An Automatic Recognition and Positioning Method for Point Source Targets on Satellite Images

Kai Li,Yongsheng Zhang,Zhenchao Zhang,Ying Yu

doi:10.3390/ijgi7110434

Abstract

Currently, the geometric and radiometric calibration of on-board satellite sensors utilizes different ground targets using some form of manual intervention. Point source targets provide high precision geometric and radiometric information and have the potential to become a new tool for joint geometric and radiometric calibration. In this paper, an automatic recognition and positioning method for point source target images is proposed. First, the template matching method was used to effectively reduce nonpoint source target image pixels in the satellite imagery. The point source target images were then identified using particular feature parameters. Using the template matching method, the weighted centroid method, and the Gaussian fitting method, the positions of the centroid of the point source target images were calculated. The maximum position detection error obtained using the three methods was 0.07 pixels, which is comparably better than artificial targets currently in use. The experimental results show point source targets provide high precision geometric information, which can become a suitable alternative for automatic joint geometric and radiometric calibration of spaceborne optical sensors.

Highlights

With the development of earth observation technology, there have been a number of high-resolution remote sensing satellites operating in orbit, which constitute a high spatial, time, and spectral resolution earth observation system
We proposed a method for automatically identifying point source target images using remote sensing images
The two kinds of targets are placed for Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) measurement and radiometric calibration initially, and the radiometric calibration result has been published in [29]

Summary

Introduction

With the development of earth observation technology, there have been a number of high-resolution remote sensing satellites operating in orbit, which constitute a high spatial, time, and spectral resolution earth observation system. These satellites have been widely used in the fields of national defense security, territorial survey, natural resource management, and environmental science [1,2,3,4]. The solution to high-precision remote sensing satellite imaging and positioning is to establish a high-resolution calibration field on the ground. The geometric and radiometric parameters are improved and compensated, and reliable calibration parameters are used to ensure the authenticity, reliability, and accuracy of satellite positioning results [8,9]

Methods

Results

Conclusion