Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Rocket science: Process, store, and analyze engine test data on AWS (AES304)

Summary

• The session focused on processing, storing, and analyzing data from hot fire engine tests using AWS services.
• The presenters were Yudhijit Dasgupta, head of solutions architecture for America and Asia Pacific, Matthew Lydon, and Nathan McGirt, both solutions architects in the AWS Aerospace and Satellite team.
• The agenda included an overview of hot fire engine testing, common customer needs, design trade-offs in architecture, examples of architectures, and guidance on getting started post-session.
• The session emphasized the importance of data from physical tests, such as pressure, thermal resilience, acoustic vibrations, and electromagnetic interference.
• Common customer needs highlighted were faster time to results, scalable and cost-effective storage, improved data governance, and extracting more value from data.
• The architecture discussed involved using AWS services like S3 for data storage, AWS Batch for processing, and AWS CodePipeline for managing software.
• The session concluded with a Q&A and a reminder to complete the session survey.

Insights

• The aerospace industry is increasingly leveraging cloud services for complex data processing tasks, highlighting the importance of AWS in this sector.
• The session revealed a trend towards using object storage (Amazon S3) for time series data due to its scalability, durability, and cost-effectiveness.
• The use of AWS Batch and containerization for data processing suggests a move towards more modular and scalable architectures in aerospace data analysis.
• The discussion on design trade-offs, such as choosing between time series databases and object storage or between streaming and batch processing, reflects the complexity and customization required in aerospace solutions.
• The integration of AWS services like EventBridge, AWS Lambda, AWS Fargate, and Amazon Athena indicates a preference for serverless and managed services to automate and streamline data processing workflows.
• The mention of ITAR compliance and the availability of services in AWS GovCloud highlights the critical nature of security and regulatory considerations in aerospace data management.
• The session's focus on enabling data access through tools like JupyterLab notebooks, AppStream 2.0, and Amazon QuickSight suggests an emphasis on making data analysis accessible and actionable for engineers and decision-makers.