CloudSat Science and Engineering Data will be down-linked, from the CloudSat on-board data recorder, through the Air Force Satellite Communications Network (AFSCN) to the USAF RDT&E Support Center (RSC) in Albuquerque NM. There the data will be decommutated, checked for transmission errors (checksum), and stored on-line as a set of binary files. These raw data will be accessed by the DPC, via internet/ftp, for subsequent level 0 through level 3 processing.
As they arrive, Raw CloudSat science and auxiliary data will be pre-processed to form a time-ordered data file (with duplicate data packets removed and missing data blank-filled/flagged). These data are then further processed and stored on the local DPC mass storage system by orbit (plus approximately 10 minute overlaps on the front and back of each orbit – required by level 2 processes). A diagram showing Ingest Data Files can be found here.
A 1A-AUX file will be created for each CPR Level 0 data file. The 1A-AUX file will match the CPR level 0A file record by record, with each data record linked by time.
Ingest processing will proceed as follows: The CPR profile sample time will be extracted from the CPR Level 0 data file and used to index into the EU-SSOH data file and Definitive Ephemeris file to extract data that is necessary to build the 1A-AUX file. The 1A-AUX file will then be written out, by granule (orbit) for later ingest by the Level 1B processor.
CloudSat "Ingest" software consists of C++ applications to process the incoming Stored State of Health (SSOH), the CPR Science Data, Definitive Ephemeris file.
Software applications include:
1. Build_0A-AUX
2. Build_1A-AUX
3. CloudSat_Ingest
4. CloudSat_Quicklook
5. RawReader
6. RawWriter