DATA PRODUCT

Data recorded in High Density Digital Tape Recorder

(HDDTR) or Digital Linear Tape (DLT)
Ground Segment Organization
⚫ 3 categories
⚫ (a) Spacecraft Control Centre
⚫ (b) Data Acquisition Station
⚫ (c) Data Processing, product generation and Distribution
Centre.
Spacecraft Control Centre
• Main Task of SCC is to monitor various parameter of the
satellite by analyzing the telemetry data and keeping the
satellite in good ‘health’ by scheduling necessary
commands, orbit determination and schedule payload
operation as per user needs.
• To support these activities, a network of telemetry,
tracking and command (TTC) station.
• TTC network ensure telemetry data reception, recording,
conditioning and transmission to SSC and track the
satellite in order to accurately determine the orbit.
• Orbit determination is very important to generate data
products.
Typical ground segment functions
DIGITAL PRODUCTS FORMAT
⚫ Digital products are supplied mainly in four formats:
LGSOWG (Landsat Ground Station Operators
Working Group) or Super Structure format.
Fast Format
GeoTIFF (Geographic Tagged Image File Format)
HDF (Hierarchical Data Format).

The raw data recorded at the earth station is corrected

to various levels of processing at the Data
Processing System (DPS). They are
⚫ Level 0 Uncorrected (raw data)
⚫ Level 1Radiometrically corrected and
geometrically corrected only for earth rotation .
Level 2 Both radiometrically and geometrically
corrected.
Level 3 Special processing like precision processing
using GCPs, merging, enhancement, ortho- image
using DEM etc. after Level-2 corrections (special
product)
 Data Product Generation
⚫ Geometric errors correction.
⚫ Radiometric errors correction.
⚫ Radiometric errors are corrected by using a light transfer
function evaluated by elaborate calibration on the ground.
⚫ A very uniform source is placed in front of the optics so
that total input aperture of the sensor is covered by the
source.
⚫ The output readings are taken for varying light intensity
and generating a transfer characteristic from the input
light level to the output electrical signal level.
⚫ These information are stored in the computer as look up
tables and are used in correcting the data received from
satellite.
⚫ Radiometric correction is done to minimize or correct errors
in the digital numbers of images.
⚫ The process improves the interpretability and quality of
remote sensed data.
⚫ Radiometric calibration and correction are particularly
important when comparing data sets over a multiple time
periods.
⚫ The energy that sensors onboard satellites record can differ
from the actual energy emitted or reflected from a surface on
the ground.
⚫ This is due to the sun's azimuth and elevation and
atmospheric conditions that can influence the observed
energy.
⚫ Therefore, in order to obtain the real ground irradiance or
reflectance, radiometric errors must be corrected for.
⚫ The radiance detected by the sensor includes the reflected
radiation from the Earth's surface as well as radiation that
is scattered in the atmosphere.
⚫ This scattering (Rayleigh scattering ) is more
pronounced at shorter wavelengths
⚫ The value recorded for a given pixel includes not only the
reflected or emitted radiation from the surface, but also the
radiation scattered and emitted by the atmosphere.
⚫ In most cases were are interested in the actual surface
values.
⚫ To achieve these values radiometric calibration and
correction must be applied.
⚫ A sensor records the intensity of the electromagnetic
radiation for each pixel as a digital number (DN).
⚫ These digital numbers can be converted to more
meaningful real world units like radiance, reflectance or
brightness temperature.
⚫ Sensor specific information is needed to carry out this
calibration.
⚫ In the case of Landsat data, the metadata file contains this
information.
⚫ Most image processing software packages have
radiometric calibration tools.
⚫ In ENVI some Landsat data can be converted directly to
reflectance, without needing to first calculate radiance.
⚫ Converting DNs to Radiance and Reflectance
⚫ The raw digital numbers (DN) in the images can be converted
to what is known as top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance or
reflectance.
⚫ Equations rescale the data based on sensor specific information
and removes the effects of differences in illumination geometry
(different solar angle, Earth-sun distance).
⚫ Most software packages have tools to calibrate the data.
IRS PAN image before and after radiometric correction
Georeferencing
⚫ Remotely sensed images obtained raw from the satellites contain
errors in the form of systematic and non systematic geometric
errors.
⚫ Some of the errors can be rectified by having additional
information about satellite ephemeris, sensor characteristics etc.
⚫ Image preprocessing is the technique used to correct this
degradation/noise created in the image, thereby to produce a
corrected image which replicates the surface characteristics as
closely as possible.
⚫ The transformation of a remotely sensed image, so that it
possesses the scale and projection properties of a given map
projection, is called geometric correction or georeferencing.
⚫ A related technique essential for georeferencing,
known as registration that deals with fitting of
coordinate system of one image to that of a second
image, both of the same area.
⚫ The function of georeferencing is to transform the
distorted image co-ordinate(u,v) to a specific map
projection involving
⚫ (a) recovering the correct geometry and
⚫ (b) image to map registration i.e. transforming the
image coordinate system to a particular map
coordinate system.
⚫ Ground Control Points (GCPs) are used to generate
an accurate transformation model to relate the image
coordinate to a map coordinate
⚫ GCPs are well defined points on the surface of the earth
whose coordinates can be estimated easily on a map as well as
on the image.
⚫ Properties of GCP
⚫ For geometric rectification of image from a map or from
another registered image, selection of GCP is the prime step.
Hence, proper caution must be maintained while choosing the
points.
⚫ Some of the properties which the GCP should possess are:
⚫ (1) They should represent a prominent feature which is not
likely to change for a long duration of time. For example,
the choice of a highway intersection of corner of a steel
bridge is more appropriate as a GCP than a tree or
meandering part of a river. This is essential for easiness in
identifying points from the image/map as permanent locations
will not perish for a long duration of time.
⚫ (2) GCPs should be well distributed. This means that
rather than concentrating on points lying close to each
other, points selected farther apart should be given
priority. This enables the selected points to be fully
representative of the area, as it is essential for proper
geometric registration.
⚫ (3)Optimum number of GCPs should be selected
depending on the area to be represented. Greater the
number of carefully selected and well apart points, more
will be the accuracy of registration.
Figure (a) Insufficient
distribution of GCP
(b) Poor distribution of GCP
(c) Well distributed GCP.
⚫ Geometric rectification
⚫ This process enables affixing projection details of a
map/image onto an image to make the image
planimetric in nature.
⚫ The image to be rectified, represented by means of
pixels arranged in rows and columns can be
considered equivalent to a matrix of digital number
(DN) values accessed by means of their row and
column numbers (u,v).
⚫ Similarly, the map/image (correct) coordinates of a
same point can be represented by their
geolocation(Lat/Long) information (x,y).
 Figure: Polynomial transformation
for geometric correction of images
⚫ The nature of relationship of (u,v) with (x,y) needs to
be established so that each pixel in the image be
properly positioned in the rectified output image.
⚫ Let F1 and F2 be the coordinate transformation
functions used to interrelate the geometrically correct
coordinates and distorted image coordinates.
⚫ Let (u,v) = distorted image coordinates and
⚫ (x,y) = correct map coordinates
⚫
⚫ Then u = F1(x, y) and
⚫ v = F2(x, y)
⚫ The concepts is similar to affixing an empty array of
geometrically correct cells over the original distorted cells
of unrectified image and then fill in the values of each
empty cell using the values of the distorted image.
⚫ Usually, the transformation functions used are polynomial.
⚫ The unrectified image is tied down to a map or a rectified
image using a selected number of GCPs and then the
polynomials are calculated.
⚫ The unrectified image is then transformed using the
polynomial equations
Co-Registration
⚫ Errors generated due to satellite attitude variations
like roll, pitch and yaw will generally be unsystematic
in nature that are removed best by identifying GCPs in
the original imagery and on the reference map
followed by mathematical modeling of the geometric
distortion present.
⚫ Rectification of image to map requires that the
polynomial equations are fit to the GCP data using
least squares criteria in order to model the corrections
directly in the image domain without identifying the
source of distortion.
⚫ Depending on the image distortion, the order of
polynomial equations, degree of topographic relief
displacement etc will vary.
⚫ In general, for moderate distortions in a relatively small
area of an image, a first order, six parameter affine
transformations (1st degree polynomial, i.e., a linear
equation) is sufficient in order to rectify the imagery.
⚫ This is capable of modeling six kinds of
distortion(translation in x,y, scale changes in x,y, skew
and rotation) in the remote sensor data which if
combined into a single expression becomes:
⚫
⚫ u=a0+a1x+a2y
⚫ v = b0+b1x+b2y
⚫ Here, ( x,y) denotes the position in output rectified
image or map and(u,v) denotes the corresponding
positions in the original input image.
⚫ The equation tries to find out which point in the output
image (corrected) should come from which point in the
image.
⚫ The value of coefficients ai and bi are evaluated using
GCPs.
⚫ Minimum number of GCPs required depends on the
degree of polynomial (n) used in the mapping function
and is given by (n+1)(n+2)/2
Image Resampling

