Our team and mission

This position is based at the ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN) – Frascati, Italy

Under the direct authority of the Head of the Climate Action, Sustainability and Science Department, the Head of the Green Solutions Division (H/EOP-SG) is in charge of developing Earth Observation-based green solutions serving science, policy, industrial competitiveness and society at large. The H/EOP-SG does that by engaging scientific, public and commercial-sector user communities and stakeholders, identifying their needs, implementing solutions and projects to address those needs. In doing so, the H/EOP-SG progressively transfers results from research to operational solutions. The H/EOP-SG builds up new scientific and end-user communities and works with them in targeted R&D activities, ranging from open science up to pre-commercial applications development (in coordination with Φ-lab), to advance Earth system knowledge, maximise the impact in society and to underpin the definition of future Earth Observation systems. In close coordination with the other divisions, the H/EOP-SG fosters the development and use of state-of-the-art digital technologies in such Earth Observation solutions. The focus is on open software and standards that have the potential to significantly enlarge the impact of Earth Observation products and results. The H/EOP-SG is responsible for coordinating Earth Observation training and education activities and for the Earth System Science Hub and is supporting the preparation of Earth Observation elements of the accelerators (S4GF and R3).

The activities of our department include also Earth Observation (EO) and Remote Sensing (RS) Education, in particular in preparation of the School Lab foreseen for the LPS2025 (https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Save_the_date_ESA_s_Living_Planet_Symposium_2025)

Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Develop and test educational devices /experiments

The scope of this activity is to develop and test educational devices (and related experiments) to be used for experiments for schools attending the School Lab of LPS2025.

In particular, the main activity will be the design, test and integration of an Internet of things (IoT) device that measures/evaluates tree health (on ground). This activity is related the following areas: EO Education, Electronics, Data science, in-situ & satellite data (Sentinel-2) and Machine learning algorithms. This educational device will be called HTP (=Health Tree Platform). This HTP shall be designed (starting from an existing prototype), developed and extensively tested during the activity described here.

The end-objective of this educational HTP will be to help secondary school students (targeting students attending the LPS2025 School Lab, but not only) to develop awareness of:

1. the importance of tree health;
2. how such parameter can be measured in-situ using electronic devices;
3. how it can be estimated using satellite data (Sentinel-2) and;
4. finally what are the limitations/challenges/techniques (calibration and validation) when comparing satellite data and in-situ measurements for such applications.

It is expected that during the LPS25 School Lab school students can use such device (among other devices, for similar experiments) to execute several different experiments on a bonsai-tree, measuring in real time relevant parameters such as acceleration, gyro, ground moisture, wind speed and direction, NDVI (Normalized difference vegetation index), while also learning how to use EO Browser to estimate NDVI from Sentinel-2 in specific zones.

This activity will include:

• Development of a HTP prototype for the LPS2025;
• Implementation and interfacing of some IoT (Internet of Things) sensors (accelerometer, gyro, humidity, Near-Infrared bands) on the HTP platform (Health Tree Platform) in order to measure the health of trees;
• Development of the relevant software to interface sensors (implementing some procedures using ML algorithms);
• Development of LORA communication for the transmission of HTP data to the ESA server;
• Analysis of the possible correlation between in-situ data and Satellite data and related limitations/challenges;
• Conception and creation of educational demos for the LPS2025, such as:
  • Measuring the wind direction and intensity;
  • Measuring the 3D accelerometer and gyro of the tree;
  • Measuring the NDVI with different status of the leaves;
  • Checking NDVI parameter from Sentinel Browser in selected areas.
• Finally, describing the achieved results in a technical documentation, including a user manual for schools and a small video tutorial.

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook

Education

You must be a university student, preferably in your final or second-to-last year of a university course at Master’s level and you need to remain enrolled at your University for the entire duration of the internship.

Additional requirements

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

Knowledge and background in Computer Programming (Python and C), Electronics, IoT, are required.