The NASA Earth Science Technology Office established a 3-year Advanced Information Systems Techno... more The NASA Earth Science Technology Office established a 3-year Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) development program in late 2006 to explore the technical challenges associated with integrating sensors, sensor networks, data assimilation and modeling components into virtual data systems called "sensor webs". The AIST sensor web program was initiated in response to a renewed emphasis on the sensor web concepts. In 2004, NASA proposed an Earth science vision for a more robust Earth observing system, coupled with remote sensing data analysis tools and advances in Earth system models. The AIST program is conducting the research and developing components to explore the technology infrastructure that will enable the visionary goals. A working statement for a NASA Earth science sensor web vision is the following: On-demand sensing of a broad array of environmental and ecological phenomena across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from a heterogeneous suite of sensors both in-situ and in orbit. Sensor webs will be dynamically organized to collect data, extract information from it, accept input from other sensor / forecast / tasking systems, interact with the environment based on what they detect or are tasked to perform, and communicate observations and results in real time. The focus on sensor webs is to develop the technology and prototypes to demonstrate the evolving sensor web capabilities. There are 35 AIST projects ranging from 1 to 3 years in duration addressing various aspects of sensor webs involving space sensors such as Earth Observing-1, in situ sensor networks such as the southern California earthquake network, and various modeling and forecasting systems. Some of these projects build on proof-of-concept demonstrations of sensor web capabilities like the EO-1 rapid fire response initially implemented in 2003. Other projects simulate future sensor web configurations to evaluate the effectiveness of sensor-model interactions for producing improved science predictions. Still other projects are maturing technology to support autonomous operations, communications and system interoperability. This paper will highlight lessons learned by various projects during the first half of the AIST program. Several sensor web demonstrations have been implemented and resulting experience with evolving standards, such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) among others, will be featured. The role of sensor webs in support of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations' Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) will also be discussed. The GEOSS vision is a distributed system of systems that builds on international components to supply observing and processing systems that are, in the whole, comprehensive, coordinated and sustained. Sensor web prototypes are under development to demonstrate how remote sensing satellite data, in situ sensor networks and decision support systems collaborate in applications of interest to GEO, such as flood monitoring. Furthermore, the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has stepped up to the challenge to provide the space-based systems component for GEOSS. CEOS has proposed "virtual constellations" to address emerging data gaps in environmental monitoring, avoid overlap among observing systems, and make maximum use of existing space and ground assets. Exploratory applications that support the objectives of virtual constellations will also be discussed as a future role for sensor webs.
2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2011
This paper examines the Earth science decadal survey era and the role ESTO developed sensor web t... more This paper examines the Earth science decadal survey era and the role ESTO developed sensor web technologies can contribute to the scientific observations. This includes hardware and software technology advances for in-situ and in-space measurements. Also discussed are emerging areas of importance such as the potential of small satellites for sensor web based observations as well as advances in data
IGARSS 2001. Scanning the Present and Resolving the Future. Proceedings. IEEE 2001 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Cat. No.01CH37217), 2001
Page 1. Information System Technology Challenges for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Gle... more Page 1. Information System Technology Challenges for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Glenn E. Prescott Steven A. Smith Karen L. Moe NASA HQ/ CodeY NASAGoddard Space Flight Center NASA Goddard Space Flight Center ...
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2010
In recent years, one of the major advances in Earth observation has been the development and real... more In recent years, one of the major advances in Earth observation has been the development and realization of the concept of the Earth Observation Sensor Web. This concept has emerged from advances in sensor, communication, and information technologies to meet the demands for timely and pertinent data and information for supporting applications in the societal benefit areas of Earth observation. One consensus view of the sensor web is a coordinated observation infrastructure composed of a distributed collection of resources - e.g., sensors, platforms, models, computing facilities, communications infrastructure - that can collectively behave as a single, autonomous, taskable, dynamically adaptive and reconfigurable observing system that provides raw and processed data, along with associated metadata, via a set of standards-based serviceoriented interfaces.
AbstractRecent technological advancements in micro-electronics, wireless communications, intelli... more AbstractRecent technological advancements in micro-electronics, wireless communications, intelligent systems and networking have led to the conceptualized notion of a web of sensors, interconnected and interacting with one another to provide ...
Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the cha... more Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the challenges for system designers is to understand and incorporate the needs of the users so that their systems are easy to use and minimize user errors. User-...
Interchange technologies facilitate seamless interactions between applications, tools and service... more Interchange technologies facilitate seamless interactions between applications, tools and services with datasets in heterogeneous formats. The Information Technology and Systems Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is developing an interchange technology focused on scientific data in general, and particularly on the vast amounts of remotely sensed Earth Science data. This interchange technology consists of the Earth Science Markup Language (ESML) and a related library of programming utilities. ESML, based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), allows data format structure descriptions to be written in a standard manner. ESML is unique in that it is not another new data format, instead it is a external structural metadata based solution for decoding existing formats. The effort involved to describe legacy data formats in ESML is small. ESML and the associated software library will allow wider interoperability of Earth Science services and tools, enabling Earth Scientists to work more easily with data in a variety of formats. This interchange technology will facilitate the development of data format independent search, visualization, and analysis tools. This paper will describe this interchange technology and compare it with similar XML based efforts.
Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the cha... more Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the challenges for system designers is to understand and incorporate the needs of the users so that their systems are easy to use and minimize user errors. User-centered design (UCD) can help achieve these goals. UCD techniques can be applied to the design of ground systems to improve quality and functionality so that the users can perform their work more effectively and efficiently. This paper provides a high-level survey of
The Earth Science community is processing and analyzing a large amount and variety of data from s... more The Earth Science community is processing and analyzing a large amount and variety of data from space and ground-based observations and from models. These data are generally stored on physical media with different data formats. This large variety of data formats requires scientists to spend significant amounts of time in writing specialized, data format specific readers before their analysis can even begin. Formats for Earth Science data can be as simple as ASCII and binary formats or be as complex as Hierarchical Data Format ( ...
The Sensor Web has emerged from Earth Science research with the development of Web technology, to... more The Sensor Web has emerged from Earth Science research with the development of Web technology, to achieve process automation, sensor interoperation, and service synergy. These promises require the discovery of the right sensor at the right time and the right location with the right quality. Metadata, for sensor, platform, and data, are crucial for achieving such goals. However, analysis and
The NASA Earth Science Technology Office established a 3-year Advanced Information Systems Techno... more The NASA Earth Science Technology Office established a 3-year Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) development program in late 2006 to explore the technical challenges associated with integrating sensors, sensor networks, data assimilation and modeling components into virtual data systems called "sensor webs". The AIST sensor web program was initiated in response to a renewed emphasis on the sensor web concepts. In 2004, NASA proposed an Earth science vision for a more robust Earth observing system, coupled with remote sensing data analysis tools and advances in Earth system models. The AIST program is conducting the research and developing components to explore the technology infrastructure that will enable the visionary goals. A working statement for a NASA Earth science sensor web vision is the following: On-demand sensing of a broad array of environmental and ecological phenomena across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from a heterogeneous suite of sensors both in-situ and in orbit. Sensor webs will be dynamically organized to collect data, extract information from it, accept input from other sensor / forecast / tasking systems, interact with the environment based on what they detect or are tasked to perform, and communicate observations and results in real time. The focus on sensor webs is to develop the technology and prototypes to demonstrate the evolving sensor web capabilities. There are 35 AIST projects ranging from 1 to 3 years in duration addressing various aspects of sensor webs involving space sensors such as Earth Observing-1, in situ sensor networks such as the southern California earthquake network, and various modeling and forecasting systems. Some of these projects build on proof-of-concept demonstrations of sensor web capabilities like the EO-1 rapid fire response initially implemented in 2003. Other projects simulate future sensor web configurations to evaluate the effectiveness of sensor-model interactions for producing improved science predictions. Still other projects are maturing technology to support autonomous operations, communications and system interoperability. This paper will highlight lessons learned by various projects during the first half of the AIST program. Several sensor web demonstrations have been implemented and resulting experience with evolving standards, such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) among others, will be featured. The role of sensor webs in support of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations' Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) will also be discussed. The GEOSS vision is a distributed system of systems that builds on international components to supply observing and processing systems that are, in the whole, comprehensive, coordinated and sustained. Sensor web prototypes are under development to demonstrate how remote sensing satellite data, in situ sensor networks and decision support systems collaborate in applications of interest to GEO, such as flood monitoring. Furthermore, the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has stepped up to the challenge to provide the space-based systems component for GEOSS. CEOS has proposed "virtual constellations" to address emerging data gaps in environmental monitoring, avoid overlap among observing systems, and make maximum use of existing space and ground assets. Exploratory applications that support the objectives of virtual constellations will also be discussed as a future role for sensor webs.
