Getting Ready for GOES-R

The next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES R-series) is scheduled to be launched in 2015. GOES R-series (GOES-R, -S, -T, and –U) represents a generational change in both spacecraft and instrument capability, and will provide improved observations of earth and space weather compared to its predecessors. Raw data from the GOES-R instruments are received at the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station (WCDAS), or the Remote Back-Up (RBU) ground station in Fairmont, WV, and processed to L1b radiances for all instruments, as well as L2+ products from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). This data from WCDAS/RBU will be re-broadcast as GOES Re-Broadcast (GRB) data to users with direct read out terminals within the hemispheric view of GOES in real time. GRB is the GOES-R version of today's GOES Variable (GVAR) data format, and will be transmitted at 15 times the data volume/rate of the current GVAR. All the GRB data will be broadcast as CCSDS packets in the DVB-S2 standard. GRB signal will be a dual circular polarized signal at a center frequency of 1686.6 Mhz. Direct broadcast users will have to upgrade existing ground processing equipment or procure new space to ground communication hardware to receive GRB, possibly including upgraded/new antenna systems. For terrestrial users, all GOES-R L1b and L2+ products will be distributed at low latency through the Product Distribution and Access (PDA) system, a part of NOAA's Environmental Satellite Processing and Distribution Center (ESPC). This presentation describes the characteristics of GRB data and specifications of the user receiver systems.