Geometric Spectral Accuracy of Airborne Remote Sensing

Abstract

This research examined the use of airborne remote sensing that has been acquired in the West-Midlands near Lichfield and Brownhills in March 2002. Image data considered in the study consisted of Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) and Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI), with a spatial resolution of 1.8metres. No atmospheric correction was done in this research. The spectral response of the ATM and CASI sensors were carefully examined to investigate if the sensors pick up the same radiation from the same land cover at different places in the imagery, enabling qualitative classification of the area. To supply the same geometric integrity as a map, original raw images must be geometrically corrected and the distortions, such as variations in altitude, and Earth curvature, must be compensated for. It was found that the RMS of location error was 11.01 metres. It was discovered that the same land cover on different parts of the imagery gave different spectral responses and their qualitative classification was not reliable.