Software Suite to Support In-Flight Characterization of Remote Sensing Systems

About this technology

Overview

A software suite, developed to support NASAs in-flight characterization of commercial remote sensing systems, efficiently automates reproducible processing of ground truth data. It is unique in that it takes input from a number of disparate data sources, condenses and rapidly processes it, to a form useable by the characterization process. It has been largely automated to reduce operator error as much as possibleWritten and developed in the MATLAB programming environment, the characterization suite consists of radiometric, geometric and spatial scripts that require knowledge of MODTRAN and expertise to run. Each type of characterization relies on knowledge of ground characteristics, or ground truth, some of which must be acquired at the time of sensor overpass. Examples of ground truth data include target reflectance, incident solar irradiance, atmospheric pressure and water vapor, aerosol content, and target location. All of these data sets must be processed in order to be used for in-flight characterization.Previously used to perform radiometric, geometric, and spatial characterization on the IKONOS, QuickBird, OrbView-3, and AWiFS satellite sensors.