Along-track Direction Research Articles

A C-Band Scatterometer Simultaneous Wind/Rain Retrieval Method

Using collocated ERS scatterometer (ESCAT), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR), and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data, the effects of rain on ESCAT wind-only retrieval are evaluated. Additional scattering from rain causes estimated wind speeds to appear higher than expected. Selected directions of the rain-corrupted wind vectors are biased toward along-track directions under conditions of heavy rain, which is regardless of the true wind direction. Rain becomes more significant for data acquired at a high incidence angle. To compensate for rain-induced backscatter, a simultaneous wind/rain retrieval (SWRR) method, which simultaneously retrieves wind velocity and surface rain rate from ESCAT measurements with an incidence angle >40deg, is developed by using a C-band wind/rain backscatter model. The performance of SWRR under typical wind/rain conditions is evaluated through simulation and validation with collocated TRMM PR and ECMWF data sets. SWRR is shown to significantly improve wind velocity estimates, and the SWRR estimated surface rain rate has relatively high accuracy in moderate to heavy rain cases. Although SWRR-retrieved rain is somewhat biased, it can be corrected. We note that for ESCAT, about 1.5% of all the collocated measurements is affected by significant rain.

Hybrid control of orbit normal and along-track two-craft Coulomb tethers

The dynamics and stability of a charged two craft formation with nominal fixed separation distance (Coulomb tethers) is studied where the cluster is aligned with either the along-track or orbit normal direction. Unlike the charged two-craft formation scenario aligned along the orbit radial direction, a feedback control law using inter-spacecraft electrostatic Coulomb forces and the differential gravitational accelerations is not sufficient to stabilize the Coulomb tether length and the formation attitude. Therefore, a hybrid feedback control law is presented which combines conventional thrusters and Coulomb forces. The Coulomb force feedback requires measurements of separation distance error and error rate, while the thruster feedback is in terms of Euler angles and their rates. This hybrid feedback control is designed to asymptotically stabilize the satellite formation shape and attitude while avoiding plume impingement issues. The effects of differential solar drag on the formation and the ability of the controller to withstand this disturbance is also studied.

Automated co-registration of images from multiple bands of Liss-4 camera

Three multi-spectral bands of the Liss-4 camera of IRS-P6 satellite are physically separated in the focal plane in the along-track direction. The time separation of 2.1 s between the acquisition of first and last bands causes scan lines acquired by different bands to lie along different lines on the ground which are not parallel. Therefore, the raw images of multi-spectral bands need to be registered prior to any simple application like data visualization. This paper describes a method for co-registration of multiple bands of Liss-4 camera through photogrammetric means using the collinearity equations. A trajectory fit using the given ephemeris and attitude data, followed by direct georeferencing is being employed in this model. It is also augmented with a public domain DEM for the terrain dependent input to the model. Finer offsets after the application of this parametric technique are addressed by matching a small subsection of the bands (100×100 pixels) using an image-based method. Resampling is done by going back to original raw data when creating the product after refining image coordinates with the offsets. Two types of aligned products are defined in this paper and their operational flow is described. Datasets covering different types of terrain and also viewed with different geometries are studied with extensive number of points. The band-to-band registration (BBR) accuracies are reported. The algorithm described in this paper for co-registration of Liss-4 bands is an integral part of the software package Value Added Products generation System (VAPS) for operational generation of IRS-P6 data products.

