Announcement of Passing Stage-Gate Review for Projects Selected in MLIT's SBIR Phase 3 Fund Program

Satellite Data Services Inc. (President and CEO: Kazutaka Kumino, hereinafter “SDS”) announces that the technical development projects titled 'Construction of a Flood and Landslide Disaster Support System Using SAR Satellite Data' and 'Construction of a Road Inspection Support System Using SAR Satellite Data,' jointly advanced by SDS as the lead, QPS Institute Inc. (President and CEO: Shunsuke Onishi), and Hitecs Co., Ltd. (President: Yoshihiro Shimosaka), have both achieved the targeted Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL5) under the stage-gate review of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s (MLIT) SBIR Phase 3 Fund Program, and successfully passed the evaluation.

※1 SDS was selected in January 2024 for two projects under the 'SME Innovation Promotion Program (MLIT, Field 1)': Project No. 27 and Project No. 33.

https://www.sd-services.co.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20240425.pdf

※2 TRL (Technology Readiness Level) is an indicator of technological maturity, assessed on a scale from 1 to 9. TRL5 refers to the stage of integrated prototype system development and validation, while TRL6 refers to technology demonstration under conditions simulating the real-world environment.

Purpose of the MLIT SBIR Phase 3 Fund Program

The program aims to promote the social implementation of advanced technologies developed by startups and SMEs in Japan by conducting large-scale technical demonstrations (Phase 3) under the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) framework, as part of the MLIT’s SME Innovation Promotion Program.

Details of the Selected Projects

Project Title ①: Construction of a Flood and Landslide Disaster Support System Using SAR Satellite Data

Project Overview

- Development of a service that utilizes multiple satellites to provide information on flood and landslide disasters within 2.5 hours of image acquisition during large-scale disasters

- Development of a service that calculates flood depth and water volume using DEM data from affected areas, in addition to basic information such as number of flooded households and affected population derived from national spatial data, to support drainage operations

Project Title ②: Construction of a Road Inspection Support System Using SAR Satellite Data

Project Overview

- Development of a service that uses satellite monitoring to assess risk levels (screening) of long and widespread road civil engineering structures that normally require periodic manual inspections

- Development of a service that provides information on traffic disruptions within 2.5 hours of image acquisition during large-scale disasters by leveraging multiple satellites

At TRL5, the following functions and achievements were demonstrated under conditions simulating real-world operations:

- Implementation of multi-satellite search and tasking functionality; in operational trials simulating real disasters, end-to-end satellite search and observation orders were successfully completed using the developed system

- Validation through operational trials conducted in collaboration with external organizations

- Improvement of user interface, along with identification of issues and implementation of countermeasures

Future Plans and Outlook

Moving forward, the consortium will advance further demonstrations under actual operational conditions toward achieving TRL6, while expanding satellite compatibility, shortening data acquisition time, and enhancing usability. Additionally, to promote social implementation in the fields of infrastructure inspection and disaster prevention, collaboration with relevant agencies will be strengthened.