CGI Continues to build on its 12-Year Relationship With the European Space Agency (ESA), which is helping is helping improves importific access to data about earthe senses about earthe sent from space.
As part of a serco-line consortium, Delivering Esa's Advanced Data Access and Processing Services for Collaborative Earth observation ground segment (ascend) Project, CGI Will Provide Engineering and Cyber Security Services.
But its Y.
Supporting esa, which is partly funded by the UK space agency, accounts for about half of CGI's Earth Observation Work, and Involves Processing Satellite Imagery. It's 400 UK-based staff, who are focused on the space sector, also support support satellite communications companies from their operations in Leatherhead and Bristol.
Jaime reed, vice-presiding of consulting servicesSpace data platforms and applications at CGI, Told Computer Weekly The Supplier's Work With Esa is “predominant environmentally environmental monitoring”, success as processing meteorologist. It is involved in controlling satellites, receiving and processing data from Them, and providing the software onboard.
Specialist Knowledge
Reed has a background in physics, with a doctorpheric physics that looked at how the atmosphere works and how it is measured.
He then worked as an engineer developing cryogenic coolers for satellites, before moving to airbus, where he worked on Satellites. “My background was in the space industry, designing and building satellites, and working on the data that come from them,” said reed.
He now applies his knowledge to CGI's Satellite and Data Processing Work. “Most Weather Forecasts Are Highly Dependent on Data Taken by Satellites, which was what I was working on,” said reed.
Reed said while cgi is a “big it company” Doing a normal it company does, it has specific expertise in the space industry.
Other CGI Customers Using Space Data Include the Met Office, but most are relatively small organisations, he added.
Just over half of cgi's space business is in Satellite CommunicationsAnd many of the big satellite companies are customers.
“We wrote the software that controls the satellites and we provide the managed it services Around that. It's all datacentres really. The control segment of the satellite is generally all computer programs that are doing orbit predictions, moving data around, receiveing files from the satellites and processing tweets. “
Everything comes into datacentres and is processed and sent to scientists.
The first big deal between esa and cgi was in 2012, with CGI MainTaining The software that processes the data for its environmental monitoring satellite and research satellites.
Reed said the volume of data being receded and processed has massively increased since SINCE
Controlling data distribution
It is this dramaatic increase in data that has been to cgi's latest project with esa, work on the ascend program, which reed said is a starting point to look at new ways of providing data to science.
“The amount of data is decided overwhelming and it is challenging to make the data available to users,” said reed. “It used to be a case that Researchers could just go to an ftp site, Download some of the data and work on it at their workstation, but now you're talking a terabyte for just one file.”
Everything is now moving to the cloud, using “scalable, cloud-based environments”.
A key aspect of the work today is enabling a collaborative Virtual Research Environment, Where RATHER THAN RESEARCERS DOWNLOADING FILES, they take their expertise to where the data is. “They don't have to transfer terabytes of files themselves. They brings their algorithms and then they can share their environments with
Collaboration is essential in the Earth observation field, with initiatives within esa programs shared with nasa, for example. “We can bring the uk-based and europe-based researchrs to collaborate globally with cutting-edge scientists Around the World,” He said.