The Neustrelitz site of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is approximately 100km north of Berlin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and is the workplace of about 60 scientists, engineers and clerical staff. The R&D work carried out on-site covers themes such as surveillance of the earth by satellite, and navigation; a profile which aligns the site with others in the GMES and GALILEO European research programmes.
The national ground segment is a department of the German Remote-sensing Data Centre and the radio telescopes for payload data from remote-sensing satellites and other small scientific satellites in Germany. Neustrelitz's central location within Europe and the telescopes' inclusion in the ESA-Earthnet make make the facility a key link in the international network of radio-telescope stations. The infrastructure required is being developed as part of an on-going process and is, today, at the cutting-edge of ground-segment technology. The technology used in operations for transmission protocols, radio telescopes, data management, archives, and validation and test environments (the DEMMIN test site, (Durable Environmental Multidisciplinary Monitoring Information Network)) form the basis for a multi-mission operation. With a radio-telescope network comprising four systems and the requisite IT infrastructure for data processing, process control, archiving and data transmission, the Neustrelitz site has access to modern systems suitable for the demands of a real-time data centre for GMES and Galileo. Thanks to the creation of a quick, automatic process chain and the expansion of the DEMMIN test site for seasonal and permanent measurement of relevant environmental data, the basics for process improvement and verification for processing of survey data can be created and developed, completing the chain from reception of the signals to validation.
The R&D work of the Mathematical and Physical Principles cluster at the institute's Applied Remote Sensing Cluster concentrates on the areas of scattering, radiative transfer and retrieval. The methods and processes developed in this context aid processor development and dual processing in relation to stability, precision and the effectiveness and simulation of remote-sensing scenarios.
In the field of satellite navigation, the focus of the site is on the development and application of satellite-navigation systems such as GALILEO. Dedicated R&D work is performed by the Validation and Supplementary Systems cluster and the Ionospheric Effects and Corrections cluster of the Institute for Communication and Navigation. Substantial tasks in this context are the experimental validation of properties and the efficiency of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and the development and demonstration of operational processes for real-time assessment of ionospheric conditions and their influence on satellite radio technology in the field of navigation and communications. Both themes are aimed at the development of local supplementary systems (Rostock Research Port) and regional services (Space Weather Application Center Ionosphere), needed for high-precision, security-critical GNSS applications.
The technology marketing strategy applied by DLR has a control centre for technology transfer in Neustrelitz. It functions as a contact point for commercial enterprises throughout the region, and supports them in terms of planning and conversion of innovative enterprising spirit into development and marketing of products, processes and services which use technology from DLR institutes. Thus technology marketing has the key to open up the entire technological repertoire of DLR for the benefit of business in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, so that it can improve its competitiveness.
Institutes and facilities on-site:
- German Remote-sensing Data Centre
- Institute for Communications and Navigation
- Institute for Remote-sensing Methods
- Technology Marketing
