Use AWS Ground Station Dataflow endpoint groups - AWS Ground Station
Dataflow endpoint group versionsDataflow endpointsCreating dataflow endpoint groupsMigration considerations

Use AWS Ground Station Dataflow endpoint groups

Dataflow endpoints define the location where you want the data to be synchronously streamed to or from during contacts. Dataflow endpoints are always created as part of a dataflow endpoint group. By including multiple dataflow endpoints in a group, you are asserting that the specified endpoints can all be used together during a single contact. For example, if a contact needs to send data to three separate dataflow endpoints, you must have three endpoints in a single dataflow endpoint group that match the dataflow endpoint configs in your mission profile.

Dataflow endpoint group versions

AWS Ground Station supports two versions of dataflow endpoint groups:

  • DataflowEndpointGroup - The original implementation that supports uplink and downlink using a dataflow endpoint, and downlink-only for an AWS Ground Station Agent endpoint

  • DataflowEndpointGroupV2 - Updated version that supports both uplink and downlink dataflows for AWS Ground Station Agent endpoints with improved clarity and functionality

Dataflow endpoint group comparison
Feature DataflowEndpointGroup DataflowEndpointGroupV2
Supported endpoint types DataflowEndpoint, AwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint, UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint
Endpoints supporting uplink DataflowEndpoint UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint
Endpoints supporting downlink DataflowEndpoint, AwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint

DataflowEndpointGroupV2 was created to support uplink dataflows and to make the language surrounding dataflow endpoint groups clearer. We recommend using UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint and DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint endpoints with a DataflowEndpointGroupV2 for all new use cases. DataflowEndpointGroup remains supported for backward compatibility, but DataflowEndpointGroupV2 provides enhanced functionality and clearer configuration options.

Tip

The dataflow endpoints are identified by a name of your choosing when executing contacts. These names do not need to be unique across the account. This allows multiple contacts across different satellites and antenna to be executed at the same time using the same mission profile. This can be useful if you have a constellation of satellites that have the same operating characteristics. You can scale the number of dataflow endpoint groups up to fit the maximum number of simultaneous contacts your constellation of satellite requires.

When one or more resources in a dataflow endpoint group is in use for a contact, the entire group is reserved for the duration of that contact. You may execute multiple contacts concurrently, but those contacts must be executed on different dataflow endpoint groups.

Important

Dataflow endpoint groups must be in a HEALTHY state to schedule contacts using them. For information on how to troubleshoot dataflow endpoint groups that are not in a HEALTHY state, see Troubleshoot DataflowEndpointGroups not in a HEALTHY state .

See the following documentation for more information about how to perform operations on dataflow endpoint groups using CloudFormation, the AWS Command Line Interface, or the AWS Ground Station API.

Dataflow endpoints

The members of a dataflow endpoint group are dataflow endpoints. The supported endpoint types depend on which dataflow endpoint group version you use.

DataflowEndpointGroup endpoints

DataflowEndpointGroup supports uplink and downlink using a dataflow endpoint, and downlink-only for an AWS Ground Station Agent endpoint. For both types of endpoints, you will create the supporting constructs (e.g. IP addresses) prior to creating the dataflow endpoint group. Please see Work with dataflows for recommendations on which dataflow endpoint type to use and how to set up the supporting constructs.

The following sections describe both supported endpoint types.

Important

All dataflow endpoints within a single dataflow endpoint group must be of the same type. You cannot mix AWS Ground Station Agent endpoints with Dataflow endpoints in the same group. If your use case requires both types of endpoints, you must create separate dataflow endpoint groups for each type.

For DataflowEndpointGroupV2, you can mix UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint and DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint in the same group.

AWS Ground Station Agent endpoint

The AWS Ground Station Agent Endpoint utilizes the AWS Ground Station Agent as a software component to terminate connections. To construct an AWS Ground Station Agent Endpoint, you will only populate the AwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint field of the EndpointDetails. For more information about the AWS Ground Station Agent, see the full AWS Ground Station Agent User Guide.

The AwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint consists of the following:

  • Name - The dataflow endpoint name. For the contact to use this dataflow endpoint, this name must match the name used in your dataflow endpoint config.

  • EgressAddress - The IP and port address used to egress data from the Agent.

  • IngressAddress - The IP and port address used to ingress data to the Agent.

Dataflow endpoint

The Dataflow Endpoint utilizes a networking application as a software component to terminate connections. Use Dataflow Endpoint when you want to uplink Digital Signal Data, downlink less-than 50MHz of Digital Signal Data, or downlink Demodulated/Decoded Signal Data. To construct a Dataflow Endpoint, you will populate the Endpoint and Security Details fields of the EndpointDetails.

The Endpoint consists of the following:

  • Name - The dataflow endpoint name. For the contact to use this dataflow endpoint, this name must match the name used in your dataflow endpoint config.

