Communitech to build cluster around new satellite business with $6.4 M FedDev grant

The Waterloo region's technology incubator and accelerator has landed its largest single funding award to oversee the development and launch of two microsatellites it hopes will serve as the basis of a cluster of firms generating, commercializing and exploiting big data. Communitech received $6.4 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev) to manage the project — DATA.BASE (formerly known as the Intelligent Media Networks project) — with the bulk of the funding flowing to the Univ of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).

The funding is augmented with an additional $2.5-million FedDev loan to exact-Earth — a subsidiary of Cambridge ON-based space designer and hardware manufacturer COM DEV International Ltd — to update and commercialize its satellite data gathering and processing software. The Communitech grant was awarded through FedDev's Technology Development Program, while its Prosperity Program provided the exactEarth loan.

"The Hub is the impetus. Our goal is R&D and commercialization collaborations here at the Hub," says Glenn Smith, Communitech's director of digital media projects, referring to Communitech's 50,000-sq-ft technology accelerator. "We've done small commercialization projects like this before but nothing on this scale. Our objective is to build up a cluster related to this endeavour."

The initial application for the two tiny satellites is for tracking the global shipping industry but other applications could involve determining the carbon footprint of shipping and water quality management. DATA. BASE is also pulling in other collaborators such as the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), the Univ of Waterloo's Water Institute, McMaster Univ, York Univ and the Guelph ON-based wind engineering firm RWDI. Their participation pushes DATA. BASE's total cash and in-kind contributions to $20 million for a 1:1 leverage of federal funds.

The primary contractor for DATA. BASE is UTIAS, a 15-year-old institute within the U of T's faculty of applied science and engineering that has carved out an internationally competitive niche for the design and construction of micro- and nano-satellites. UTIAS was responsible for the developing MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations for STars) — Canada's first space science microsatellite and first space telescope — which was launched in 2003. It also designed and launched a Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Microsatellite (M3MSat) for COM DEV in 2007. The M3MSat uses Automatic Identification System (AIS) technology that led to its nanosatellite ship tracking business and prompted the spin-off of exactEarth.

"Nationally our lab is unique in Canada in terms of what we do, how far along we are and the services we offer. These satellites are relatively low cost and are 10 to 100 times cheaper than traditional satellite missions," says Dr Robert E Zee, UTIAS's director since its inception. "We now have six satellites in orbit, 13 under construction and more contracts in the pipeline. We've developed a global reputation through word-of-mouth, conference presentations and by showing results."

The microsatellite weighs 15 kg. and the nanosatellite weighs approximately 7 kg and will be launched from India later this year. Both will be positioned into a low orbit of less than 1,000 km in altitude and will gather real-time data on the more than 100,000 ships at seas at any one time. AIS technology allows for ship-to-ship communication alerting crews with details of nearby ships.

Other partners are contributing specific technological expertise to the project: IQC is responsible for creating a safe communications system to transmit the data stemming from the project. IQC researchers use entangled quantum protons with crucial information encoded between the protons. Although quantum photons can be copied, they leave a trace — referred to as dirt — that indicates tampering of the data. York Univ will contribute expertise in carbon management and monitoring through its Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science.

"The project has three phases: the satellite, software and outreach," says Smith. "We're now in Phase III to build awareness and conduct research on new markets ... The project will have a duration of five or six years after which activities will carry on."

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