Strategic intelligence Sony PetaSite S Series at EADS Deutschland GmbH

Strategic intelligence Sony PetaSite S Series at EADS Deutschland GmbH

Strategic intelligence Sony PetaSite S Series at EADS Deutschland GmbH

Keywords: Space technology, Radar

Project background

In June 2002, at the conference on “European Satellites for Security” in Brussels, the German Ministry of Defence unveiled its decision for the procurement of an independent, satellite-based reconnaissance system. “SAR-Lupe” is a space-borne radar system with continuous, worldwide coverage delivering the highest resolution data of areas independently from weather conditions and at all times during day and night. The system will provide Germany with unrestricted access to satellite based reconnaissance which is not intended to be used exclusively to meet national needs but will also represent Germany's contribution to a future overall European reconnaissance network and so support the European Union's newly-created security policy and military structures.

The SAR-Lupe system will consist of up to five small satellites and a ground segment for controlling the satellites and for receiving, processing and exploiting image data. The ground segment for the system consists of two parts: the satellite control which controls the space segment and receives and processes raw data and the image exploitation centre or user ground segment which is the interface to the customer. From the user ground segment specific reconnaissance requests will be sent to the satellite control segment, and its image exploitation centre will process and store the radar data. Within this user operated part of the ground segment all relevant information will also be stored in a fully redundant tape archive with a projected near-line capacity of approximately 250 TB mirrored (i.e. 500 TB in total).

User ground segment – project plan

As prime contractor for the SAR-Lupe system OHB-System AG (Bremen, Germany) leads an industrial team of renowned national and international partners. The part of the project covering the entire design and development, installation and maintenance of the user ground segment has been awarded to EADS Deutschland GmbH, specifically to the EADS Business Unit Defence and Communications Systems (DCS) and its Line of Business “Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)” in Friedrichshafen/Germany.

The basic design and development phase of the SAR-Lupe project has been successfully completed. The user ground segment has been delivered to the customer after successful acceptance testing and user training has commenced already. Reconnaissance data will be available after the launch of the first satellite in 2005 and the system will be fully operational in 2007. SAR-Lupe is currently scheduled to deliver radar images for the German Armed Forces until 2015.

User ground segment – system requirements

Due to mission-critical nature of the SARLupe project the system requirements for the user ground segment hardware and software were very high. Looking specifically at the hierarchical storage management (HSM) and data archiving part, the key requirements were access time, capacity, redundancy and service support. In detail, the solution had to fulfil the following requirements:

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  less than 2min access time to archived data;

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  290 TB tape archive capacity;

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  fully mirrored, redundant systems;

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  maximum system downtime of 6h; and

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  Guaranteed service support until 2015.

User ground segment – system design

The system designed for the SAR-Lupe user ground segment consists of highly sophisticated hardware and software for information request, satellite task preparation, data processing and data archiving. There are three main system segments: in the “data processing and warehousing segment” the main computing power comes from two SunFire 6800 domain class servers, each equipped with 14 SPARC processors. In addition there are smaller servers (SunFire V880) for operative and administrative tasks and to jump-start and re-install the entire system in case of a failure. The data warehousing tasks are supported by a Hitachi Lightning RAID system and a Sony PetaSite S Series enterprise-class tape library based on S-AIT (Super Advanced Intelligent Tape) technology. The servers, RAID system and Sony PetaSite tape library are connected via Fibre Channel.

An ethernet switch leads to the “network segment”, which provides the essential outside connections as well as printing services. A link to the satellite ground station is required to exchange tasking information for the satellite, and there are multiple links to the “workstation segment”. Here approximately 50 workstations are available for the different functions such as task control and management, task preparation, internet research, image exploitation and system administration.

All central components within the user ground segment including the RAID system and tape archive are physically doubled for installation in two different fire-protected areas. The cabling is cross- connected for redundant data paths and all data are mirrored. This is to ensure that the maximum system downtime requirement is not exceeded and no information is lost even in the case of a major failure.

