Data Flow and Workflow Organization—The Data Management for the TerraSAR-X Payload Ground Segment

Abstract

The payload ground segment (PGS) for the recently launched German radar satellite, TerraSAR-X, performs the operational data management of the acquired satellite data. This comprises well-known functions such as reception, systematic and on-demand processing, archiving and cataloguing, ordering, and dissemination of digital Earth-observation products. In addition, it comprises new functions like large-scale multimode acquisition ordering by users, integration with a commercial service segment, and new interfaces and workflows within the complete ground segment. The TerraSAR-X PGS is based on the Data Information and Management System (DIMS), the multimission data-handling infrastructure of the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) at the German Aerospace Center. The development and integration of the new functions and complex workflows for TerraSAR-X were achieved and successfully tested on time. After the support of commissioning phase for five months, the system is now operational. As an intended side effect, the PGS for TerraSAR-X is, in several aspects, a pattern being reused for upcoming future missions, thus substantially reducing overall developmental costs. This paper investigates features of the TerraSAR-X PGS that enable the reuse in a multimission environment. It summarizes the achieved enhancements and extensions of DIMS to support the TerraSAR-X mission. Special emphasis is placed on the implementation of the request workflow initiated by user orders and the corresponding data flow within the distributed DFD multimission facility.