some of their parts are obsolete and there are no spares available on the market. This concerns, in particular:

n access control;

n anti-intrusion system;

n electrical system;

n air-conditioning;

n fire detection and extinguishing;

n surveillance system.

A Five-Year Maintenance Plan will be established to guide the activities concerning the above listed aspects.

Some building works have to be carried out to improve the different working areas.

Other minor repairs will take place in order to correct failures such as the incorrect sanitary net design.

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n Line II.2. A-E, Building Maintenance

n Line III.10.A, Building Modification

2.8. Training

The main activities of the Training Unit for 2008 will cover the following:

n the execution of the training programme that includes two Formation Initiale courses (following a new modular structure), one Nuclear Fuel Cycle course, two Industrial Installations courses, one Military Studies course (new), one Advanced Remote Sensing/ArcGis course (new) and three in situ visits;

n upgrade of present courses (ongoing activity) and production of new modules (e.g. completion of radar and RS/GIS advanced courses;

n upon request of Member States, in situ organisation of IMINT introductory courses (with a total limit of four weeks max);

Acquisition of furniture for new IAs and additional seconded national experts is planned.

Additionally, changes in national construction legislation oblige the EUSC to update the fire protection and the electrical installations.

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Work programme 2008

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n production of one or more interpretation guides (within the Industrial category) with the support of an external engineering company;

n integration of all training material into the EUSC internal repository implemented within the Reference Facility;

n migration from the present CWS system to the new e-Learning Content Management System in the framework of the Reference Facility;

n implementation of a database for students and courses management.

Activating and expanding personnel development plans for IAs

In liaison with the Training Unit, personnel developments plans were created for all the IAs. Existing skills of the IAs were identified as well as the areas for development in accordance with the baseline curriculum that was defined. Courses, briefings and presentations are being prepared correspondingly.

Improving in-house expertise and knowledge

The provision of IAs on a temporary basis to the Training Unit of the EUSC, increases the value of the training modules, at the same time improving the quality of work and the expertise of the Operations Division.

Operations Division IAs will also provide briefings and training internally to the Division, by developing and providing modular training packages and by providing short presentations on current tasks.



n Line II.6.A, Training

2.9. Security

The EUSC will maintain its security system as one of the defining points of the institution and a key asset within the ESDP working environment. Security will continue to be of prime importance for the EUSC in order to guarantee operational security (OPSEC), safeguard EUSC employees, create a safe working environment, protect EUSC assets, resources and information, protect EUSC activity and to justify stakeholders’ trust.

Security and respect for it will continue to be one of the EUSC’s most important comparative advantages. These objectives will be achieved by strengthening procedural, technical and architectural security, by appropriate functioning of the security office and security guards, and by employee awareness and commitment. The implementation of security policy standards, practices and guidelines, combined with determination of managerial and employee responsibility and accountability will enable the

Given the rapid developments on radar imagery, the EUSC needs to improve its expertise on this subject. Internal training will be given by specialists.

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Work programme 2008

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EUSC to maintain the high standards it has established in this field over the preceding years.

The EUSC will continue ensuring the liaison with the Council’s Security Office (Council’s Security Regulations are applied in the EUSC directly) and with the Spanish National Security Authority, which is by delegation the EUSC Security Accreditation Authority.

As part of a permanent process, the EUSC will perform regular reviews of procedures and inspections of compliance and apply corrective measures after due process, if necessary.



n Line II.2. A-E, Building Maintenance

n Line III.10.A, Building Modification

n Line III.4.A, Special and Secure Communications

2.10. Administration and personnel

The following objectives are set for 2008 in the area of administration and personnel:

n implementation of the revised Staff Regulations;

n implementation of a training plan, extended to all staff, on the basis of the EUSC envisaged goals and strategic objectives;

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n implementation of a policy for protection of personal data, in accordance with the principle contained in the relevant legislation;

n a new filing system for the personnel files;

n continuation of the Health and Safety policy;

n extention of the programme of seconded national experts from Member States and Third States in 2008 (6 experts for 12 months); terms of reference will be written in order to properly integrate SNEs into the operational workflow.



n Chapter III.12.A, Consultants

2.11. Finance

A new concept concerning the financial management of the EUSC is proposed in the new Financial Regulations. The main goal for 2008 is to upgrade the EUSC finance management system to comply with these regulations.

