MBARI SATELLITE SYSTEM *
Introduction *
Background *
Updating the SeaWiFS encryption key *
Changing Backup Tapes for the Satellite System *
Writing Unarchived Passes to Tape *
 TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Locating the new encryption page using the internet. *
Figure 2 MBARI's encryption code is denoted by the site code of HMBR *
Figure 3 Diagram of the 'black box' , used for setting the encryption key *
Figure 4 Output from the command 'run lsall' Archived passes are denoted by the ‘off-line’ status. In this example the pass obv2 98087073821 was not archived. The alpha string at the beginning of the line denotes the type of satellite, noac is NOAA 12, noae is NOAA 14, the second field is a numeric string containing YYDDDDHHMMSS. *
Figure 5 Output from the command 'run tailhda' *

MBARI SATELLITE SYSTEM
 

Introduction

This document describes some of the maintenance tasks for the MBARI satellite system, primarily the encryption key process and the archiving process.

As of March 1998, the MBARI Global Imaging Satellite System, is currently loaded on the workstation foam, which is located in the Communications room. This room is accessible by the MBARI card-key. If you need access privileges added to your card-key, please see facilities (Charlene Smith or Monty Perry). Foam’s console sits on top of the Silicon Graphics workstation crimson, which is the first computer set up you will see upon entering the communications room. Foam’s console should be displaying 4 windows, each window represents one of the satellite imaging processes: HRPTDI (data ingestion), HRPTPG (product generation), HRPTPD (product distribution, HRPTDS (data stream).

Background

Francisco Chavez is the P.I. for the Satellite Project. MBARI began using the satellite system in 1994. Tom O’Reilly, who has since moved to the Engineering Department, was hired to setup and process the satellite data. Tom set up both the AVHRR and SeaWIFs systems. The MBARI Satellite system is made up of several workstations, figure 1. The Telonics system captures the passes. Foam, to a certain extent, processes the passes. Further processing of the SeaWIFs data is carried out on lepas.

Until April 1998, Steve Lowder had been taking care of the archiving of the Satellite AVHRR data.  This task has been assigned to Reiko Michisaki.

Both the AVHRR and SeaWIFs images are available on the internet.
More to come...

Updating the SeaWiFS encryption key

The SeaWiFS encryption key is changed every two weeks. The key is published on the web.

1. Obtain the new key from the orbi webpage: http://www.orbimage.com/keys/keys/ Select the date range applying to the current date. In the example below the range was selected on March 24, as such the Mar25-Apr7 key was selected.
Figure 1 Locating the new encryption page using the internet.
2. Find MBARIs new key under the code HMBR. It is a good idea to print this page and take it to the communications room. A notebook holds the previous key pages.
Figure 2 MBARI's encryption code is denoted by the site code of HMBR
3. In the Communications Room, under the Foam console, is the ‘black box’. On the front panel, to the right there is an alpha-numeric key pad. First hit the key CMD. This will bring up a ‘menu’ on the lcd window on the left side of the box.

 

Figure 3 Diagram of the 'black box' , used for setting the encryption key
4. Using the key DN, scroll through the menu until you find the ‘Set KeyID’ selection. Select using the ENT key.
5. Type in the new MBARI key acquired in step 2, in the example above the new MBARI key is: 4e91913984db0962. Hit the ENT key. The program will request you type in the key again for validation. Hit the ENT key to finish.
6. Using the DN key scroll to ‘Set Real Time Mode’.
7. Hit ENT.

Satellite passes are archived to DAT tape (90 meter DDS-1 data cartridges). While TSD does have spare DAT tapes, it is our responsibility to order tapes. One DAT tape will record approximately 3.5 days of data. If the DAT tape fills before you are able to replace the tape, the system will buffer the unarchived passes. However, you must manually write the unarchived passes to tape. See section below.

1. Log on to foam using the user name HRPT. This user account is not password protected and will not request a password. To view the schedule of passes type in : run lsall . This will show which passes were archived and which passes were not archived. Archived passes are denoted by the ‘off-line’ status. Please see next section for archiving passes manually.
Figure 4 Output from the command 'run lsall' Archived passes are denoted by the ‘off-line’ status. In this example the pass obv2 98087073821 was not archived. The alpha string at the beginning of the line denotes the type of satellite, noac is NOAA 12, noae is NOAA 14, the second field is a numeric string containing YYDDDDHHMMSS.
2. To view the end of the tape catalog type in: run tailhda. The third column shows the number of passes. The first field is as described for the ‘run lsall’ command. While you may login to foam from any workstation you must go to the communications room to remove the old tape which is on the workstation foam. To remove the tape press the square button below and to the right of the DAT tape drive. Insert the new DAT tape; the lights beneath the tape drive will blink for a couple of minutes. When the light stops blinking the tape is ready to write.
Figure 5 Output from the command 'run tailhda'
3. To initialize the new tape type in: run newhda.

The system has the ability to buffer passes that have not been archived. This is a time consuming process and should be avoided if possible. To perform this process one must be logged on to foam as user hrpt.

1. View the unarchived passes using the command, run lsall, see figure 4. The passes that have not been written to tape have the ‘on-line’ status, but not the ‘off-line’ status. The second column contains the pass ID, an 11 digit numeric code. This code is used to tell the system which pass to archive.
2. At the command line, type in the following command, substituting the numeric pass ID for <passID>. Type the command, run archive pass=<passID>. As an example, using figure 4 , we see that pass ID 98087073821 was not archived. We would use the command, run archive pass=98087073821 to archive this pass. Each pass takes approximately 15-20 minutes to write to tape.