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CDS V2 acceptance - a major milestone in the development of the GSCDA infrastructure

04 October 2011

The development of the full baseline version of the Coordinated Data Access System (CDS), the core of the GSCDA System has been completed in September 2011. This achievement is a major milestone in the implementation of the GSCDA Service that started in 2008 as part of the GMES Space Component programme managed by ESA and co-funded by the EC under the Grant FP7-223001.

The full infrastructure will be progressively deployed and moved to operations in the coming months and represents an important improvement with respect to the version currently in operations. The full baseline version offers additional services to the users including a dedicated portal for all transactions and enrichment of on-line available catalogue collections, and it will lead to improved overall service performances, reduced operations efforts and risks thanks to improved automation and enhanced tools for CDS operators. More in details, the following functionalities are available in addition to the ones supported by the current operational version:

  • Web based user interface, through which users can interface and submit data requests to the Service Support Desk and monitor the status of their requests
  • Heterogeneous Missions Accessibility (HMA) technology fully integrated, resulting in enhanced harmonized catalogue front-end that enables users to browse through all available collections also from the GCMs native catalogues
  • Harmonized information about products quality for all provided DataSets
  • Additional tools for CDS operators: DataSets and licenses information management, monitoring of area coverage achievements, definition and planning of DAP DataSets, emergency feasibility analysis and tasking to the GCMs
  • Fully integrated environment for streamlined GSCDA operations monitoring and reporting

The CDS infrastructure development fully exploits the available technology, maximising reuse and customization of ESA existing elements, in parallel with dedicated developments for the new functionalities (like the DataSets definition tool and the coverage area monitoring tool). The final system is the result of efforts and contribution from several industrial partners, such as:

  • ACS - which developed the on-line download functionality
  • Astrium UK - for the DAIL project management
  • DEIMOS Space - for the area coverage monitoring tool
  • INTECS - for the Service Performance Analysis and reporting element
  • Magellium - for the Coordinated Quality Control element
  • SIEMENS AG Österreich - for supporting the integration of the User Management Single Sign-On
  • SpaceBel - for the HMA broker element
  • TAITUS Software - for the DataSets planning as well as emergency satellite tasking tools
  • Telespazio - for the development of the DataSet definition tool and portal, the quota manager and the central internal catalogue
  • VEGA France - for the update of the ESA EOLI element in answer to GMES requirements
  • WERUM - for the archive elements development and overall integration of the Core Infrastructure

The most challenging task was definitely the integration of all elements into a comprehensive system. This task has been undertaken by Telespazio. F. Cannone, Telespazio's project Manager declared: "The complexity of the developed system can be compared to one of a small ground segment, but, with the peculiarity of absorbing very different mission paradigms. This latter resulted in very demanding test campaigns to ensure that all possible operational functions were properly validated".

The GSCDA system fully relies on the inputs from the GMES Contributing Missions: overall system performances depend on the achieved GCMs integration, which is currently on-going. The available missions are progressively integrated as available, with major integration steps advertised on this Website.

The figures below present the main tools available within CDS V2.


Figure 1: The Service Project and Dataset Management (SPDM) tool includes the ticketing system and the ordering interface for GSPs as well as the user management and order submission interface for the SCI operators.

Figure 2: Snapshot of the GMES Emergency Satellite Tasking Tool (GEST), supporting rapid analysis of satellite availability over the Area Of Interest (AOI) in case of emergency calls. The tool is capable of identifying the EO missions suitable for a given emergency call, and of issuing queries and orders to the catalogues of all integrated missions.

Figure 3: The Coordinated Quality Control element gathers together all available information related to missions and products quality, based on inputs received from the GCMs. The CQC offers the users a comprehensive view about all available DataSets and products quality information items.

Figure 4: GSCDA Operations Reports are automatically and routinely produced by the Service Performance Analysis and Reporting component.