An Automated Satellite Data Ingestion, Warehouse and Distribution System

Photon Research Associates (PRA) proposes to develop a satellite data ingestion warehouse and distribution system based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software and Web technology. The implementation will focus on automating tasks that currently require human intervention, thereby reducing costs and increasing reliability and speed of both data ingestion and distribution. Satellite sensor data will be qualified and then ingested into an object-relational database. The object-relational database approach supports both complex data types, such as hyper-spectral images, and relational data, such as sensor metadata. The commercial push for data warehousing and powerful Intranets has motivated the database vendors to provide convenient integration with the Web. Web development tools provide a low-cost method of designing easy-to-use graphical user interfaces for managing and requesting data. An automated distribution server will determine the optimal medium (e.g. Internet or CD-ROM) for transferal of the data.The primary object of the Phase I effort is to demonstrate how an integrated system of COTS software and hardware can dramatically improve the distribution of satellite data by 1) reducing the need for human operator involvement at the ground station, and by 2) increasing the quality of service and responsiveness to the end user.