The new concepts will enhance transparency and facilitate management decisions.

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Work programme 2008

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This includes the following elements:

n implementation of the new accounting system: this new system will link and integrate the three different accounting levels (budgetary, financial and analytical) mentioned in the new Financial Regulations; it will allow the Finance Section to obtain more financial information and economic data; by the end of 2008 the system will be operational;

n process costs definition: after the implementation of the accounting system, the Finance Section will be able to calculate the actual costs of all the EUSC processes;

n more transparent financial management, which will lead to higher yield on financial assets.



n Line III.2.A. Operational Equipment and Software, Finance

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1. Purpose

This chapter includes the long-term work programme of the EUSC for the years 2009-2010 in accordance with the decision taken in Council Joint Action (CJA) 2006/998/CFSP of 21 December 2006 amending Joint Action 2001/555/CFSP on the establishment of a European Union Satellite Centre.

2. Capability requirements

The mission of the EUSC, along with the strategic guidelines within the CFSP and ESDP, clearly require EU operational agencies to keep pace with the increasing number, diversity and complexity of commitments. There is no clear figure against which the EUSC can plan capability growth over the next three to five years. Furthermore, it would be extremely difficult to devise a single measure of capability that is fit for purpose over time because there are so many variables, including those pertaining to the key threats, the uncertain nature and location of operations and the ever-increasing requirements by Member States to conduct high-tempo missions with precision and good situational awareness. However, all the political, operational and technological trends are clear – the EUSC needs to plan mid- and long-term capability enhancements and be provided with the necessary funding. Additionally, with new sources and data types becoming available and the inevitable need for technology refresh, the EUSC needs to implement changes just to sustain its current level of capability.

EUSC long term work programme 2009-2010Indicative perspectives

3. Lines of development

Derived from the EUSC strategic objectives, the envisioned goals and the drivers for capability growth, the development can be categorised under the following seven headings:

n products and services;

n stakeholder engagement;

n processes & procedures;

n personnel & organisation;

n information technology systems;

n training;

n infrastructure.

3.1. Products and services

n The EUSC will cooperate with the Member States in an attempt to develop a standard curriculum and propose training modules that can be shared with partners.

n The EUSC will, as required, ensure its full integration into EU BGs operational planning and support. Due to the semestral rotation of the EU BGs, a series of liaison meetings should be formalised to facilitate continuity in geospatial support.

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The EUSC long-term work programme, 2009-10

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n To ensure 24/7 geospatial support for users, including EU BGs, the EUSC will migrate from product-push to a server-based system enabling users to selectively pull geospatial data and services from the EUSC.

n In order to provide combat support for EU operations taking place in a non-benign environment, the EUSC will establish a 24/7 capability for an extended period. The duration of this period would be dependent on the resources made available to the EUSC.

n The EUSC will continue to develop and assure operational service within the GMES and related services relevant for CFSP/ESDP.

n The EUSC will seek to participate in the development of EU autonomous capabilities led by Member States and EU institutions.

n The EUSC will continue to offer itself as a channel for Member States’ contributions contributions to the EU in support of CFSP/ESDP with non-commercial imagery data.

3.2. Stakeholder engagement

n The Member States, individually and through the Council of the EU, are the primary stakeholders in the EUSC. The other stakeholders are as defined in Article 2 of the Joint Action.

n If the EUSC is to achieve its full potential as a leading GEOINT organisation in the EU, it is essential that it establishes a partnering relationship with all of its customers and other stakeholders, and

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develops a deep understanding of how it can best address their needs.

n The EUSC should develop a Stakeholder Engagement Plan to guide staff in this key role. This plan should include guidance on:

n identifying products, data and services that are actually used, regardless of source;

n identifying gaps in available products, data and services;

n identifying decision-makers and key personnel;

n distributing EUSC papers and presentations;

n building the EUSC Alumni network.

n Member States’ capabilities and efforts are to be taken into account in order to make them fully usable at EU level and to avoid duplication of work.

n To be a leader in the community, the EUSC must position itself as a forward-thinking organisation. That image should be developed and nurtured through the development and publication of papers and presentations promoting current best practices and describing emerging patterns for GEOINT. EUSC technical staff should continue with and, where possible, expand this collaboration. More importantly, the results of that collaboration shall be documented in a clear and concise manner for distribution to the European GEOINT community at large.

