Imagine you have satellite images, drone footage, social media feeds, and ground sensors all generating data about the same piece of land — but none of them talk to each other. CALLISTO built an AI system that pulls all these data streams together, makes sense of them automatically, and then shows the results through augmented and virtual reality interfaces instead of boring spreadsheets. Think of it like Google Maps on steroids: it combines space imagery with drone video, weather sensors, and even news reports, then lets a water engineer or farmer walk through the data in 3D. The system runs partly on powerful cloud computers and partly right on the drones themselves, so you get answers fast even in the field.
By the numbers
17
consortium partners across multiple sectors
8
countries represented in the consortium
4
pilot domains validated (water, media, agriculture, security)
29
total project deliverables produced
53%
industry ratio in consortium
9
industry partners involved
The business problem
What needed solving
Companies managing large physical assets — water networks, farmland, infrastructure — are drowning in disconnected data streams: satellite images arrive on one platform, drone footage sits on another, sensor readings are in a third system, and news alerts come through email. Making sense of all this data together requires expensive manual analysis, and by the time insights reach field crews, the situation has often changed. Decision-makers need a single intelligent platform that automatically combines these sources and delivers actionable visual intelligence in real time.
The solution
What was built
The project built an AI platform that fuses Copernicus satellite data with drone video, social media, sensor feeds, and geospatial data, then delivers insights through AR/VR interfaces. Concrete outputs include: UAV content retrieval algorithms for finding geo-referenced video shots, edge processing capabilities for on-board drone AI, and a validated decision support system tested across 4 pilot domains with 29 deliverables including 1st prototype, 2nd prototype, and final system evaluation reports.
Audience
Who needs this
Water utility companies monitoring infrastructure and flood risks across large service areasPrecision agriculture firms combining satellite and drone data for crop monitoring and CAP complianceSecurity and border agencies needing real-time multi-source geospatial intelligenceNews organizations covering environmental events and needing rapid satellite/drone data verificationSmart city operators integrating sensor networks with Earth observation data
Business applications
Who can put this to work
Water Utilities
enterprise
Target: Municipal water management companies and water distribution operators
If you are a water utility operator dealing with aging infrastructure, leak detection, or flood risk monitoring across large service areas — this project developed an AI-powered platform that fuses satellite imagery with drone footage and ground sensor data, then delivers actionable insights through augmented reality interfaces your field crews can use on-site. The system was validated with water utility operators as one of 4 pilot domains across a consortium of 17 partners.
Agriculture & Agri-Tech
any
Target: Precision agriculture service providers and farming cooperatives
If you are an agriculture company struggling to combine satellite monitoring with on-the-ground observations for crop health, irrigation planning, or CAP compliance reporting — this project built AI methods that automatically fuse Copernicus satellite data with drone imagery and in-situ sensor readings. The platform was specifically designed to support EU agriculture and CAP policymakers with decision support, tested across 8 countries in the consortium.
Media & Journalism
any
Target: News agencies and investigative journalism organizations covering environmental or disaster events
If you are a media organization that needs to quickly verify and visualize environmental events, natural disasters, or land-use changes using satellite and drone data — this project developed visual analytics and natural language processing tools that extract meaningful knowledge from multiple geo-referenced data sources. The system includes video retrieval algorithms for finding geo-referenced UAV footage, with journalists identified as a core user group during 3 years of development.
Frequently asked
Quick answers
What would it cost to license or adopt this technology?+
Based on available project data, no specific licensing fees or pricing models are published. The project was a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), meaning the technology was developed with EU public funding. Interested companies should contact the coordinator SERCO ITALIA SPA to discuss licensing terms or partnership arrangements.
Can this scale to cover large geographic areas or high data volumes?+
The system was specifically designed for scalability. It leverages DIAS platforms (like ONDA-DIAS) and High Performance Computing infrastructures for processing large volumes of Sentinel satellite data. Edge computing on UAVs adds another layer of distributed processing, reducing the need to send all data back to central servers.
Who owns the intellectual property and how is it licensed?+
With 17 partners across 8 countries — including 9 industry players and 6 research organizations — IP ownership is shared according to the consortium agreement. SERCO ITALIA SPA as coordinator can direct inquiries. Specific licensing terms would need to be negotiated depending on which components are of interest.
Has this been tested in real-world conditions?+
Yes. The project produced pilot implementation reports including 1st prototype evaluation, 2nd prototype evaluation, and a final system evaluation report with deployment validation and recommendations. Four pilot domains were tested: water utilities, media/journalism, agriculture policy, and security.
How does this integrate with existing IT systems and data platforms?+
CALLISTO was built on top of existing DIAS infrastructure (specifically ONDA-DIAS) and integrates with Copernicus data streams, Galileo positioning, and standard sensor data formats. The architecture supports on-demand data fusion, meaning it can connect to your existing data sources rather than replacing them.
What about data security and compliance for sensitive operations?+
Security agencies were one of the 4 pilot user groups, indicating the platform was designed with security requirements in mind. The edge processing capability means sensitive data can be processed locally on UAVs rather than being sent to cloud servers, which helps with data sovereignty concerns.
Is there ongoing support or a commercial entity behind this?+
The coordinator SERCO ITALIA SPA is a major IT services company (not an SME), suggesting commercial continuity beyond the project end in December 2023. The consortium included 9 industry partners, 4 of which are SMEs, providing multiple potential commercial pathways for different technology components.
Consortium
Who built it
CALLISTO brought together 17 partners from 8 countries with a strong industry presence — 9 out of 17 partners (53%) come from private sector, which is unusual for an EU research project and signals real commercial intent. The coordinator, SERCO ITALIA SPA, is a large Italian IT services company with deep government and space sector contracts, not a university lab. The consortium includes 4 SMEs alongside 6 research organizations and 2 other entities, giving it a healthy mix of agile innovators and established players. The geographic spread across Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, and South Korea adds international market reach. For a business considering this technology, the industry-heavy consortium means the solutions were built with commercial deployment in mind, not just academic papers.
Want to explore how CALLISTO's AI-powered satellite and drone data fusion can solve your monitoring challenges? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the right technical contact in the consortium.
