The NASA Direct Readout Laboratory

The Direct Readout Laboratory (DRL) serves the global Direct Readout community on behalf of the Aqua mission objectives. As the "portal" for Aqua mission information, technologies and algorithms, the DRL enables the global Direct Readout community to view Aqua Earth monitoring data for real-time applications. DRL software may be used to process data from the Aqua AIRS, AMSR, AMSU, CERES, HSB and MODIS instruments.

AQUA AIRS/AMSU/HSB Processing Package for Direct Broadcast

The polar-orbiting Aqua spacecraft, launched by NASA in May 2002, provides an X-band direct broadcast service where data from all science instruments is downlinked to the Earth in near real-time. The AIRS/AMSU Processing Package for Direct Broadcast allows any ground station capable of receiving direct broadcast from Aqua to produce calibrated and geolocated AIRS and AMSU Level 1B and Level 2 data product. Level 1B data are calibrated and geolocated instrument observations and Level 2 data are geophysical retrieval products.

This package is functionally identical to the operational AIRS/AMSU software running at the NASA Goddard DAAC, with the following additions:

  1. Spacecraft ephemeris and attitude data contained in the X-band downlink may be used for geolocation.

  2. Overpasses of arbitrary size may be processed.

  3. A master control script simplifies the operation of the package.

This package was developed by the AIRS Team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is part of the International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP). The IMAPP allows ground stations capable of receiving direct broadcast data from the NASA Terra and Aqua spacecraft to create a suite of products from MODIS, AIRS, AMSU, and AMSR-E. The IMAPP software is freely available, and is supported on Intel Linux host platforms. IMAPP is also available as a Virtual Appliance for Windows, OS X, and Linux, offering a complete processing system for direct broadcast atmosphere, land, and ocean products from Terra and Aqua. Management, distribution and support of the IMAPP is provided by the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Get the Direct Broadcast Processing Package