Progress in the Development of a High Performance Airborne Digital Sensor

Joint development work by LH Systems and Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center) has produced encouraging results using forward, nadir and backward looking linear arrays on the focal plane to provide panchromatic imagery and geometric information, supplemented by further arrays to acquire multispectral imagery suitable for both high precision photogrammetric mapping and image processing for interpretative purposes. The geometric characteristics of line scanner imagery necessitate line-by-line rectification for aircraft tilts and shifts. Satisfactory execution of this process is enhanced by using supplementary data from high performance, on-board GPS and inertial measurement systems. Similarly, high demands are placed on other sub-systems, such as the camera mount, lens, electronics and storage technology. In addition to rectification for aircraft tilts and shifts, rectification for terrain characteristics is also required in order to generate colour and false colour composite images, since the various multispectral arrays are in different places on the focal plane. The special geometry affects triangulation. Thereafter, the imagery can be processed using existing software packages from both photogrammetry and remote sensing.
The concept has been demonstrated in several successful test flights and the production model is scheduled for market introduction at the ISPRS Congress in July 2000. The imagery from the new sensor will fulfil many market requirements between the highest resolution film imagery (<0.1 m) and high resolution space imagery (1m to 10 m). The sensor's unique blend of multispectral information with high quality geometric information will give rise to numerous new applications.