Alternative mission architectures for a gravity recovery satellite mission

Since its launch in 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has been providing measurements of the time-varying Earth gravity field. The GRACE mission architecture includes two satellites in near-circular, near-polar orbits separated in the along-track direction by approximately 220 km (e.g. collinear). A microwave ranging instrument measures changes in the distance between the spacecraft, while accelerometers on each spacecraft are used to measure changes in distance due to non-gravitational forces. The fact that the satellites are in near-polar orbits coupled with the fact that the inter-satellite range measurements are directed in the along-track direction, contributes to longitudinal striping in the estimated gravity fields. This paper examines four candidate mission architectures for a future gravity recovery satellite mission to assess their potential in measuring the gravity field more accurately than GRACE. All satellites were assumed to have an improved measurement system, with an inter-satellite laser ranging instrument and a drag-free system for removal of non-gravitational accelerations. Four formations were studied: a two-satellite collinear pair similar to GRACE; a four-satellite architecture with two collinear pairs; a two-satellite cartwheel formation; and a four-satellite cartwheel formation. A cartwheel formation consists of satellites performing in-plane, relative elliptical motion about their geometric center, so that inter-satellite measurements are, at times, directed radially (e.g. parallel to the direction towards the center of the Earth) rather than along-track. Radial measurements, unlike along-track measurements, have equal sensitivity to mass distribution in all directions along the Earth’s surface and can lead to higher spatial resolution in the derived gravity field. The ability of each architecture to recover the gravity field was evaluated using numerical simulations performed with JPL’s GIPSY-OASIS software package. Thirty days of data were used to estimate gravity fields complete to degree and order 60. Evaluations were done for 250 and 400 km nominal orbit altitudes. The sensitivity of the recovered gravity field to under-sampled effects was assessed using simulated errors in atmospheric/ocean dealiasing (AOD) models. Results showed the gravity field errors associated with the four-satellite cartwheel formation were approximately one order of magnitude lower than the collinear satellite pair when only measurement system errors were included. When short-period AOD model errors were introduced, the gravity field errors for each formation were approximately the same. The cartwheel formations eliminated most of the longitudinal striping seen in the gravity field errors. A covariance analysis showed the error spectrum of the cartwheel formations to be lower and more isotropic than that of the collinear formations.

Comparison of Processing Algorithms for a Delay/Doppler Altimeter

The use of a radar altimeter is to measure the height of the reflecting surface when the instrument passes overhead. A delay/Doppler altimeter (DDA) reduces the along-track resolution cell using correlation of pulses within burst, as in a synthetic aperture radar, with the net effect of synthesizing an array with a narrower lobe. The processing of DDA data therefore implies the correction of the phase delay of pulses, which is said to be Doppler beam sharpening since it can be reduced to a DFT in the along-track direction. The noise term on Doppler echoes is decreased by incoherent summing of contributions of different bursts. Summation of these contributions requires that pointing of each beam is directed toward a given output grid of samples on ground, and this can be a nontrivial task, depending on the topography profile. In this letter, a comparison between different beam sharpening algorithms is presented: Two of them are similar in their basic idea even if with different implementations; the third one can be considered as reference since no approximations are needed in principle, but is computationally inefficient. What results is that the first couple can be considered basically equivalent in terms of precision and computational efficiency, with little differences at the change of the environmental conditions. Results based on simulated data of simple and complex scenarios are presented as support of the reasoning.

Assessing the geometric accuracy of AVHRR data processed with a state vector based navigation system

We evaluate the geometric accuracy of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data processed using the Common AVHRR Processing System (CAPS) software. Accurate geometric correction, to known standards, of satellite images is crucial for many remote sensing applications, especially those using a time series of images and integrating other spatially referenced datasets. It is critical that data acquired by satellites with short repeat intervals (e.g., daily) are geolocated using methods that are both automatic and reliable. Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) high-resolution imagery was used to establish ground control point (GCP) networks for two coastal regions of Australia, one tropical with 40 GCPs and one temperate with 60 GCPs. The geolocation accuracy was assessed for a total of 12 and 13 AVHRR images, respectively, against the GCPs for each region, respectively, totalling 1039 cloud-free GCP comparisons. Results showed that when the view zenith angle was less than 40°, the average (±1 standard deviation) accuracies are 0.36 ± 0.31 and 0.44 ± 0.35 of an at-nadir AVHRR pixel (1.1 km × 1.1 km) in the cross-track direction for the tropical and temperate regions, respectively, and 0.30 ± 0.26 and 0.36 ± 0.29 at-nadir AVHRR pixel in the along-track direction for the tropical and temperate regions, respectively. For higher satellite view zenith angles, the geometric accuracy decreases systematically with an increase in the pixel size towards the edges of the AVHRR swath.

