DE: GNU/Linux used for satellite and air traffic control
The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) will soon launch a satellite running software based on GNU/Linux. The Open Source computer operating system is also being used by Deutsche Flugsicherung, the German air traffic controller.
The Aerospace Centre is about to launch TerraSAR-X. This satellite will circle the earth in a polar orbit at an altitude of 514 km. It will collect high-quality radar images of the planet, at a resolution of up to 1 metre. TerraSAR-X will be controlled from the German Space Operations Centre, located at DLR's Oberpfaffenhofen facility near Munich.
The spacecraft mission monitoring and control infrastructure, SCOS-2000, is built on top of GNU/Linux. It was previously used by ESA in the satellite missions Herschel and Planck.
An earlier version of the satellite software was built on Solaris, the Unix derivative made by Sun Microsystems. The satellite system is available under a specific licence, allowing its use free of charge by the European industry.
Traffic control
GNU/Linux is also used by German's air traffic control, Deutsche Flugsicherung, monitoring millions of flight annually. It employs computers running GNU/Linux to calculate radar data.
The privatised German air traffic control company last month presented its GNU/Linux based application on Novell's annual user meeting, Brainshare 2007. Using GNU/Linux means the application, called Phoenix, can be employed on widely available x86-computers. This lowers hardware costs.
The German air traffic controllers expect that in 2010, the last non-GNU/Linux computers, currently serving as a back up, will be switched off. The German company is now selling Phoenix world wide.
© European Communities 2007
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
The views expressed are not an official position of the European Commission.
Disclaimer
Further information:
Document Actions
