Hybrid architecture for satellite data processing workflow management

Abstract: The ever growing demand for remote sensing data products by user community has resulted in many Indian and foreign remote sensing satellites being launched. The diversity in the remote sensing sensors has resulted in heterogeneous software and hardware environments for generating geospatial data products. The workflow automation software knows as information management system is in place at National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) catering to the needs of the data processing and data dissemination. The software components of workflow are interfaced in different heterogeneous environments that get executed at data processing software in automated and semi automated modes. For every new satellite being launched, the software is modified or upgraded if new business processes are introduced. In this study, we propose a software architecture that gives more flexible automation with very less manageable code. The study also addresses utilization and extraction of useful information from historic production and customer details. A comparison of the current workflow software architecture with existing practices in industry like Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Extensible Markup Languages (XML), and Event based architectures has been made. A new hybrid approach based on the industry practices is proposed to improve the existing workflow.