GIFTS SM EDU data processing and algorithms

Abstract

The Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) Sensor Module (SM) Engineering Demonstration Unit (EDU) is a high resolution spectral imager designed to measure infrared (IR) radiances using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). The GIFTS instrument employs three Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs), which gather measurements across the long-wave IR (LWIR), short/mid-wave IR (SMWIR), and visible spectral bands. The raw interferogram measurements are radiometrically and spectrally calibrated to produce radiance spectra, which are further processed to obtain atmospheric profiles via retrieval algorithms. This paper describes the processing algorithms involved in the calibration stage. The calibration procedures can be subdivided into three stages. In the pre-calibration stage, a phase correction algorithm is applied to the decimated and filtered complex interferogram. The resulting imaginary part of the spectrum contains only the noise component of the uncorrected spectrum. Additional random noise reduction can be accomplished by applying a spectral smoothing routine to the phase-corrected blackbody reference spectra. In the radiometric calibration stage, we first compute the spectral responsivity based on the previous results, from which, the calibrated ambient blackbody (ABB), hot blackbody (HBB), and scene spectra can be obtained. During the post-processing stage, we estimate the noise equivalent spectral radiance (NESR) from the calibrated ABB and HBB spectra. We then implement a correction scheme that compensates for the effect of fore-optics offsets. Finally, for off-axis pixels, the FPA off-axis effects correction is performed. To estimate the performance of the entire FPA, we developed an efficient method of generating pixel performance assessments. In addition, a random pixel selection scheme is designed based on the pixel performance evaluation.