Wyle is providing cyber security support to Harris Corporation in its development of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite — Series R (GOES-R) Ground Segment , a new ground based system to support NOAA’s next generation of geostationary weather satellites.
“Harris brought Wyle on board to augment the Harris information security team and leverage our understanding of current NOAA security requirements,” said Doug Newlon of Wyle’s Information Systems Group. “As Harris builds the system, we will provide assistance to the internal verification and validation of security solutions, and provide recommendations to better meet cyber security requirements.”
Today’s GOES satellites provide the images familiar to most Americans in television weather forecasts. They are one of the primary tools used by NOAA to predict, detect and track hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and other severe weather.
The GOES-R system will provide additional types of data and significantly improved image resolution. It will increase the rate of imagery coverage of earth from every 30 minutes to every five minutes in normal conditions — and every 30 seconds during severe weather events.
The ground segment will receive and process satellite data, generate and distribute products from satellite data, and command and control the satellites. It will process 40 times more data than the current GOES ground system, and deliver weather images to more than 10,000 users.
Harris is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the 10-year, potential $736 million contract, which recently passed its first critical milestone, the System Requirements Review (SRR). This review ensures the contractor’s detailed specifications satisfy GOES-R mission requirements.
Wyle also supports NOAA’s National Weather Service. Several dozen Wyle scientists support multiple programs, including severe weather forecasting, crop predictions, river and ocean predictions, aviation weather and climate prediction.
Wyle is a leading provider of high tech aerospace engineering, scientific and information technology services to the federal government on long-term outsourcing contracts. The company also provides biomedical and engineering services for NASA’s human space missions; test and evaluation of aircraft, weapon systems, networks, and other government assets; and other engineering services to the aerospace, defense, and nuclear power industries.