  • Address - The IP and port address used.

The SecurityDetails consists of the following:

  • roleArn - The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of a role that AWS Ground Station will assume to create Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) in your VPC. These ENIs serve as the ingress and egress points of data streamed during a contact.

  • securityGroupIds - The security groups to attach to the elastic network interfaces.

  • subnetIds - A list of subnets where AWS Ground Station may place elastic network interfaces to send streams to your instances. If multiple subnets are specified, they must be routable to one another. If the subnets are in different Availability Zones (AZs), you may incur cross-AZ data transfer charges.

The IAM role passed into roleArn must have a trust policy that allows the groundstation.amazonaws.com service principal to assume the role. See the Example Trust Policy section below for an example. During endpoint creation the endpoint resource id does not exist, so the trust policy must use an asterisk (*) in place of your-endpoint-id. This can be updated after creation to use the endpoint resource id in order to scope the trust policy to that specific dataflow endpoint group.

The IAM role must have an IAM policy that allows AWS Ground Station to set up the ENIs. See the Example Role Policy section below for an example.

For more information on how to update a role's trust policy, see Managing IAM roles in the IAM User Guide.

JSON
{
    "Version":"2012-10-17",		 	 	 
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "Service": "groundstation.amazonaws.com"
            },
            "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "aws:SourceAccount": "999999999999"
                },
                "ArnLike": {
                    "aws:SourceArn": "arn:aws:groundstation:us-east-1:999999999999:dataflow-endpoint-group/your-endpoint-id"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

For more information on how to update or attach a role policy, see Managing IAM policies in the IAM User Guide.

JSON

{
  "Version":"2012-10-17",		 	 	 
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:CreateNetworkInterface",
        "ec2:DeleteNetworkInterface",
        "ec2:CreateNetworkInterfacePermission",
        "ec2:DeleteNetworkInterfacePermission",
        "ec2:DescribeSubnets",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcs",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

DataflowEndpointGroupV2 endpoints

DataflowEndpointGroupV2 introduces specialized endpoint types that provide clearer configuration and enhanced functionality:

These specialized endpoints replace the generic AwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint with direction-specific configurations that make it easier to set up and manage your dataflows.

The UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint is specifically designed for uplink dataflows and provides clearer configuration options. Use this endpoint type when you need to provide data to AWS Ground Station to be uplinked to your satellite.

The UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint consists of the following:

  • Name - The dataflow endpoint name. For the contact to use this dataflow endpoint, this name must match the name used in your dataflow endpoint config.

  • IngressAddressAndPort - Single IP and port address for data input to the agent

  • AgentIpAndPortAddress - Port range for agent communication

The DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint is optimized for downlink dataflows, including narrowband downlink, wideband demodulation/decode, and uplink echo scenarios.

The DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint consists of the following:

  • Name - The dataflow endpoint name. For the contact to use this dataflow endpoint, this name must match the name used in your dataflow endpoint config.

  • EgressAddressAndPort - Single IP and port address for data output from the agent

  • AgentIpAndPortAddress - Port range for agent communication

Creating dataflow endpoint groups

You can create dataflow endpoint groups using either version:

CreateDataflowEndpointGroup

Use CreateDataflowEndpointGroup for backward compatibility or when you need to use the generic AwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint or DataflowEndpoint types.

CreateDataflowEndpointGroupV2

Use CreateDataflowEndpointGroupV2 for new implementations to take advantage of specialized endpoint types that support both uplink and downlink dataflows. This API only supports UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint and DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint.

Migration considerations

If you're currently using DataflowEndpointGroup, you can continue using your existing configuration without changes. AWS Ground Station maintains full backward compatibility.

If you'd like to migrate to use the new DataflowEndpointGroupV2, and are currently using a DataflowEndpoint with a Dataflow Endpoint Application to receive your data, you'll need to migrate to use the AWS Ground Station Agent instead. If you're already using an AWS Ground Station Agent for downlink, you can use the same agent instance for uplink as well - no additional agent instances are required.

To migrate to DataflowEndpointGroupV2:

  1. If migrating from DataflowEndpoint, set up the AWS Ground Station Agent following the AWS Ground Station Agent User Guide

  2. Identify your dataflow direction and create the appropriate endpoint type (UplinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint or DownlinkAwsGroundStationAgentEndpoint)

  3. Create the DataflowEndpointGroupV2 referencing those endpoints

  4. Create a new dataflow endpoint config that references the new DataflowEndpointGroupV2 by name

  5. Create a new mission profile that references the dataflow endpoint config as a dataflow edge

  6. Use the new mission profile to schedule contacts

  7. Test your configuration before deploying to production

For more information about the complete workflow, see Understand AWS Ground Station Core components and Create configs.