Harris Corporation and NOAA Launch New Reporting and Tracking Tool for Weather Satellite Operations

Highlights:

• Tool improves anomaly reporting and tracking capabilities essential for weather satellite operations.
• Was developed collaboratively by Harris and NOAA as a risk reduction activity for the new GOES-R satellite system currently in development.
• Integrates database records to provide an enterprise-wide view of impacts related to reported anomalies.

MELBOURNE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have developed and successfully deployed a new tool that will help track and report anomalies in critical weather satellite information. Weather forecasters, emergency managers, scientists and other environmental data users throughout the western hemisphere rely on the accuracy and availability of this information to rapidly analyze and disseminate weather information to the public.

“PATRON enhances the capabilities and reliability of the former system, enabling NOAA to significantly improve its anomaly reporting and tracking”

The Product Anomaly, Ticket, Relationship, Organization, and Notification (PATRON) tool was created for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite — R Series (GOES-R) Ground Segment but was immediately implemented to support other environmental satellites in operation today. PATRON is a trouble reporting and tracking system for satellite weather products created by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service’s Office of Satellite Products and Operations (OSPO). Any abnormal occurrences in the process of receiving instrument data from the satellite, processing and formatting the data into usable weather products, and distributing the weather products to end users are considered anomalies.

As part of its trouble reporting capabilities, PATRON has a relational database that contains the definitions of all NOAA satellites, onboard instruments, ground system computers, products generated from the data of each instrument, and the subject matter experts related to each product. By integrating all of this data, PATRON enables users to analyze the impacts of product-related anomalies across the entire system.

PATRON was developed collaboratively by Harris, the GOES-R Ground Segment prime contractor; the GOES-R Ground Segment Project Data Operations Support Team; and the OSPO/Satellite Products and Services Division. A four-month, agile development approach was used, which included participation by operators who are using the tool.

“PATRON enhances the capabilities and reliability of the former system, enabling NOAA to significantly improve its anomaly reporting and tracking,” said Romy Olaisen, vice president, Environmental Systems Product Line, Harris Government Communications Systems. “The PATRON database now provides an enterprise-wide view of anomalies and their impacts.”

PATRON represents an early release of the anomaly reporting and tracking tool that will be delivered with the GOES-R Ground Segment in 2015. The Ground Segment will process approximately 60 times more data than is possible today, and deliver weather products to NOAA’s National Weather Service and more than 10,000 other direct users. The Ground Segment will receive and process satellite data, generate and distribute products from satellite data, and provide command and control of the geostationary satellites.

Harris is a recognized leader in satellite ground data processing and mission command-and-control systems. Harris ground data processing systems consist of commodity hardware and a flexible suite of software to receive satellite sensor data and process it into products that provide actionable information under stringent timelines. Harris command-and-control systems feature commercial-off-the-shelf design and high levels of flexibility. Designed for government and commercial applications, they support single-satellite missions as well as some of the largest and most complex satellite fleets deployed today.

About Harris Corporation

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 125 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has approximately $5.5 billion of annual revenue and about 15,000 employees — including 6,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications^® products, systems, and services. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at harris.com.