Installation, setup and use of a low cost c-band meteosat-8 ground receiving station in Rwanda

This paper provides a description to setup and operate a low-cost Meteosat Second Generation ground receiving station. A C-band receiving configuration, relevant for Africa, is described using as an example the operational system at the Geographic Information Systems & Remote Sensing Research and Training Centre (CGIS) of the National University of Rwanda (NUR) in Butare. Additional software developed is firstly the MSG File-Manager, performing the data transfer between the receiving station and the data processing and archiving system in an orderly manner. Secondly, for data import, a software tool called the MSG Data-Retriever is developed which facilitates the import of the raw compressed (time series) data into common used image processing software package formats. The data is geometrically and radiometrically calibrated during the import. Thirdly, in order to process the images additional tools to handle and analyse time series data are developed and integrated in the ILWIS software package (shareware). Procedures and software described are developed to ensure a low-cost alternative to build a Meteosat time series archive coupled with free-or shareware processing tools to retrieve (regular) products relevant for e.g. environmental and hydrological applications by non-meteorological organizations in Africa dealing with geo-spatial temporal data analysis.