During IJPS, the POES Satellite Control Center in Suitland, MD will have the ability to command, control, and receive data from the NOAA satellites via the NOAA and EUMETSAT Command and Data Acquisition (CDA) stations. Similarly, EUMETSAT will have the capability to support the MetOp satellites from a control center in Darmstadt, Germany via the EUMETSAT and NOAA CDAs. The figure below describes the data flow between the satellites and various components of the ground systems.

At each control center, an interface will be established as a single point of entry through which all environmental data, health and safety data for satellites and instruments, satellites commands and general voice communications will pass. Telemetry and command will be transmitted via narrow band communications while broad band communications are required for recorded global data.

During IJPS, NOAA and EUMETSAT will provide cross support during various operating scenarios. For example, data from POES blind orbits, i.e. orbits in which the satellite is not visible from the NOAA CDA stations, will be retrieved at Svalbard and forwarded through Darmstadt to NOAA for processing. The blind orbit support will allow NOAA access to data form all orbits in near real-time, thereby meeting user timeliness requirements.

Direct readout users will continue to receive HRPT and APT from the NOAA satellites. MetOp satellites will provide HRPT and a new LRPT.



The IJPS communication flow between NOAA SOCC, EUMETSAT and their associated ground stations and satellites includes both payload data, command, and telemetry.

Where:

W-CDA : NOAA ground station at Wallops Island, Virginia.
F-CDA : NOAA ground station at Fairbanks, Alaska.
EPS-CDA : EUMETSAT ground station, TBD
EUMETSAT : European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, 
    Darmstadt, Germany
NOAA, Suitland : NOAA Satellite Operation Control Center (SOCC) and the Central 
    Environmental Satellite Computer System (CEMSCS), Suitland, Maryland.

The following table listed what type of data will be receive or send at each respective ground site: