A simulation system has been developed that allows computer experiments with specific sensor configurations. Application areas for such an approach are: (1) design and optimization of optical sensors for specific (well known) applications; (2) sensitivity of different data products to position and calibration errors; (3) test of retrieval algorithms; and (4) mission support. The simulation system consists of mathematical and physical models to simulate the passage of electro-magnetic radiation from the source of the emission to the sensor. The key part of this simulation system is a ray tracer interacting with a digital terrain model around an ellipsoid. The simulator consists of three parts for the following tasks: (1) With a ray-tracing procedure in a digital terrain model (DTM) a reflection image is generated. The reflection model is Lambertian. The sensor geometry can be a CCD line or a matrix camera. (2) The calculation of the radiation intensity in front of the CCD. The transmission and scattering in the atmosphere, the reflection properties of the surface, spectral filters and angular dependences of the optics have been considered. (3) The evaluation of the analog part of the camera. A statistical noise is added to each pixel. The approach is outlined with some examples.

Date Published: 21 December 1994
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2318, Recent Advances in Remote Sensing and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, (21 December 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.197232

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2318:
Recent Advances in Remote Sensing and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing
Pat S. Chavez Jr.; Carlo M. Marino; Robert A. Schowengerdt, Editor(s)