Non-uniformity calibration method of space-borne area CCD for directional polarimetric camera

Abstract

The directional polarimetric camera (DPC) is a polarization sensor with the characteristics of ultra-wide-angle and low-distortion imaging. The multi-angle polarization information is helpful to obtain the spatial distribution of target radiation, and multiple data fusion relies on the non-uniformity calibration of image plane. The non-uniformity consists of many factors such as lens, detector assembly, spatial stray light, etc. The single correction method can not distinguish the error source effectively. In consideration of the in-flight operation mode of DPC based on the adjustment of exposure time, the non-uniformity correction method of the detector based on multi parameters is proposed. Through the electro-optical performance measurement system of the CCD detector, the sensitive factors such as temperature, dark current, exposure time and spectral response are obtained. After a series of preprocessing of the image including removal of dark signal, removal of smearing effect and temperature compensation, the non-uniformity calibration based on multi-parameters is imposed on the detector. The low-frequency unbalanced response difference of the image surface is eliminated, and the high-frequency difference is effectively suppressed. The experimental results show that the photo response non-uniformity of 95% full well single frame data is reduced from 2.86% to 0.36%. After correction, the data noise is shown as shot noise, and the detector has good ability of dynamic range adjustment. The non-uniformity calibration by the proposed method can offer data support for the instrumental calibration and in-flight fast calculation, and provide effective reference for the subsequent polarization remote sensing instruments.