Abstract:

Accuracy is a key factor in high-resolution remote sensing and photogrammetry. The factors that affect accuracy are imaging system errors and data processing errors. Due to the complexity of aerial camera errors, this paper focuses on the design of digital aerial camera systems and the means to reduce system error and data processing inefficiencies. There are many kinds of digital aerial camera systems at present; however, these systems lack a unified physical model, which ultimately leads to more complicated designs and multi-camera modes. Such a system is complex and costly, as it is easily affected by factors such as vibration and temperature. Thus, the installed accuracy can only reach the millimeter level. Here, we describe a unified physical structure for a digital aerial camera that imitates an out-of-field multi-charge-coupled device (CCD), an in-field multi-CCD, and once-imaging and twice-imaging digital camera systems. This model is referred to as the variable baseline-height ratio spatiotemporal model. The variable ratio allows the opto-mechanical spatial parameters to be linked with height accuracy, thus providing a connection to the surface elevation. The twice-imaging digital camera prototype system and the wideband limb imaging spectrometer provide a transformation prototype from the current multi-rigid once-imaging aerial camera to a single rigid structure. Thus, our research lays a theoretical foundation and prototype references for the construction and industrialization of digital aerial systems.

Key words: catadioptric optical mirror; digital aerial camera; normal physical model of variable baseline-height ratio spatial temporal model; single rigid structure; systemic accuracy