NOAA/NESDIS ESPDS—Enterprise Multi-Mission Operational Product Generation and Distribution for NESDIS

As part of the NOAA/NESDIS/OSGS Environmental Satellite Processing and Distribution System (ESPDS) program, Solers has implemented, tested, and transitioned to operations an enterprise multi-mission system for NESDIS’ Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC). ESPDS provides robust data ingest, processing, product generation, and distribution capabilities by employing enhanced computing methodologies and technology improvements, including a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). These enhancements provide a secure, scalable, and adaptable infrastructure in response to changing demands of the ESPC. ESPDS has been deployed to multiple NESDIS locations including: Operational and Integration & Test (I&T) strings at NSOF; an Operational Backup string at CBU; and operational LRIT/HRIT broadcast components at WCDAS, FCDAS, and GSFC.

ESPDS provides a flexible SOA-based Product Generation subsystem known as NOAA Data Exploitation (NDE), which is capable of scheduling and executing any product algorithm, with a streamlined algorithm integration process that reduces the overall Research to Operations (RTO) timeline for product algorithms. In addition to performing product generation of NOAA Unique Products (NUPs) for the JPSS program, Solers is preparing for the future onboarding of several additional product algorithms from STAR into NDE, helping NESDIS move toward implementing an Enterprise Product Generation capability per the GEARS Enterprise Architecture vision.

ESPDS also provides an enterprise Product Distribution and Access (PDA) subsystem for near real-time distribution and access of products from multiple NESDIS and other partner missions. PDA includes SOA-based web service interfaces for integrating with data providers, as well as support for secure versions of FTP for non-SOA-enabled (legacy) data providers. It leverages push and pull approaches for consumers to obtain products, including SOA-based web service interfaces and secure versions of FTP. A subscription-based distribution solution allows users to manage product subscriptions via the PDA web-based portal, and receive the products via push or pull machine-to-machine interfaces. Product subscriptions may include tailoring options such as sectorization, remapping, format transformation, and compression, allowing users to implement “smart delivery” by receiving products for just their areas of interest, in formats that best suits their needs. Users are also able to search the 7-day product inventory via the PDA web-based portal, and submit one-time (ad-hoc) requests for products from the inventory.

The ESPDS High Rate Information Transmission (HRIT) / Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) subsystem provides an enterprise solution for both Low Rate Information Transmission (LRIT) broadcast with the legacy GOES satellites, and HRIT broadcast with GOES-16 and other future GOES-R era satellites. The broadcast stream includes a combination of GOES imagery products, Data Collection System (DCS) data, and alerts from EMWIN and the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Transition to operations of ESPDS commenced in December 2016, and since then Solers has been providing continuous ESPDS operations and sustainment support to OSPO as a next generation ESPC system. ESPDS is operationally ingesting GOES-16 (and will ingest other future GOES-R era) Level 1b and Level 2 products from the GOES-R Ground Segment, as well as S-NPP (and will ingest other future JPSS era) xDRs from the JPSS Block 2 Common Ground System, and is making them available to near real-time users and CLASS via PDA. Products from the legacy GOES, legacy POES, and other partner missions are also being operationally ingested by ESPDS, and are being made available to near real-time users and CLASS via PDA. ESPDS currently has more than 90 data provider interfaces, and is approaching 250 data consumer interfaces, in addition to delivering data to more than 150 NWS Field Sites via the NWS AWIPS Data Distribution (DD) interface. ESPDS currently ingests an average of 4.2 TB/day of products from providers, and distributes an average of 5.2 TB/day of products to consumers, with more than 500 individual product subscriptions. These numbers are expected to continue to grow as additional missions, product algorithms, and users are added to the system.