Pre-processing considerations of IRS-P6 LISS-4 imagery

Wide image swath with a high geometric resolution is required for photogrammetric applications. Both demands can be satisfied using staggered line arrays. Different bands of IRS-P6 LISS-4 sensor use staggered arrays for imaging. This paper describes a method for computing the offset for geometric alignment of odd and even lines of the staggered array of IRS-P6 LISS-4 imagery. The odd and even pixel rows are separated by 35μm (equal to 5 pixels) in the focal plane in the along-track direction. Slightly different viewing angles of both lines of a staggered array can result in a variable sampling pattern on the ground because of the attitude fluctuations, satellite movement, terrain topography, PSM steering and small variations in the angular placement of the CCD lines (from the pre-launch values) in the focal plane. Non-accounting of this variable sampling value during the video data alignment will introduce deterioration of image quality and geometric discontinuity of features. The stagger parameters can be computed by the reconstruction of the viewing geometry with a calibrated camera geometry model and a public domain DEM. The impact of the line separation in the focal plane during imaging for different viewing configurations and terrain heights are studied and reported in this paper. Computed values from the model are in good agreement with what is observed in the raw image for different view angles. The results verify the model and are representative of the stability of the platform.

Geolocation Error Analysis of the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder

Geolocation errors in excess of 20-30 km have been observed in the special sensor microwave imager/sounder (F-16 SSMIS) radiometer observations when compared with accurate global shoreline databases. Potential error sources include angular misalignment of the sensor spin axis with the spacecraft zenith, sample timing offsets, nonuniform spin rate, antenna deployment offsets, spacecraft ephemeris, and approximations of the geolocation algorithm in the Ground Data Processing Software. An analysis methodology is presented to automate the process of quantifying the geolocation errors rapidly in terms of partial derivatives of the radiometer data in the along-scan and along-track directions and is applied to the SSMIS data. Angular and time offsets are derived for SSMIS that reveal the root cause(s) of the geolocation errors, while yet unresolved, are systematic, correctable in the ground processing software, and may be reduced to less than 4-5 km (1-sigma).

GPS based orbit determination using accelerometer data

Ongoing and future geopotential space missions are equipped with one or more accelerometers. In order to use these observations, the accelerometer measurements have to be calibrated before processing them. In this paper they are introduced in the GPS based precise orbit determination, by replacing the non-gravitational force models for atmospheric drag and solar radiation pressure. Empirical accelerations are still estimated to account for deficiencies in the applied conservative force models. The in-orbit calibrated accelerometer observations are used to validate the accelerations determined by force modeling. In along-track direction they show the best agreement. During days of high solar activity the benefit of using accelerometer observations is clearly visible. The observations during these days show high frequency fluctuations which the modeled and empirical accelerations cannot follow. A long period of GRACE (second half of 2003) and of CHAMP (2004) data is processed. This results for GRACE in a mean orbit fit of a few centimeters with respect to high-quality JPL reference orbits, showing a slightly better consistency compared to the case when using force models, which is also supported by SLR residual analysis. The daily calibration factors determined with this technique show a small variation. When not including empirical accelerations in the estimation procedure, the calibration factors in radial and cross-track direction show a bigger spread, with an orbit fit below the decimeter level.

