Fact Sheet

Climate, Environment and Monitoring from SpaceCloud computing for the space community

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CEMS is a unique, purpose-built service offering space-based climate change and EO data and services, in conjunction with IaaS cloud-based computing.

OverviewThe Climate, Environment and Monitoring from Space (CEMS) facility at the Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell, Oxford, isaunique,purpose-builtserviceofferingspace-basedclimatechangeandEarthobservation (EO) data and services in conjunction with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)cloud-basedcomputing.TheCatapult provides CEMS in collaboration with the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis(CEDA)forspaceandnon-spacecommunities interested in working with satellite-deriveddataandapplications.

The data, which is supplied by institutions and organisations based in the UK and abroad, can be searched, managed and processed cost effectively on CEMS’ high performance computing infrastructure.

The advantages of using CEMS include access to a range of specialised applications and toolsthatcanhelpyouanalysethedatamoreefficiently.Inaddition,processingtimeisgreatly reduced, as your compute power is based alongside the data, removing the need to download large volumes of data to your own physical infrastructure.

CEMS’ cloud computing facilities can provide internal data processing and core services for an organisation or for academic projects, or be used as a shop window for applications or services. We can also run training courses and demonstrations using CEMS within our Harwell facilities, such as our Operations Centre with its videowall. Support and consultancy services are available for each type of use.

CEMSholdsthedatasetsfortheSentinelDataAccessService(SEDAS),apremiumweb-based portal that allows users to explore, review and download Earth observation (EO) data that includes Sentinel data.

Data Discovery & ApplicationsThrough CEMS users can access a range of EO data including Sentinel and Landsat datasets. This catalogue is set to increase over time as more datasets become available.

Our team can provide consultancy to help you determine whether the data held onCEMSisfitforpurpose,alongwithinformation on error statistics, quality flags/stamps and detailed traceability information describing data provenance. CEMS can also provide tools for visualising the data, helping to facilitate analysis at various levels of detail and identify trends and patterns.

CEMS cloud users can access the raw data directly through the cloud, while other users canaccessspecifieddatasetsthroughwebportals including the Data Discovery Hub, which is provided by the Catapult together with the UK Space Agency, and the Sentinel Data Access Service (SEDAS – see page 4).

Cloud ComputingThroughtheCEMScloudcomputingfacility,weofferpurpose-built,ondemand,flexible,scalable and secure computing and storage infrastructure services.

The default cloud model within CEMS is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Within the IaaS

The CEMS cloud computing facility offers purpose-built, on demand, flexible, scalable and secure computing and storage infrastructure services.

Utilising EO imagery

CEMS offers data from multiple EO satellites

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model, we provide the hardware and virtualisation platform, with clients being responsible for the operating system, platform and applications that run on those machines (see diagram).

TheCEMSmulti-tenantcloudfacilityisbuiltoncutting-edgetechnologies,enterpriseclass infrastructure and the latest version of the VMware® product suite, to guarantee redundancy, high performance and a highly reliable level of service.

If applications demand high resolution graphics or 3D rendering capabilities, CEMS includes a set of virtual machines with powerful dedicated NVidia® graphical processingunit(GPU)processors.

Provisioning & AdministrationTenants of CEMS have access to fully configurablevirtualmachineswithintheirownprivately managed virtual data centres, with complete control over each virtual machine’s operating system, storage, deployed applications and security.

CEMS tenants can provision fully functional, pre-configuredvirtualmachineswhichare made available for deployment via a catalogue, which includes a comprehensive setofconfigurations,applicationsandoperating systems.

AdministrationaccessisprovidedviabothasecureInternet-baseduserinterfaceandaSecureSocketsLayervirtualprivatenetwork(SSL-VPN),whichallowsdirectaccesstothevirtualmachines through remote desktop and/or secure shell (SSH) sessions.

Cloud ManagementCEMS IaaS is managed via VMware vCloud Director®. With vCloud Director you can provision and manage the virtualised compute, networking, storage and security within your virtual data centreinthesamewayasyouwouldwithinanon-premisedatacentre,butwithouttheworryofthephysicalimplementationandconfigurationofhardware.

