Vexcel Corporation announced orders from the Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) and the University of Miami for Envisat/ASAR processing systems to add this latest European remote sensing satellite to their current capabilities. Upgrades for both customers include updated versions of SKY Level 0 processor, QuickView Level 0 image browser, FOCUS Level 1 processor, and Vexcel’s new SARBrowse Level 1 image browser. The University of Miami will also acquire upgrades to their Level 2, Interferometric and Stereo SAR digital elevation model creation capabilities and Apex Commander station control software.
The Alaska SAR Facility, located in the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, downlinks, processes, archives, and distributes SAR data from the European Space Agency’s ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites, NASDA’s JERS-1 satellite, and the Canadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT-1 satellite. Funded by NASA, ASF is the primary provider of SAR data to the U.S. government and American research communities and currently owns multiple Vexcel data capture and processing systems, all which will be upgraded. The upgrades will allow Level 0 and Level 1 processing of Envisat ASAR data to be added to ASF’s current product offerings.
The University of Miami’s Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) owns two fully redundant Vexcel reception systems that allow ingest, capture, and Level 0 processing of SAR data from RADARSAT-1 and ERS2, and optical data from SPOT 2, 4. The CSTARS site also has Level 1, Level 2, and value-added processing capabilities for these satellites. In addition to software systems upgrades, CSTARS will purchase two bit synchronizers from Vexcel for their reception chain. Founded in 1985 in Boulder, Colorado, Vexcel Corporation is an internationally recognized remote sensing company that specializes in Remote Sensing Ground Stations, Radar (SAR) Technologies, and Aerial and Close-Range Photogrammetry.