Impact assessment of Aqua MODIS band-to-band misregistration on snow index

The MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a key instrument for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) mission. It was successfully launched onboard the Terra satellite in December 1999 and Aqua satellite in May 2002. MODIS senses the Earth's surface in thirty-six spectral bands which are distributed on four Focal Plane Assemblies (FPAs): Visible (VIS), Near-Infrared (NIR), Short-and Middle-wavelength IR (SMIR), and Long-wavelength IR (LWIR). It was found from sensor pre-launch measurements that Aqua MODIS SMIR/LWIR FPAs had a large misalignment or misregistration relative to the VIS/NIR FPAs in both along-scan and along-track directions. The misregistration of the two FPA groups has remained nearly the same during its on-orbit operation. Consequently this has been a major concern for Aqua MODIS performance since it could affect the quality of MODIS products which utilize bands from both the VIS/NIR and SMIR/LWIR FPAs, for example, the snow index. This paper focuses on investigating the impact of Aqua MODIS FPA-to-FPA or band-to-band misregistration on its snow index (NDSI) derived from measurements made by VIS band 4 and SWIR band 7. Preliminary results show that shifting one pixel (500 m) forward in the along-track direction of band 7 can improve the band-to-band registration between bands 4 and 7 and, therefore, the quality of Aqua MODIS snow mapping. This study will help MODIS data users to understand the potential impact of band-to-band misregistration on MODIS science products, and also be useful for the future sensor design.

Satellite formation flying using along-track thrust

The formation flying of satellites using thrust in along-track direction is explored in the present paper. The system comprising of a leader and a follower satellite is considered and a linear controller is developed to achieve a desired formation. The performance of the proposed controller is tested using numerical simulation of the governing nonlinear system equations of motion considering several factors including variations in initial conditions, formation size, presence of disturbance forces, and orbital eccentricity of the leader satellite. It is found that the controller using only along-track thrust can provide bounded relative position errors with the maximum control acceleration, in m / s 2 , of 0.0718 times the product of square of the orbital rate of the leader satellite and the along-track error. The proposed controller was successful in establishing circular as well as projected circular formations of leader and follower satellites within relative position errors of ± 10 m .

Subsurface Sensing Under Sensor Positional Uncertainty

We consider the problem of classifying buried objects using electromagnetic induction data collected in a setting where there are errors in sensor positioning. Using a series of decay constants (or equivalently, Laplace plane poles) as features for classification, our algorithm seeks to estimate these poles and, subsequently, to determine the type of object in the sensor field of view. In many practical scenarios, a set of data is often accompanied by domain knowledge that the location of the transmitters and/or receivers is only known to within some degree of accuracy (e.g., 10 cm in the along-track direction and 5-cm cross-track). Here, we develop an approach to the extraction of information from such data sets in which the quantitative positional bound information is used in the context of a min-max optimization strategy. Specifically, we look for the parameters of interest that minimize the maximum data residual, where the maximum error is computed over ellipsoids or polyhedra of possible sensor locations defined by the bound information. Our formulation admits data collection with independent or dependent positional uncertainty values at successive nominal collection locations. Our algorithms for solving this optimization problem are validated using simulated and measured data

Performance of GPS-based accelerometry: CHAMP and GRACE

Extensive recovery experiments based on GPS satellite-to-satellite tracking data from the CHAMP and GRACE-A satellites show that the performance of GPS-based accelerometry is comparable for both satellites. Several different quality measures like the recovery error, correlation and the contribution measure are used to assess the performance of GPS-based accelerometry and these quality measures indicate that the best performance is obtained in along-track direction. In cross-track direction the performance is slightly worse and due to correlations between the accelerations and the initial conditions in cross-track direction, a bias in this direction seems hardly observable. Unfortunately, GPS-based accelerometry is hardly sensitive in radial direction, due to correlations between the accelerations in the radial direction and the initial conditions in radial and along-track direction. It is shown that predominantly the longer wavelengths are well determined and high-frequency accelerations, caused by e.g. geomagnetic storms, are not well recovered.