CEMSisanauthorisedVMwareServiceProviderPartnerandpartoftheVMwarevCloud®Air™ Network.

Security & Data IntegrityAs the owner of your own virtual data centre you have complete control of the access, network andsecuritythroughLayer3softwaredefinedfirewallsand‘edge’devices.Eachvirtualdata centre within CEMS is independently and securely segregated, ensuring the integrity of companydataandservices,andthattheyarekeptconfidentialandavailable.

Inaddition,endpointanti-virusandcloud-baseddisasterrecoveryarebothasoptionaladditional services, to provide business continuity protection for your platforms, applications and services.

Scalability & CostCompute resource allocation is flexible and designed to scale with a client’s business needs. Resources are allocated directly to each tenant’s virtual data centre to guarantee performance.

Each resource is priced individually and charged on a monthly basis or on demand.

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Climate, Environment and Monitoring from Space

CEMS tenants have access to fully configurable virtual machines within their own privately managed virtual data centres.

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Each virtual data centre within CEMS is independently and securely segregated, ensuring the integrity of company data and services.

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Satellite Applications Catapult Ltd is an independent technology and innovation company. It is one of a network of elite centres established by Innovate UK to accelerate the take-up of emerging technologies and drive economic growth. The Satellite Applications Catapult is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company Registration Number 07964746. Registered office: Electron Building, Fermi Avenue, Harwell Oxford, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QR, UK.

Electron BuildingFermi AvenueHarwell OxfordDidcotOxfordshireOX11 0QR

For more information:

T: +44 (0) 1235 567999W: sa.catapult.org.ukE: info@sa.catapult.org.uk @SatAppsCatapult

Sentinel Data Access Service (SEDAS)CEMS is part of the UK’s collaborative ground segment, which provides functions such as hosting, distributing and archiving data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellite missions. This is led by the UK Space Agency with the aim of:

• Promotingandincreasinguptakeofspace-basedapplicationsamongGovernmentdepartments.

• Furtheringscientificunderstandingthroughacademicexploitation.

• Fosteringgrowthinthedownstreamsectorthroughcommercialexploitation.

The Catapult is responsible for managing and disseminating Sentinel data to UK commercial users, which we are doing through the Sentinel Data Access Service (SEDAS). SEDAS has been set up to host a rolling feed of Sentinel data on CEMS, along with many additional datasets from other EO satellites such as Landsat. CEMS also hosts acompletemetadataset,allowinguserstosearchandaccessthelong-termarchive.

The live datasets and older data are accessible directly via the CEMS cloud environment. Access to further Sentinel datasets will be provided as soon as they are available.

SEDAS also offers toolsets, including ESA’s Sentinel Toolbox, and the Data Discovery Hub, which lists datasets organised by sector, with details such as spatial resolution, collection frequency and cost.

Case Study

CEMS User – RezatecRezatec uses EO data to provide ‘landscape intelligence’ for organisations with, oraffectedby,land-basedassetssuchasagriculture,forestry,waterandenergy. The company is based alongside the Catapult in Harwell and uses CEMS for storage and processing.

“ThenatureofEarthobservationisthatyouhavealotofdataandfiles,andneedalotofstoragespace,”notesPhilipBriscoe,Rezatec’sMarketingDirector.“Wedon’thavethat kind of capacity internally but we needed some way of storing, processing and delivering our products, so we chose to use the virtual machines within CEMS. It’s been really useful to have it onsite here. It also helps that the Catapult team are subjectmatterexperts,andthatthewholeenvironmenthasbeenconfiguredtosupportspace data.”

Support & Consultancy CEMS has a team of dedicated and experienced support engineers who can provide a fast response to any technical questions and ensure that your cloud environment is set up and maintainedefficiently,securelyandinlinewithindustrybestpractices.

We also offer consultancy services on EO data and usage, with experts from within our team at Harwellandverifiedconsultantsfromthecommercialandacademicsectors.

Further InformationFor further information on CEMS, please email: CEMS@sa.catapult.org.uk or tel: 01235 567999.

CEMS has a dedicated and experienced team of engineers to provide a fast response to technical questions.