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Hungarian APC as a part of EUFOR in the Balkans. Photo www.wikipedia.org


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n Building and promoting the EUSC Alumni network. National analysts who have served at the EUSC are the best ambassadors of good will for the EUSC.

n The Worldwide Web is a powerful community building tool. Leveraging its existing website, the EUSC should begin building a European GEOINT community promoting itself as the lead. This web site should provide the following:

n copies of EUSC papers and presentations;

n discussion fora;

n Reference Facility prototypes for users to exercise and comment on;

n e-mail service and distribution lists;

n links to relevant websites;

n archives for documents contributed by the community.

n Finally, all of this work will be to little advantage if people do not know about it. Therefore, the EUSC management will need to issue periodic newsletters to alert the community to EUSC initiatives.

Stakeholder Engagement Plan

n Stakeholder engagement activities are currently carried out by various resources and through various channels. To improve

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efficiency and impact, it is suggested that these activities become aligned to an overarching Stakeholder Engagement Plan, which clearly identifies:

n the target groups and stakeholders who need to be addressed:

n customers,

n data providers,

n decision-/policy makers,

n initiatives/projects,

n clearly defined value added proposals and messages to each group;

n relevant communication channels:

n identify key publication,

n identify key events,

n outline activity plan.

n The resulting plan should thus provide the framework for all outward communication to ensure that a consistent and targeted message is delivered to stakeholders and that available resources can be used efficiently to achieve this goal.

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Marketing and business development activities

n Marketing and business development activities should become more aligned to the EUSC strategy and targeted to the relevant stakeholders. Depending on the final Stakeholder Engagement Plan, the following activities would be recommended to strengthen the EUSC’s position in the EO community:

n update the Website to accommodate a more user/customer centred approach, actively marketing the EUSC’s capabilities, core competencies and services; special attention should be given to proactive marketing e.g. job opportunities, new products and services such as training;

n provide an online forum for EUSC training alumni and/or key stakeholders to support the community;

n provide newsletters on a frequent basis (e.g. monthly or quarterly), which provide a concise overview on latest news;

n publications in relevant magazines and journals as well as participation in conferences and workshops provide good options for positioning the EUSC as a centre of excellence in its field; this should also be used to motivate staff, by providing a platform on which they can demonstrate their skills and build their personal reputations; to this regard the EUSC should develop into a reference institution for all developments in ESDP and space and become a node on relevant initiatives, such as GMES, HMA, UNEP;

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Satellites CosmoSkyMed, Spot 5 and SAR-LUPE Photo © CosmoSkyMed, Spot Image and SAR-LUPE

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n bilateral meetings will always be a relevant issue and will help to build the organisational ties between stakeholders and the EUSC;

n based on the feedback from the activities outlined above, it may be appropriate to redefine the product and services list according to newly recognised requirements.

3.3. Processes and procedures

n Being able to measure effectiveness is essential. As part of this effort, the EUSC will track the level of effort and material costs of each product and service.

n A thorough understanding of the effectiveness of its processes and procedures will enable the EUSC to make very focused IT investments based on evidence. Given the limited budget to invest, this will help ensure that those investments are made so that they yield the best results.

n Current processes and procedures are closely tied to a services portfolio, which has grown over the years. To fully understand the current potential of the existing capabilities, it is necessary to define the functional requirements for standard products. There should be areas in the current processes and the underlying ICT infrastructure, which can be optimised by revising the current process flow as well as by the more effective utilisation of available ICT components.

