ERS-1 PROCESSING CHAIN DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT SUPPORT BY THE EODC SCIENCE TEAM, THE ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT FACILITY AND THE CALIBRATION ANDVALIDATION FACILITY
Rf. Scott et al., ERS-1 PROCESSING CHAIN DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT SUPPORT BY THE EODC SCIENCE TEAM, THE ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT FACILITY AND THE CALIBRATION ANDVALIDATION FACILITY, International journal of remote sensing, 15(4), 1994, pp. 761-784
The Earth Observation Centre (EODC), located at Farnborough, has been
developed to serve the needs of users of data from Earth remote sensin
g missions, beginning with the European Space Agency's ERS-1 spacecraf
t. To this end, the facilities of the ESA Processing and Archiving Fac
ility (PAF) for ERS-1 reside within the EODC. With the exception of th
e core Synthetic Aperture Radar processing algorithms, the majority of
the scientific processing chains for exploitation of data from ERS-1
at the EODC were designed and specified by a Science Team, consisting
of specialists from UK universities, industry, and government research
institutes. These designs were implemented by an industrial consortiu
m. The Science Team was supported by an Algorithm Development Facility
(ADF) during the processing chain development. The Science Team curre
ntly provide operational support using the EODC Calibration and Valida
tion Facility (CVF). This consists of the verification, calibration, v
alidation, and continuous assessment of products. This paper describes
the work and structure of the Science Team, the ADF and the CVF. The
methodology adopted is evaluated, and implications for future projects
of this kind are considered in the light of the lessons learned.