[Satellite Communications] AWS Ground Station [Learn the basics!]

This is Nakagawa from the System Solutions Department

I looked into various new AWS services,
"AWS Ground Stationone that caught my interest was
The official AWS website describes it as follows:

A simple, cost-effective, and fully managed service that enables satellite communications control, satellite data downlink and processing, and rapid scaling of satellite operations, without the need to build or manage your own ground station infrastructure.
https://aws.amazon.com/jp/ground-station/

I am always amazed at the scale of AWS's technological deployment, to the point where I can't believe they are even working on services for satellites

satellite communications

As I was reading the service description, I began to wonder what satellite communications actually was

https://www.ssc.slp.or.jp/faq/science-qa-box/qabox-communication/936.html

My own rough interpretation is that it enables global communication
by allowing us to obtain data from physically distant locations.

How to use

Now that we have a basic understanding of satellite communications, what can AWS Ground Station be used for?

AWS Ground Station provides direct access to satellite antennas for AWS services, enabling faster, simpler, and more cost-effective storage and processing of downloaded data. This reduces data processing and analysis time for use cases such as weather forecasts or disaster footage from hours to minutes or seconds.
https://aws.amazon.com/jp/ground-station/features/

This is a fascinating piece of writing.
Since data can be downloaded efficiently,
it's conceivable that the data can be used in conjunction with other AWS services for data analysis or machine learning after acquisition.

application

I've gone on at length about the overview of AWS Ground Station, but how do you actually use it?
Surprisingly, you can apply to use it in just these five simple steps!

1. Log in to the AWS console.
2. Select AWS Ground Station.

3. Select a base station

. 4. Enter user information and submit a usage request.

5. After the request is accepted, you will receive usage instructions from AWS.

The application process is now complete, but there is one thing that concerns me.
It is explained that usage is charged by the minute, but the specific amount is not yet known. It
is certainly a pay-as-you-go system, but I am a little hesitant to use it personally,
and I apologize, but I have not yet investigated that aspect.

lastly

Here's a summary of AWS Ground Station:
• It's a service that uses satellite communication.
• It allows individuals to use satellites on a minute-by-minute basis.
• As of April 2019, there are two ground stations available (Ohio and Oregon in the western US).
• It's a fully managed service.

I wanted to try using AWS Ground Station for data analysis and S3 data storage, but
the cost was a major obstacle, so I didn't get to try it this time. It's a shame.

While researching satellite data and communications, I realized something. I've been
even though I frequently use Google Maps' aerial photos and weather data analysis
benefiting from satellite data so much that I wasn't even aware of it,
However, seeing how convenient IT services are, using an example from my daily life, has
piqued my interest in learning about and researching other services as well.

It seems they currently only have base stations in two regions, but they plan to increase the number of locations in 2019.
Once more information is released, I'd like to try out the service itself.

Well, thank you for reading this far