DAVAO CITY—The country’s largest antenna tracking Earth observation satellites, which will boost the capacity of the antenna setup in Quezon City and receive space-borne information vital to the Philippines, is now operating here.
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) officials headed by Secretary Fortunato de la Peña inaugurated on Sunday the new facility stationed at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) Transmitter Facility here.
The Davao station is the second Ground Receiving Station (GRS) of the Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation (Pedro) Center. The first station was set up at the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute office in Quezon City.
“Now fully operational, the Davao GRS [D-GRS] provides additional capacity and redundancy to the functions of the Pedro Center in Quezon City,” the DOST said.
Compared to the Pedro Center, which has an antenna of 3.7 meters, the D-GRS has a 7.3-meter satellite-tracking antenna to allow for a more efficient download of images at a higher bandwidth.
Both antennas are contained inside a radome, a special spherical structure enclosing the antennas from physical forces while still allowing reception of satellite signals, the DOST said. The radome can withstand temperatures up to 80 degrees celsius, wind speed of up to 320 kilometers per hour, and rainfall of 100 millimeters per hour.
“The direct reception of data from Earth observation satellite images provides the Pedro Center more capability in near real-time acquisition of information. With the ASTI and Davao GRS in full operation, the reception, processing, and satellite data storage cycle will open more opportunities to promote inclusive innovation, reaching more Filipino scientists and researchers in return,” the DOST said.
The agency added that the GRS facilities of the Pedro Center are vital infrastructure for pre- and post-disaster monitoring that support DRR (disaster risk reduction) agencies.
The Pedro Center has been receiving satellite-captured images from various Earth-observation satellites, including the Philippines’s very own Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 microsatellites, according to the DOST.
The Davao GRS will now serve as an auxiliary antenna for the Pedro Center, “which means that in cases of catastrophes and impending threats of disasters in Manila, the Pedro Center can still receive Earth surfaceinformation.”
The two stations were designed to communicate with Earth observation satellites by receiving, processing, and distributing space-borne imagery, according to the DOST. These ground receiving stations also have direct access to a broad range of “optical [high-resolution, multispectral] and synthetic aperture radar [cloud-penetrating, day-night-imaging] satellite data.”
“Simply put, these ground facilities can upload commands and can download data captured by satellites deployed in space,” it added.
Image credits: Asti.dost.gov.ph