Abstract
There are common features, in both imaging surveys and image processing, between astronomical observations and remote sensing. Handling large amounts of data, in an easy and fast way, has become a common issue. Implementing pipeline software can be a solution to the problem, one which allows the processing of various kinds of data automatically. As a case study, the development of pipeline software for the EIS (European Southern Observatory Imaging Survey) is introduced. The EIS team has been conducting a sky survey to provide candidate targets to the 250 VLTs (Very Large Telescopes) observations. The survey data have been processed in a sequence of five major data corrections and reductions, i.e. preprocessing, flat fielding, photometric and astrometric corrections, source extraction, and coaddition. The processed data are eventually distributed to the users. In order to provide automatic processing of the vast volume of observed data, pipeline software has been developed. Because of the complexity of objects and different characteristic of each process, it was necessary to analyze the whole works of the EIS survey program. The overall tasks of the EIS are identified, and the scheme of the EIS pipeline software is defined. The system structure and the processes are presented, and in-depth flow charts are analyzed. During the analyses, it was revealed that handling the data flow and managing the database are important for the data processing. These analyses may also be applied to many other fields which require image processing.