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n This addresses two aspects: the definition of standards products and the outline of functionality, which is needed to create these products. The steps detailed below address this area.

Defining standardised products and services

n To improve capacity and optimise the utilisation of resources, the portfolio should be reviewed towards options whose products and services, thus underlying processes can be standardised.

Defining required functionality

n Standard product specifications and resulting descriptions of standardised processes allow the identification of the required functionality and resources for a given process.

Optimising processes

n This will also provide an insight into areas where process automation can be introduced, freeing up some of the IAs’ capacity to focus on tasks which require skilled human intervention.

n The existing processes will be captured and analysed through a set of performance metrics.

3.4. Personnel and organisation

n Personnel and the organisational structure will be reviewed with regard to available skills and job descriptions, which will be


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mapped against actual requirements and aligned with the EUSC strategy identified in the Processes and Procedures.

n The objective here is to use staff to the best of their capabilities and to offer incentives for their development and motivation. This could include a formalised training schedule which will help resources to broaden their skills whilst receiving recognised certificates on their education and progress.

n Staff exchange programmes with partner organisations could help to bring additional skills into the EUSC.

n Active participation in events and publications in journals can also help to improve visibility of the EUSC whilst supporting staff development objectives.

3.5. Information technology sytems

This line of development aims primarily to document the full capabilities of the existing ICT infrastructure. Operationally this can be broken down into the following main areas:

n data access and storage infrastructure;

n network infrastructure;

n functional infrastructure;

n develop automation capabilities;

n effort tracing and quality management capabilities;

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n security control capabilities;

n interoperability.

Data access and storage infrastructure

n This area focuses on establishing online access to internal and external data storage facilities, so that data access times can be improved and double acquisition avoided. This activity will include the creation of online standards-based data catalogues, which allow seamless browsing of available data resources, be it internally or external to the EUSC.

n Internal storage capabilities will be reviewed in terms of their network accessibility and data throughput potential.

Network infrastructure

n The existing network structure and administration should be reviewed and documented in detail. Special attention will be given to:

n existing network bandwidth and capabilities of active and passive network components;

n upload and download capabilities between clients and servers, internally and externally;

n implementation of security measures and user administration;

n administration tasks required to run and maintain the network.

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Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo Photo © Council of the EU

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n The current internal network speed of 100 Mbit/s cannot guarantee large-scale data transfer. The possibility to upgrade to full network capacity of 1000 Mbit/s will be evaluated.

Functional infrastructure

n Primarily this should include support for scripting, data and file formats etc., which could help to define a component’s suitability to form part of a plug and play workbench capability.

n In terms of optimising the costs structure, software licence and maintenance costs will be analysed. Based on the identified existing functional capabilities, it is suggested that available open source components should be evaluated for use in the EUSC.

Develop automation capabilities

n The existing capabilities should be reviewed in detail and mapped against the current policies to reveal existing potential for increased efficiency, which can be leveraged without requiring major investments.

n Online ordering, automated processing and online delivery of products have the potential to improve customer services whilst reducing internal overhead efforts.

n The degree to which automated sample workflows addressing these areas could be prototyped and tested as part of the Reference Facility environment will be evaluated.

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Effort tracing and quality management capabilities

n Measuring the true cost of products, in terms of effort on a per product basis, would provide the key metrics to enable the EUSC’s operations to become more efficient. The objective is to highlight areas where, for example, process automation could help to free up staff so that they can focus on more demanding tasks according to their skills.

n With a view towards potential automation of processes, automated quality control procedures should also be evaluated. This may also include automated data quality validation mechanisms.

Security control capabilities

n The Council requirements to meet security needs in the IT infrastructure – be it for internal processing, or for internet product transfer – will continue to be applied and the existing infrastructure will be upgraded correspondingly.

n Online services are regarded as a crucial element in improving and streamlining customer services. The existing infrastructure’s capability to support such services will be evaluated in compliance with the Security Regulations.

