This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2014
Remote Sensing Imagery for Off-site inspections
Remote Sensing Imagery for Off-site inspections
The idea of using remote sensing imagery as off-site measure of BWC compliance is nothing new. The Third BWC Review Conference in 1991 established an Ad Hoc Group of Governmental Experts known as the VEREX(*) Group that examined the use of remote sensing imagery as one of 21 identified individual me...
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Personal Name(s): | Niemeyer, Irmgard (Corresponding Author) |
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Contributing Institute: |
Nukleare Entsorgung; IEK-6 |
Published in: | 2014 |
Imprint: |
2014
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Conference: | Workshop “Open Source Tools for the Assessment of Compliance with the BWC”, Geneva (Switzerland), 2014-08-03 - 2014-08-03 |
Document Type: |
Talk (non-conference) |
Research Program: |
Joint Programme on the Technical Development and Further Improvement of IAEA Safeguards between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear Waste Management Safety Research for Nuclear Waste Disposal |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
The idea of using remote sensing imagery as off-site measure of BWC compliance is nothing new. The Third BWC Review Conference in 1991 established an Ad Hoc Group of Governmental Experts known as the VEREX(*) Group that examined the use of remote sensing imagery as one of 21 identified individual measures(**). One of the most recent reports, authored by Meier in 2006 (***), aimed at reassessing the value of airborne imagery for verifying BWC compliance taking into account the state-of-the-art of remote sensing technologies at that time. Meier expected remote monitoring from satellites or aircraft to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of other means verifying BWC compliance and emphasized the value of remote sensing in support of on-site measures and in assessing the correctness and completeness of information on bioweapons-related activities.Since then, the development of remote sensing and geoinformation technologies has continued to stride ahead. Today, airborne and satellite imaging sensors provide far better spatial, spectral and temporal resolution and 3D capabilities than some years ago. Video scenes acquired over an area of interest for up to 90 seconds will become commercially available from space soon. At the same time, also methods for processing remote sensing imagery as well as geoinformation technologies (with Google Earth as probably best-known example) for visualizing and integrating remote sensing information have advanced with regard to automation, user-friendliness and public availability.Given this trend towards better imagery quality, increasing availability and easier use it is necessary to look again at remote sensing, together with geoinformation technologies, and examine whether the potential role of these technologies for verifying BWC compliance may have changed. The issue will be addressed in three parts: The first part reviews the latest developments of remote sensing and geoinformation technologies that are relevant in the BWC context. The second part explains how state-of-the-art remote sensing and geoinformation technologies may be used in support of other measures, such as confidence building, inspections and continuous monitoring. The third part discusses to what extend these technologies could be used to directly extract observables and signatures of possible non-compliance with the BWC.* Ad Hoc Group of Governmental Experts to Identify and Examine Potential Verification Measures from a Scientific and Technical Standpoint** VEREX Report, BWC/CONF.III/VEREX/9, 1993 (http://www.unog.ch/bwcdocuments/1993-09-VEREX4/BWC_CONF.III_VEREX_09.pdf)*** Oliver Meier, Aerial Surveillance and BWC Compliance Monitoring. Forschungsstelle Biologische Waffen und Rüstungskontrolle. ZNF Occasional Paper 2, November 2006 (http://www.biological-arms-control.org/publications/aerial%20surveillance_web.pdf) |