Weather information satellite ground systems

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TitleTeraScan® satellite ground station software
  •  What is TeraScan®?
TeraScan is an integrated system of hardware and software designed for automated reception of data from meteorological/environmental satellite and for processing the data into images and data overlays. The data files for these images and overlays are of a special format called TeraScan Data Format (TDF) and can be displayed with the TeraScan viewer called TeraVision. TDF files (also referred to as datasets) can also be converted to picture products in various graphics formats. Both TDF products and picutre products can be automatically distributed to any number of local or off-site destinations across the network. 

  •  The Satellite Data that TeraScan can Receive and Process

TeraScan is a versatile system that can be configured for the reception and processing of many different types of data from many different types of satellites, including the X-band-transmitting polar-orbiting satellites. TeraScan can also generate products that are a mixture of data from different satellites. The types of data that TeraScan can receive and process are listed below.




X-Band Data from Polar-Orbiting Satellites

  • MODIS direct broadcast data from the Terra and Aqua satellites (optional module)
  • ATMS, CRIS, VIIRS direct broadcast data from NPP, NOAA-20 satellites

L-/S-Band Data from Polar-Orbiting Satellites

  • AVHRR, TOVS, ATOVS data from the NOAA series satellites
  • AVHRPT data from MetOp series satellites
  • OLS and Special Sensor data (SSM/I, SSM/T1 and SSM/T2) from the DMSP series satellite

L-Band Data from Geostationary Satellites

  • Imager and Sounder data from GOES
  • HRI data from Meteosat
  • Imager data from FY-2 
  • LRIT and HRIT data from MSG, COMS-1

C-Band Data from Geostationary Satellites

  • Imager data from Himawari-8

  •  The TeraScan Software
The TeraScan software is based on the LINUX operating system and consists of :
  • A special format for data files, called TeraScan Data Format (TDF).
  • More than 600 command-line functions for the reception and processing of satellite data.
  • A set of daemons and services that run continuously to manage the automated operations of TeraScan.
  • A set of reference files and databases.
  • A set of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that enables the TeraScan operator to exercise many of TeraScan's capabilities via the point-and-click actions of the computer mouse.


  •  Platforms Supported
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux v6.x (x86_64 platform)
  • CentOS v6.x (x86_64 platform)


  •  TeraScan GUIs







  •  Satellite Sample Images
NOAA-20 VIIRS RGB Composite (left) and Sea Surface Temperature (right)