⚫ Resampling is the process used to estimate the pixel value

(DN) used to fill the empty grid cell from the original distorted
image.
⚫ A number of techniques are available for resampling like
❖ Nearest –neighbor interpolation
❖ Bilinear interpolation
❖ Cubic convolution interpolation.
 Nearest –neighbor interpolation

⚫ In nearest neighbor resampling technique, the DN for

empty grid is assigned to the nearest pixel of the
overlapping undistorted correct image.
⚫ This offers computational simplicity and alteration of
original DN values.
⚫ However it suffers from the disadvantage of offsetting
pixel values spatially causing a rather disjointed
appearance to the rectified image.
Bilinear interpolation
⚫ The bilinear interpolation technique considers a
weighted average approach with the nearest four pixel
values/DN.
⚫ As this process is actually a 2D equivalent of linear
interpolation , hence the name ‘bilinear’.
⚫ The resulting image will look smoother at the stake of
alteration of original DN values
Cubic convolution interpolation
⚫ Cubic interpolation is an improved version of bilinear
resampling technique, where the 16 pixels surrounding a
particular pixel are analyzed to come out with a
synthetic DN.
⚫ The weighted average of 16 input values closest to the
computed point is used.
⚫ Give a much smoother appearance and sharper edge but
computationally most intensive.
⚫ Cubic resampling also tends to distort the resampled
image
 Figure : Image Resampling by overlay of rectified
empty matrix over unrectified image.
This method is considered the most efficient
procedure in terms of computation time.
•Nearest Neighbour does not alter the pixel
value
⚫ It is closer to the perfect sin(x) / x resampler than the
Nearest Neighbour or Bi-linear resampling and avoids
the disjointed appearance of the Nearest Neighbour
method.
⚫ It provides a slightly sharper image than the bilinear
method but it also corrupts the original pixel values.
⚫ This method is not recommended if classification is to
follow as the new pixel values may be slightly different
from the actual radiance values detected by the satellite
sensor.
⚫ The computation time of this procedure is about ten
times greater than for the Nearest Neighbour method.