Cloud Computing Application of Multi-Sensor Earth Observation Images as the Big Data: A KOMPSAT Use Case

In the era of big data, the importance of Earth Observation (EO) satellite imagery is increasing. However, satellite imagery cannot be directly used without pre-processing and calibration. Recently, products called Analysis Ready Data (ARD) have been developed that complete these pre-processing tasks and allow users to use satellite information immediately. This study aims to explain the concept and components of cloud computing-based Soft-as-a-Service (SaaS) that provide numerical functions to generate ARD. We also present a case study in which satellite imagery derivative products generated by this SaaS by open source stack are fused with other types of satellite imagery, such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), to create high-value products such as soil moisture for agriculture applications or environmental studies. In this study, we used Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite (KOMPSAT)-3/3A optical imagery and KOMPSAT-5 SAR satellite imagery. As the demand for satellite imagery increases worldwide, the need for such fusion research is expected to increase as many application areas that process it as big data are generated.