David Belton
General Manager
MDA Geospatial Services
Canada

Biography
David Belton joined MDA in 1999. He is currently the General Manager of MDA Geospatial Services Inc. Prior to this, Mr Belton was responsible for overall business development of MDA's RADARSAT and optical satellite imagery and derived services business for the civilian government and commercial sector. He has held a number of engineering, business development and management roles at MDA in the areas of satellite ground systems, airborne radar systems, and aviation systems.

Abstract
Capitalizing on the Operational Capabilities of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellites for Near Real-time Applications

The market for geospatial data in services is growing at a record rate. Commercial data sales reached $1.1B in 2009 and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 20%. The value-added services industry is even larger, generating $1.8B in revenue in 2009. Within these markets, data sales and value-added services based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has typically represented a small fraction of these numbers, primarily due to the continued perceived immaturity of the SAR market.
Over the past few years, customers in many different markets including Maritime and Defence, Disaster Management, Oil and Gas and Mining have come to better understand the unique capabilities of SAR and the value that adding data and services from SAR missions can have on their programs. The weather independent nature of SAR satellites ensures that mission critical monitoring programs have imagery when they need it, regardless of weather conditions that might render optical satellites blind. The operational focus of SAR providers also ensures responsive, 24/7 access to satellite tasking and the production of value-added products and services, delivered within hours of image collection.
In this session, Mr. Belton will use case studies to illustrate how customers in the Maritime and Defence, Disaster Management, and Oil and Gas sectors can improve their operational results by augmenting their current remote sensing programs with SAR-based solutions.
All figures Euroconsult 2010