CLS

Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), founded in 1986 and headquartered in Ramonville-Saint-Agne near Toulouse, France, is a French space data services company and subsidiary of CNES (the French space agency) and Ifremer (French oceanographic institute), providing satellite-based tracking, monitoring, and data collection services across environmental monitoring, maritime surveillance, fisheries management, and oceanographic applications.

CLS is the operator of the Argos satellite system — a unique global environmental monitoring and wildlife tracking network that collects data from hundreds of thousands of small platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) mounted on animals (birds, sea turtles, sharks, polar bears, whales), oceanographic buoys, weather stations, and scientific instruments worldwide. Argos instruments fly aboard NOAA weather satellites, MetOp satellites, and the Indian SARAL/AltiKa satellite, providing truly global coverage for environmental scientists studying migration patterns, ecosystem dynamics, and climate indicators.

The Argos system has been operating continuously since 1978 in partnership with NOAA and Eumetsat, making it one of the longest-running operational environmental satellite services.

CLS operates VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) for fisheries authorities in over 120 countries — a satellite-based system that tracks commercial fishing vessel positions to enforce fishing quotas, monitor illegal fishing in exclusive economic zones, and support port state control inspections. CLS processes fisheries monitoring data for the European Fisheries Control Agency, multiple national coast guards, and international tuna commissions.

Maritime domain awareness is a growing CLS business: the company provides AIS (Automatic Identification System) vessel tracking, dark vessel detection (ships that disable AIS transponders), and multi-source fusion analytics combining AIS, SAR satellite imagery, and optical EO for comprehensive ocean intelligence. CLS competes with Spire Global, exactEarth (Harris), and Windward in maritime tracking, differentiating through Argos heritage and CNES/Ifremer scientific customer relationships.