2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2011
This paper examines the Earth science decadal survey era and the role ESTO developed sensor web t... more This paper examines the Earth science decadal survey era and the role ESTO developed sensor web technologies can contribute to the scientific observations. This includes hardware and software technology advances for in-situ and in-space measurements. Also discussed are emerging areas of importance such as the potential of small satellites for sensor web based observations as well as advances in data
IGARSS 2001. Scanning the Present and Resolving the Future. Proceedings. IEEE 2001 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Cat. No.01CH37217), 2001
Page 1. Information System Technology Challenges for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Gle... more Page 1. Information System Technology Challenges for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Glenn E. Prescott Steven A. Smith Karen L. Moe NASA HQ/ CodeY NASAGoddard Space Flight Center NASA Goddard Space Flight Center ...
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2010
In recent years, one of the major advances in Earth observation has been the development and real... more In recent years, one of the major advances in Earth observation has been the development and realization of the concept of the Earth Observation Sensor Web. This concept has emerged from advances in sensor, communication, and information technologies to meet the demands for timely and pertinent data and information for supporting applications in the societal benefit areas of Earth observation. One consensus view of the sensor web is a coordinated observation infrastructure composed of a distributed collection of resources - e.g., sensors, platforms, models, computing facilities, communications infrastructure - that can collectively behave as a single, autonomous, taskable, dynamically adaptive and reconfigurable observing system that provides raw and processed data, along with associated metadata, via a set of standards-based serviceoriented interfaces.
AbstractRecent technological advancements in micro-electronics, wireless communications, intelli... more AbstractRecent technological advancements in micro-electronics, wireless communications, intelligent systems and networking have led to the conceptualized notion of a web of sensors, interconnected and interacting with one another to provide ...
Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the cha... more Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the challenges for system designers is to understand and incorporate the needs of the users so that their systems are easy to use and minimize user errors. User-...
Interchange technologies facilitate seamless interactions between applications, tools and service... more Interchange technologies facilitate seamless interactions between applications, tools and services with datasets in heterogeneous formats. The Information Technology and Systems Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is developing an interchange technology focused on scientific data in general, and particularly on the vast amounts of remotely sensed Earth Science data. This interchange technology consists of the Earth Science Markup Language (ESML) and a related library of programming utilities. ESML, based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), allows data format structure descriptions to be written in a standard manner. ESML is unique in that it is not another new data format, instead it is a external structural metadata based solution for decoding existing formats. The effort involved to describe legacy data formats in ESML is small. ESML and the associated software library will allow wider interoperability of Earth Science services and tools, enabling Earth Scientists to work more easily with data in a variety of formats. This interchange technology will facilitate the development of data format independent search, visualization, and analysis tools. This paper will describe this interchange technology and compare it with similar XML based efforts.
Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the cha... more Spacecraft ground control data systems are by necessity sophisticated and complex. One of the challenges for system designers is to understand and incorporate the needs of the users so that their systems are easy to use and minimize user errors. User-centered design (UCD) can help achieve these goals. UCD techniques can be applied to the design of ground systems to improve quality and functionality so that the users can perform their work more effectively and efficiently. This paper provides a high-level survey of
The Earth Science community is processing and analyzing a large amount and variety of data from s... more The Earth Science community is processing and analyzing a large amount and variety of data from space and ground-based observations and from models. These data are generally stored on physical media with different data formats. This large variety of data formats requires scientists to spend significant amounts of time in writing specialized, data format specific readers before their analysis can even begin. Formats for Earth Science data can be as simple as ASCII and binary formats or be as complex as Hierarchical Data Format ( ...
The Sensor Web has emerged from Earth Science research with the development of Web technology, to... more The Sensor Web has emerged from Earth Science research with the development of Web technology, to achieve process automation, sensor interoperation, and service synergy. These promises require the discovery of the right sensor at the right time and the right location with the right quality. Metadata, for sensor, platform, and data, are crucial for achieving such goals. However, analysis and
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