Hi, is there some people who want to decode the S1A raw data?
1 Like
Yes. Presumably, open code for processing the raw would provide insight into what possibilites may exist for developing different or improved level 1 products. (It might also help understand the decision of whether to compute GRD from SLC vs RAW.) Moreover, the raws exist and are already being archived/downloaded in places. The ability to work directly from the raw could certainly make archiving easier, and greatly increase the practical usefulness of the raw data already available. In some cases there is no SLC alternative currently available on scihub.
I talked with Luis Veci about this at the Living Planet Symposium (LPS) this week. He said there are currently no plans for a raw data processor. Also, it requires some pretty extensive expertise to do such processing correctly. Still, he said that if there would be enough user demand, it could be considered sometime in the future.
Another advantage of raw data is that the data volume is typically 8 times lower than SLC. So if one would have the possibility to work directly with L0, pressure on download and storage could be lowered.
My personal interest would be to see how GPUs would help to speed up processing. There was an interesting contribution from SARMAP on this at the LPS, but their solution is propriety, of course. I was told that the L0 (raw) data description document is sufficiently clear for someone with SAR processing expertise to start developing some basic processing solutions.
Curious to see whether there is additional interest in this.
1 Like
What software is currently being used to produce the Copernicus SLC/GRDs? Is it something commercial, or in-house?
A propriety software from MDA. As far as I understand, it is only made available to certified ground stations and/or collaborative ground stations. This is the raw data document, btw: L0 description