The data archive

During its flight each satellite acquires a large number of images which are stored in its on-board memory before being transmitted to earth when the antenna of the satellite ground segment is in reach. Moreover the satellite can be tasked by the customer to deliver specific, more detailed data about a certain geographic area. However, due to the relatively slow response time and additional data processing needed to create usable images from newly requested materials, the most recent processed and archived images will usually be retrieved for standard reconnaissance tasks. Therefore, the online and near-line archives needed careful system planning and design.

The customer requested a near-line capacity of approximately 250 TB and an online archive for instant access to more recent and certain specific data. The size of the online archive was required to be approximately 7 TB. EADS decided that the most efficient solution would be to use HSM software so that all available files are accessible through a database. It was decided to implement the online archive on the RAID as temporary storage before the HSM cache and to develop the necessary software functionality for an automated administration of this configuration. The Sony PetaSite tape libraries provide the required near-line capacity of 250 TB mirrored in a compact space. With one basic console and two cartridge expansion consoles in the current system configuration there is even some buffer. All data stored on the online archive are also stored in the tape libraries for data security reasons, ensuring the highest data security and allowing the users to delete online data as appropriate in case online space is needed for new data.

Diplom-Informatiker Herbert Winkel, being the responsible systems engineer for IT aspects within the SAR- Lupe project, explained some details about the project planning phase and the first part of the implementation:

“In the vendor selection phase for the nearline archive we looked at a number of different tape libraries as well as a hard disk based solution offered as an alternative. We had already considered a Sony robot based on their existing DTF format. During the process it became clear that the 2min access time to data would be the biggest problem and that this could not be met by any of the other solutions and technologies we had looked at. Then Sony came back and explained that they were developing a new format called S-AIT, which would be able to achieve the required specification. Finally, after Sony committed to have the new technology available in time, we decided that Sony had got the offer fitting our needs.”

The Sony solution was selected for the SAR-Lupe near-line archive as it does not only fulfil the data access time requirements but also included the service support until 2015. The robot is accessed via Sony's HSM software PetaServe which – based on the SAR- Lupe project requirement – has been developed further to support the mirroring. This new functionality of PetaServe is now an optional part of the standard package so that future requirements for the software will include the new functionality.

Herbert Winkel says: “From Sony, we expected quality products and the Sony approach showed that they had understood the requirements and were offering a system solution tailored to our needs. When they introduced the new S-AIT format to us, which was able to fulfil the access time requirement, we were of course aware that new systems usually have their problems. But we had planned the integration time well ahead of the system delivery and the archive was not required for our software development so that we had some buffer for potential updates to solve such issues. We can now make the most advanced tape technology available to the customer so it was the right decision to go for the Sony robot”.

The project team

The programme “Strategic Intelligence” in Friedrichshafen, being part of the higher programme unit Multi-Mission Ground Segments and of the EADS DCS Line of Business “Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance”, is fully responsible for the execution of the SAR-Lupe NBS project. The unit employs about 30 highly qualified people with profound know how in architecture and software development. The majority of these people have been involved in the SAR-Lupe project whereas software played the biggest part due to the complex command and control system.

Diplom-Ingenieur Axel Popella, senior manager of the programme “Strategic Intelligence”, was satisfied with the cooperation between his programme and Sony: “From Sony around six people, including two Japanese colleagues from the development divisions, have supported our own staff. This support was part of the contract and we can say that the cooperation went well and that all issues could be solved in time. The acceptance testing and the integration at customer site went successful so far”.

Conclusions

Mr Winkel, Responsible Systems Engineer for IT aspects within the SAR-Lupe project and Mr Popella, Responsible Programme Manager, were in agreement on the previous cooperation with Sony:

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  We can say that we are pleased with Sony. We got a complete solution from them, the archive is very fast and has a very small footprint. Although S-AIT was a new format, they committed themselves to fulfil all requirements set by the customer, and they even agreed to develop the mirroring functionality for their HSM PetaServe software package as it didn't support this before. When there is a chance for offering a similar system, we would choose Sony as a partner again.