Pre-operational Space Weather Services at the DLR Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics

In times of highly precise and increasingly autonomous GNSS applications, the influence of space weather on their system performance is increasingly becoming the focus of current research and development. The complex monitoring and research of space weather in its variety of phenomena and with its effects, for example in satellite technology, aerospace, telecommunications and navigation, is an increasingly important mission.

The DLR Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Neustrelitz is investigating the influence of space weather on both critical systems and services such as GNSS or RF communications, as well as ground- and space-based infrastructures such as power grids or satellites. Of outstanding importance is the efficient implementation of the interfacing between the increasing scientific expertise and the most diverse user requirements from the national and international public and private sectors, academia and industry.

As an essential core component of this interface, the working group "Pre-operational Services" develops and operates the "Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center (IMPC)" in cooperation with the "German Remote Sensing Data Center" of the DLR. With its special combination of scientific know-how on GNSS based remote sensing and modelling of the ionopshere, instrumentation (e.g. high rate GNSS receiver network, Global Ionospheric Flare Detection System (GIFDS), Callisto) and the use of state-of-the-art data processing technologies, the IMPC contributes significantly to monitoring the impact of space weather on today's technologies in near-real time and to avoiding or reducing it through the application of a wide range of products and services.
This contributionwill present IMPC's pre-operational services and their incorporation into relevant national and international networks (e.g. NOAA-SWPC RTSW, ESA S2P, PECASUS). Furthermore, the unique instrumentation, applied technology approaches and already developed and planned products and services will be presented.