Interoperability

n Interoperability is relevant to internal and external processes and is defined by the OGC Abstract Topic 12 on Services as the


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‘capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little or no knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units’.

n In the context of developing the EUSC’s capabilities, interoperability is the key to linking process components into a production line in a flexible manner, so that proprietary data formats are no longer an obstacle to process optimisation. Greater flexibility in configuring production services will also benefit the development of rapid mapping capabilities.

n The EUSC will not only consider deploying standards-based, interoperable services for processing and transfer of data and information, but will also leverage its direct relationship to OGC for the advancement of standards in areas that are of direct relevance to the development of its capabilities.

n Activities in this line of development should include a review of existing internal interoperability capabilities and a mapping against optimised workflows from the Processes and Procedures Line of Development. Additional service requirements may result, which would be addressed through the OGC relationship.

3.6. Training

n Being able to offer formalised training is regarded as a prime capability in support of a number of short-term goals as well as


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overall strategic objectives. Positioning the EUSC strategically in the education of GEOINT experts supports the creation of a community of current and potential future users of services which is aware of the available expertise and services. At the same time, this has created a potential source of new income, providing high-quality training, especially built on a standardised curriculum and with a recognised certification. This activity will also benefit existing staff education and make educated staff more readily available when staff capacity needs to be extended.

Identification of target groups

n The potential for offering training services goes well beyond the education of staff or selected practitioners on an ‘as needed basis’. Given the wealth of expertise and the existing facilities, an EUSC Geospatial Education Programme addresses:

n ab initio analysts;

n expert analysts;

n managers/decision-makers.

Each target group can be addressed through a specific combination of workshops or training, teaching not only skills at various levels, but also presenting the capabilities of the EUSC.

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Identification of training capabilities

n This area will address in more detail where and how training is currently conducted and outline the potential for extending the existing capability to a broader scale.

Identification of new training topics

n With the advent of new types of non-literal sensors (e.g. high resolution radar, infrared, superspectral and hyperspectral sensors) the EUSC will continually review and update its training offering.

Validation of areas for development

n By providing the platform and framework for training modules that lead to a recognised certification, the EUSC will position itself in the centre of the EO community.

n Initially, an overall Certification Scheme should be developed, to reflect the objectives to be achieved through the individual training modules and describing the acquired qualifications.

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n To develop the existing training capability into a ‘centre of excellence’, an iterative step-by-step approach should be pursued over the next three years:

Community services

n Alumni will be kept informed about latest developments and news from the EUSC and be provided with an online community foruto exchange ideas and maintain contacts. This area is part of a networking activity to be defined in more detail in the Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

3.7. Infrastructure

n This line of development includes all infrastructure such as buildings, supply networks etc., which are not part of any of the other lines of development.

n The infrastructure maintenance requirements need to be mapped out in detail and considered as a strategic long-term task. The key reason for this is to mitigate the risk that failing infrastructure poses to the operational capabilities of the EUSC.

n A maintenance plan for the next five years will continue to be updated. This should also include overall considerations from the capabilities development plan, so that maintenance activities become aligned with potential extension needs when applicable.

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n Council Joint Action 2006/998/CFSP of 21 December 2006 amending Joint Action 2001/555/CFSP on the establishment of a European Union Satellite Centre

n Council Security Regulations 2001/264/EC

n European Security Strategy ‘A Secure Europe in a Better World’ dated 12 December 2003

n Commission of the European Communities: ‘European Space Policy’, Com (2007) 212 final, Brussels, 26 April 2007

n Council of the European Union: Fourth Space Council: ‘Resolution on the European Space Policy’, Brussels, 22 May 2007

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ANNEX Reference documents

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�9�9European Union Satellite Centre

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities

2008 — 80 pp. — 20 × 21cm

ISBN 978-92-95034-00-6

EUSC annual work programme 2008and long-term work programme 2009-2010

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08European Union Satellite CentreE-28850 Torrejón de ArdozMadrid, Spainwww.eusc.europa.eu

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-81-07-178-EN-C

eusc annual work programme 2008 - european parliament · eusc annual work programme 2008 ... annex...

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