Case studies - EO-Lab

The EO-Lab cloud that CloudFerro developed and implemented, provides an easy and effective way for German institutions to access Earth observation data for research and development.

EO-Lab has been commissioned by the German Space Agency at DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The EO-Lab cloud is part of the Strategy “Artificial Intelligence“ of the German Federal Government. The contract for building and operating the platform has been granted to CloudFerro, a European cloud provider for the space sector and the operator of the German CODE-DE platform.

EO-Lab grants easy and efficient access to Earth observation missions like Copernicus, TerraSAR-X and EnMAP. A powerful virtual high-performance working environment for processing these data, as well as extensive information and training components are available. In particular, the platform provides scientists and developers from German research institutions and enterprises with scalable computing power including latest processing technology (GPU’s) and broadband data connectivity, together with tools to process data with AI-methods. Due to its high flexibility, EO-Lab guarantees a rapid development of scientific analysis methods and their application to mass data, and thus enables world class data science.

Examples of ongoing, innovative projects on EO-Lab are PreTrainAppEO , AI-Cube , Remote Sensing for Surveying  and more. In these projects, EO-Lab helps researchers to study pretrained AI-models; to develop algorithms to answer questions about satellite images formulated in natural language; and to study land cover change.

Key features of the EO-Lab platform

Data online

Easy and free access to Earth observation data
Reference and training datasets

Innovative applications

Creation and testing of innovative applications

User friendly tools

Tools and predefined virtual-machine images for processing data using AI methods

GPU technologies

Ability to use GPU technologies

Synergy

Synergy with CODE-DE platform for German administration

Scalable cloud services

Powerful cloud services for processing EO data and AI applications

Customer support

Common user forum with CODE-DE, a knowledge base, online seminars, tutorials, and more

Visit website and check more benefits from the EO-lab platform

EO-Lab Platform Functions

EO-Lab's important functions include making data available for research and enabling the development of innovative applications about the Earth, its climate, geology and environmental change, particularly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods. Scientists use a tool with scalable computing power, offering the latest processing technology (GPU), broadband data connectivity, enabling users to apply scientific analysis methods to data and develop world-class science.

Thanks to the applications which are milestones in the search and selection of Earth Observation (EO) products, the user can incorporate data into his production process faster and more efficiently. These apps include:

Portal

Home page of the environment, combining account management with a knowledge base, portfolio, projects and more.

Dashboard

Horizon

a graphic service in the OpenStack technology that allows you to manage your resources

Finder

the EO Finder provides access to the entire data offering. The Finder is a powerful search engine with extensive options for configuring the data search, enabling the user to quickly find the relevant data sets: Finder.

Browser

a simplified tool allows browsing a wide archive of Earth Observation products, like Sentinel-, Landsat- and Envisat data. It provides the ability to visualize data and to save them in .png and .jpg formats as well as to download the raw satellite imagery: Browser.

Notebooks

Jupiter

on-line computing environment, accessible from a web browser, satellite data repository available to registered users at no extra charge, support for many programming languages

Synergy between EO-lab and CODE-DE

EO-Lab this is not the first project for the German government that has been entrusted to CloudFerro and Urbetho CF. In 2019, the CloudFerro was selected as a new cloud provider and operator for the CODE-DE platform. Synergy between EO-Lab and CODE-DE, an Earth observation platform for German government agencies, both operated by CloudFerro give researchers at EO-Lab the ability to easily and efficiently communicate scientific results for public use. Close cooperation between research institutions and public administrations is promoted through the synergistic use of both platforms.

Testimonials

"The EO-Lab Cloud provides the computational power for innovative EO processing, as well as platform and data services. It creates a unique development environment, particularly for AI applications for scientific analysis. Thus, it fosters the extraction of the information from data stored in different Earth observation programs at the national and international level, such as TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, RapidEye, PlanetScope, EnMAP, and Copernicus", says Dr. Peter Wagner, Project Manager at the German Space Agency.

"We are excited to be part of the EO-Lab team and committed to contributing to the success of this innovative endeavor with our in-depth knowledge of geoservices and EO cloud computing and with our long year experience in the evolution of EO platforms and community building. We are looking forward to supporting EO-Lab users in all phases of platform usage, starting with a smooth onboarding process, providing EO Cloud support during the project execution, and finally assisting in the presentation and sharing of the project's results with the EO-Lab and CODE-DE community", says Dr. Ursula C. Benz, Managing Director at Urbetho CF, and responsible for Business Development and Customer Relations for CloudFerro in the DACH region.

CloudFerro is a certified company: ISO 9001, ISO 27001, BSI 200-1, BSI C5

German public institutions are especially demanding in terms of high security requirements imposed on cloud providers. CloudFerro has been certified according to ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 norms, and in addition, the Frankfurt Cloud of CloudFerro, where CODE-DE and EO-Lab are hosted, has been certified with German BSI 200-1 (BSI-IGZ-0447-2021) and BSI C5 attestation (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue). That means the company complies with strict requirements in terms of IT infrastructure, tools, databases, equipment, technical security and many others.

EO-Lab will be collocated in the same environment and in the same cloud infrastructure as CODE-DE with extended physical resources, and will include several additional applications. It will also be certified accordingly to ensure the highest level of data security and service quality in every respect.