AOIPS-An interactive image processing system

Prior to the fall of 1976, computer aided data analysis support for applications investigations at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was conducted on large scale IBM System/360 computers in a batch oriented environment without the aid of image display units. As a result, even simple image processing operations took from days to weeks to produce desired results and required numerous manual, errorprone steps to produce the desired end product. In addition, operations which required a high degree of human interaction with the image data during the information extraction process (e.g., derivation of wind fields from cloud motions in a time-lapsed series of satellite images) were not practical in the batch environment. The Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System (AOIPS) was developed to help applications investigators perform required interactive image data analysis processes rapidly and to eliminate the inefficiencies and problems encountered with the batch operation discussed above. The major AOIPS hardware components are shown in Figure 1. Initial hardware deliveries occurred in September 1975 and consisted of a PDP-11170 computer and peripherals and a modified General Electric Company Image 100 system, which included an interactive image analysis terminal and a PDP-11/45 computer. The Image 100 system was designated as AOIPS Image Analysis Terminal 1 (IATI). Two additional image analysis terminals, designed at Goddard Space Flight Center and implemented by Hazeltine Corporation, were delivered in May of 1976 and May of 1977. These terminals have been designated as AOIPS Image Analysis Terminals 2 (IAT2) and 3 (IAT3). In parallel with the hardware development activities, a series of applications software packages was developed to implement specific information extraction processes to meet established image data analysis requirements. AOIPS operations during 1976 and 1977 have demonstrated its capability to solve many operational image processing problems, and has greatly extended an investigator's ability to perform image information extraction operations in a flexible, efficient manner. SYSTEM OVERVIEW