Radar specialists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., needed a mass memory system to capture synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from the JPL Alaska SAR Facility (ASF). They found their solution in the Vexcel Direct Capture System - better known as VxDCS - from Vexcel Corp. in Boulder, Colo.
Scientists at the Alaska SAR Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska, will use VxDCS to capture SAR data received at its ground station and record it directly onto computer disk arrays.
Using computer disks rather than tape will enable users to organize the SAR data, catalog it, and transfer it to inexpensive archive media.
Experts at the Alaska SAR Facility also are buying Vexcel`s Level Zero Data Processing system - also known as VXLZP - which performs the processing necessary to convert SAR data into SAR images.
Together, the Direct Capture System and Level Zero Processing "will improve overall operations, reduce costs, and streamline ASF`s ability to get data to users," says Verne Kaupp, chief scientists and executive officer at the JPL Alaska SAR Facility.
"The direct capture of data eliminates the need for people changing tapes, greatly reduces maintenance and materials costs, and makes creation of catalogs from the downlink archive very easy," says Vexcel President John Curlander. "In five years no ground stations will use high-density recorders," he claims. - J.K.
For more information, contact Vexcel`s Ron McCoy by phone at 303-583-0229, by fax at 303-444-0470, by post at 4909 Nautilus Court, Boulder, Colo. 80301, by e-mail at [email protected], or on the World Wide Web at http://www. vexcel.com/.
Data from the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility is captured by VxDCS from Vexcel Corp. for use by radar specialists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
