real world. real time. 1 the changing face of direct readout “oh brave new world that has such...

Real World. Real Time.

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The Changing Face of Direct Readout

“Oh Brave New World that has such people in it!”- Shakespeare (“The Tempest”)

Richard Isaacman

Vice President, SeaSpace Corp.

International EOS/NPP Direct Readout Meeting

3-6 October 2005


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From the GOES-R Mission Statement:From the GOES-R Mission Statement:

(Slide taken from NPOESS Field Terminal Users Forum / May 19-20, 2004)Thanks to Darrell R. Robertson NOAA/NESDIS/OSDPD Direct Services Division

The goals of the Geostationary The goals of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites Operational Environmental Satellites

(GOES) program are to procure (GOES) program are to procure spacecraft, instruments, launch services, spacecraft, instruments, launch services,

and a ground segment necessary and a ground segment necessary to to maintain an uninterrupted flow of maintain an uninterrupted flow of

environmental satellite data to usersenvironmental satellite data to users..


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Who Are the Historical DRO Users?► GOES GVAR Users

– Very numerous (thousands)– Very low cost ground stations – Primary interest: weather data; operational

► HRPT Users

– Smaller in number but still very numerous (1-2 thousand?)– More expensive and elaborate ground stations (LEO)– Primary interest: both research and weather applications

► X-Band Users (Mostly Aqua/Terra)

– Small number (< 150) but influential – Complex and relatively expensive ground stations– Primary interest: research but seeing increasing operational

use


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So What’s Happening Here?► Every mission is seeing both operational and

research use, regardless of its original design concept.– …and NPP will embody this dual function by design

► This dual role creates user communities that were not originally envisioned. This creates:– … demand for unanticipated data products– … new requirements for data archives and dissemination– … a de facto multi-mission role for every ground station

NPP/NPOESS is the first DRO mission to acknowledge both of these issues in its mission concept.


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In Other Words…

Operational to Research Research to

OperationalMulti-Mission

Mixed Research and Operational

GOES, POES EOS

NPP/NPOESSGOES-R


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Good News/Bad News for Gov’t and Suppliers

► Good News– More data goodness– Improved access to historical data

• E.g., DAACs, Data Pools, NOAA CLASS– Access to higher-level products– …all of which act to increase the user base

► Bad News– Need lots more computing power and storage– Larger and more complex data capture infrastructure– …in other words, cost (tends to decrease the user base)


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A Digression About Cost

Station Type Year Price No. Stations

HRPT1980’s ~$100K ~100’s

2005 $20K - $50K ~1000’s

X-band (MODIS)

2000 ~$500K ~10

2005 ~$250K ~130

The small-to-medium size end-user market has historically been very price sensitive. Take LEO Direct Readout as an example:

The number of users proliferates significantly as cost

drops (N ~ 1/cost2 or faster) and technology matures.

Anecdotally, there is a “takeoff point” below ~$100K where the user base gets very broad.


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Fact Resulting NeedLowering cost of access to data expands the community

►“Minimally complex” ground stations

User community is increasingly heterogeneous

► Interdisciplinary venues for info exchange (web forums, conferences…)

► Open architectures► Standardized file formats► Modular software

Increasing reliance on Internet access to archives

►Easier access to bandwidth►Improved archive interfaces

The Result for Government and Industry:Shared Interest in an Expanded User Base


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A 3-Way Partnership is Critical to Success

Government UsersIndustry

GovernmentIndustry

Users

THIS WON’T WORK

BUT THIS WILL


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► Release processing software in a modular (rather than layered) fashion to allow system integrators to offer users a menu of options.– “It is important that agencies make pre-processing packages

available to the greatest extent possible, whether they are developed in-house or in the research or commercial communities.” (CEOS Ad Hoc Team on Data Utilization, 11/2003)

► Early release of libraries will aid transition and improve vendor support to customers

► Use self-documenting file formats with OS-independent libraries.– HDF, netCDF, whatever– HRIT becoming a de facto standard; consider hopping on

that bandwagon

Some Practical Steps Towards Creating a “User-Centric” DRO Ground Segment


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More Practical Steps► Processing software should be integrable into existing

COTS structures.– Consider backwards compatibility– Real-time users who want L2+ products will still run vendor

or own software packages– KISS!

► Ground station architects (software and hardware) must coordinate more closely with network technologists– E.g., National Lambda Rail (NLR) in U.S.

► Improve usability of existing large archives– Biggest areas of improvement: user interfaces, response

time


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Some Final Inspirational Thoughts► The DRO user community is

now highly multi-mission and interdisciplinary, and every new mission accelerates this trend.

► Data acquisition and product processing requirements should not be cost-prohibitive for the user/customer.

► Facilitating greater availability of data products will increase the size of the user base, thus fulfilling the IPO’s mission and benefiting both end users and suppliers.

← “The Inspiration of St. Matthew” (Caravaggio, 1602)

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