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A Practical Method of Calibrating Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery

JIANG, Yu (yjiang@iftd.org), Institute for Technology Development, Building 1103, Suite 118, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529

Key Words: hyperspectral, distortion, calibration

This paper introduces a simple but practical method of calibrating airborne hyperspectral imagery acquired by a push-broom airborne hyperspectral imaging sensor (RDACS/H3). The sensor generates imagery via a line-by-line scanning method. Usually, an image generated by the RDACS/H3 has a wavy look due to the constant aircraft attitude changes during the scanning process, therefore, a calibration is essential before a geo-referencing process can be undertaken to match an image to a map or reference imagery. However, most airborne hyperspectral data lack the attitude changing information of the aircraft, which makes it impossible to conduct the calibration by conventional means. This paper addresses this problem by fitting a linear feature on a raw image to a corresponding linear feature on the reference image. This method eliminates the major wavy distortions but reserves the necessary features for the later geo-referencing process. The results proved that a wavy, distorted hyperspectral image can be efficiently calibrated and accurately geo-referenced to match a reference image.