Metop-SG Direct Broadcast Software

Metop-SG direct broadcast software

For Metop-SG direct broadcast, the conversion from VCDU to level 1b (or 1c in the case of IASI-NG) is performed by software that has been procured by EUMETSAT and is distributed and supported by the NWP SAF.

Release: 2nd September 2026 (plus VII patch 5th October 2026)

We have received updated versions of all the processors from EUMETSAT, reflecting changes that have been applied during the cal/val phase of Metop-SG-A1. The packages, together with a package of wrapper scripts provided by the NWP SAF, are available from the “Software Downloads” tab, as for other NWP SAF deliverables. Click on “update software preferences” and select the EPS-SG packages (or the packages that you are interested in). The available packages are: Level 0, MWS level 1, METimage level 1 and NWP SAF wrapper scripts.

Although the wrapper scripts and documentation are ready for IASI-NG, the release of the IASI-NG processor is awaiting some formal approvals by EUMETSAT. We hope to provide it in October. IASI-NG is currently still in commissioning.

Please see the User Manual for details on how to download, install and run the packages.

Test data and ancillary files can be found at epssg_db_ancillary_files

VII patch 5th October 2026

The VII patch updates the VII processor from v4.2.8 to v4.2.9. The old version had been found to fail for some passes, and this has been corrected by the software provider. There is also a new AUX_PCNF file. If you already have a VII installation then proceed as follows:

  • Download and unpack the METimage level 1 processor tar file from the NWP SAF web site (which has been updated to v4.2.9)
  • Install the software into $EPSSG_INSTALL by running scripts/install_epssg_packages.sh (with the VII option). It will over-write the previous version.
  • Using “cp -r”, install the new AUX_PCNF file, which can be found at VII/AUX, into $EPSSG_DATA/AUX/VII.
  • Manually edit the NWP SAF script vii_config.sh so that it uses the new AUX_PCNF, containing the string “G20260929170000Z”.

If you have not already installed VII then all that is necessary if to manually edit vii_config.sh to use the new AUX_PCNF, then proceed as explained in the User Manual.

Previous release: 30th April 2026

The April 2026 release is now superseded. If you encounter problems moving to the new release, please let us know via the NWP SAF Helpdesk.

Future releases

We expect a further release of the software for Metop-SG-A1 after all instruments have completed commissioning. This release is scheduled to be 18 months after launch, i.e. early 2027.

There will be equivalent packages for the MWI, ICI and SCA instruments on the Metop-SG-B1 satellite (schedule for launch late 2026).

Further information

A presentation entitled “NWP SAF Support for Local Processing of Metop-SG A1” was made at the CSPP User’s Meeting in May 2026. Slides and recorded presentation are linked from the meeting web site.

Here is a RT-STPS configuration file for Metop-SG-A1, to convert from raw to VCDU (see slide 7 of the above presentation). Download the file and edit it, setting L0_DIRECTORY to your chosen location for the vcdu files. Then you can run the RT-STPS script bin/batch.sh with arguments (i) the configuration file and (ii) the raw file.

Many of the details on requirements for user reception systems are discussed in EUMETSAT’s Metop-SG Direct Readout Guide and in the three documents linked from the bottom of that page.

Two-line elements for Metop-SG A1 are available from EUMETSAT’s TLE page.

Here is an extract from an ITSC-25 poster (6p.02) by Booton et al., explaining the status as of May 2025: