Step 3: Choose and Customize an AWS CloudFormation Template
Today, you can configure multiple streams of data per contact to flow into your VPC. These data streams are available in two different formats. Data streams containing VITA-49 Signal/IP data can be configured for S-Band and X-Band signals up to 54 MHz in bandwidth. VITA-49 Extension data/IPs can be configured for demodulated and/or decoded X-Band signals up to 500 MHz in bandwidth.
After you onboard your satellite, you need to define mission profiles and create instances to process or push data streams from or to your satellite. To assist you with this process, we provide preconfigured AWS CloudFormation templates that use public broadcast satellites. These templates make it easy for you to start using AWS Ground Station. For more information about AWS CloudFormation, see What is AWS CloudFormation?
It is important to note that you need to have data processing software or data storage software listening to the localhost side of Data Defender of the Amazon EC2 instance. This software is what you will use to store and/or process the data delivered to the Amazon EC2 instance during a contact.
Configuring your Amazon EC2 Instance Settings
The AWS CloudFormation templates provided in this section are configured to use Amazon EC2 m5.4xlarge instance types by default. However, we encourage you to customize and choose the right Amazon EC2 instance settings for your use case. Requirements such as storage I/O and CPU performance should be considered when choosing your instance settings. For example, running a software modem on a receiver instance may require compute-optimized instances with more cores and a higher clock speed. The best way to determine the right instance settings for your use case is to test your instance settings with your workload, and Amazon EC2 makes it easy to switch between instance settings. Use the templates and customize the instance settings for your needs.
As a general recommendation, AWS Ground Station encourages the use of instances that support enhanced networking for your uplinks and downlinks, such as
AWS Nitro System
In addition to configuring Amazon EC2 instance types, the AWS CloudFormation templates configure the base Amazon Machine Images (AMI) to be used for the instance. The AWS Ground Station base contains the software needed to receive data from the service pre-installed on your EC2 instance. For more information about AMIs, see Amazon Machine Images (AMI).
Manually Creating and Configuring Resources
The sample AWS CloudFormation templates in this section configure all the resources necessary to begin executing satellite contacts. If you prefer to manually create and configure the resources required to begin executing satellite contacts, you will need to do the following:
Create AWS Ground Station configs. For more information about manually creating AWS Ground Station configs, see Create Config AWS CLI Command Reference or Create Config API Reference.
Create an AWS Ground Station mission profile. For more information about manually creating an AWS Ground Station mission profile, see Create Mission Profile AWS CLI Command Reference or Create Mission Profile API Reference.
Create an AWS Ground Station dataflow endpoint group. For more information about manually creating an AWS Ground Station dataflow endpoint group, see Create Dataflow Endpoint Group AWS CLI Command Reference or Create Dataflow Endpoint Group API Reference.
Create an EC2 instance. For more information about manually creating an EC2 instance for use with AWS Ground Station, see Create an Amazon EC2 Instance.
Configure your EC2 instance's security group settings to allow AWS Ground Station to send data to/from your EC2 instance. For more information about manually configuring your EC2 instance's security group settings, see Create Security Group AWS CLI Command Reference or Create Security Group API Reference.