経験的ＢＲＤＦモデルによる航空機ハイパースペクトルセンサの輝度値勾配補正に関する研究

In general, apparent reflectance data obtained by airborne hyperspectral sensor are affected by Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of surface medium. A complete preprocessing of airborne hyperspectral sensor data should include the correction of a possible brightness gradient for measuring the feature of surface medium.For a line scanner like airborne hyperspectral sensor, the brightness gradients mainly occur in across-track direction and depend on the sensor's view angle. However, when the observations are done with the small planes, hyperspectral sensor attitude changes in the 3 axes directions, such as a rolling, pitching, and yawing. Therefore, in order to correct brightness gradient with sufficient accuracy, it is necessary to take into consideration not only the across-track direction but the alongt-rack direction also. A Highly precise simulation of BRDF using hyperspectral sensor attitude information measured by GPS/IMU is indispensable.This research examines the technique of conducting the simulation of the BRDF with the empirical approach using the lapped images of two or more hyperspectral data. The proposed technique enables the estimation of the nadir reflectance value without any additional field measurements and the estimated nadir reflectance value can be used for any subsequent qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Modification of the loop current warm core eddy by Hurricane Gilbert (1988)

Numerical investigation of Hurricane Gilbert (1988) effect on the Loop Current warm core eddy (WCE) in the Gulf of Mexico is performed using the Modular Ocean Model version 2 (MOM2). Results show that the storm-induced maximum sea surface temperature (SST) decrease in Gilbert’s wake is over 2.5°C, as compared with the 3.5°C cooling in the absence of the WCE. The near-inertial oscillation in the wake reduces significantly in an along-track direction with the presence of the WCE. This effect is also reflected between the mixed layer and the thermocline, where the current directions are reversed with the upper layer. After two inertial periods (IP), the current reversal is much less obvious. In addition, it is demonstrated that Hurricane Gilbert wind stress increases the current speed of the WCE by approximate 133%. With the forcing of Gilbert, the simulated translation direction and speed of the WCE towards the Mexican coast are closer to the observed (42% more accurate in distance and 78% more accurate in direction) compared with the simulation without the Gilbert forcing. The simulated ocean response to Gilbert generally agrees with the recent observations in Hurricane Fabian.

E/I-vector separation for safe switching of the GRACE formation

After more than three years in orbit, a longitude swap maneuver was required to exchange the leading and trailing spacecraft of the GRACE formation. While the two satellites are nominally separated by about 220 km in along-track direction, a close encounter took place during the swap sequence. Based on the successful use for co-location of geo-stationary satellites, the concept of eccentricity/inclination vector separation has been suggested for safe proximity operations in this mission phase. Taking care of the natural evolution of the relative orbital elements of GRACE 1 and 2, optimum maneuver dates were identified. By proper timing of the maneuvers a safe limit for the minimum distance during the encounter could be guaranteed even in case of arbitrary thruster performance errors. This allowed the use of a fuel optimal maneuver sequence with individual drift start and stop maneuvers. The paper provides a conceptual outline and mathematical description of the e/i-vector separation for spacecraft formations in low Earth orbit and discusses the GRACE longitude swap maneuvers.

Pseudo-Stochastic Orbit Modeling Techniques for Low-Earth Orbiters

The Earth’s non-spherical mass distribution and atmospheric drag cause the strongest perturbations on very low-Earth orbiting satellites (LEOs). Models of gravitational and non-gravitational accelerations are utilized in dynamic precise orbit determination (POD) with GPS data, but it is also possible to derive LEO positions based on GPS precise point positioning without dynamical information. We use the reduced-dynamic technique for LEO POD, which combines the geometric strength of the GPS observations with the force models, and investigate the performance of different pseudo-stochastic orbit parametrizations, such as instantaneous velocity changes (pulses), piecewise constant accelerations, and continuous piecewise linear accelerations. The estimation of such empirical orbit parameters in a standard least-squares adjustment process of GPS observations, together with other relevant parameters, strives for the highest precision in the computation of LEO trajectories. We used the procedures for the CHAMP satellite and found that the orbits may be validated by means of independent SLR measurements at the level of 3.2 cm RMS. Validations with independent accelerometer data revealed correlations at the level of 95% in the along-track direction. As expected, the empirical parameters compensate to a certain extent for deficiencies in the dynamic models. We analyzed the capability of pseudo-stochastic parameters for deriving information about the mismodeled part of the force field and found evidence that the resulting orbits may be used to recover force field parameters, if the number of pseudo-stochastic parameters is large enough. Results based on simulations showed a significantly better performance of acceleration-based orbits for gravity field recovery than for pulse-based orbits, with a quality comparable to a direct estimation if unconstrained accelerations are set up every 30 s.

Satellite Formation Establishing in Near Circular Orbit

基于近圆参考轨道的假设,研究处于同一入轨点多颗卫星的编队捕获方法.首先由高斯型拉格朗日轨道摄动运动方程得到轨道坐标系中控制冲量与轨道根数偏差的关系,基于近圆轨道的条件简化并带入相对运动方程,得到控制冲量与相对运动的关系表达式;通过深入分析各个方向(径向、沿迹向与轨道面法向)的控制冲量对相对运动的影响,给出了分别用径向与轨道面法向控制冲量组合和沿迹向与轨道面法向控制冲量组合实现编队捕获的两种控制策略;最后给出了一个空间圆编队捕获实例,并从燃料消耗、施加冲量次数及捕获时间等角度对比研究了两种控制策略的特点.仿真结果表明,这两种控制策略简单、实用,能够较好地解决近圆轨道卫星编队的捕获问题.

Terra MODIS on-orbit spatial characterization and performance

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Proto-Flight Model, onboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Observing System Terra spacecraft, has been in operation for over four years. It has 36 spectral bands and a total of 490 detectors located on four focal plane assemblies (FPAs). MODIS makes observations at three spatial resolutions (nadir): 0.25 km (bands 1-2), 0.5 km (bands 3-7), and 1 km (bands 8-36). The instrument's spatial characterization was measured prelaunch using an integration and alignment collimator. Parameters measured included the detectors' instantaneous field-of-view (IFOV), band-to-band registration (BBR), and line spread function in both the along-scan and along-track directions. On-orbit, the spatial characterization is periodically measured using the onboard spectro-radiometric calibration assembly (SRCA). This paper describes the SRCA BBR algorithms, characterization methodologies, and on-orbit results. A Fourier approach used to calculate the along-track BBR is also described. This approach enhances the algorithm's robustness in comparison with the conventional centroid approach. On-orbit results show that the Terra MODIS focal planes shifted slightly during launch and initial on-orbit operation. Since then they have been very stable. The BBR is within 0.16 km (nadir IFOV) in the along-scan direction and 0.23 km (nadir IFOV) in the along-track direction among all bands. The small but noticeable periodic variation of the on-orbit BBR can be attributed to the annual cycling of instrument temperature due to Sun-Earth distance variation. The visible FPA position has the largest temperature dependence among all FPAs, 17 m/K along-scan and 0.6 m/K along-track.

ICESat measurement of Greenland ice sheet surface slope and roughness

AbstractThe Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) in its 8 day repeat orbit mode provided data not only on the along-track surface slope, but also on the cross-track surface slope from adjacent repeat ground tracks. During the first 36 days of operation, four to five such repeat orbits occurred within 1 km in the cross-track direction. This provided an opportunity to use ICESat data to measure surface slope in the cross-track direction at 1 km scale. An algorithm was developed to calculate the cross-track surface slope. Combining the slopes in the cross-track and along-track directions gives a three-dimensional surface slope at 1 km scale. The along-track surface slope and surface roughness at 10km scale are also calculated. A comparison between ICESat surface elevation and a European Remote-sensing Satellite (ERS-1) 5 km digital elevation model shows a difference of 1–2 m in central Greenland where the surface slope is small, and >20m at the edge of Greenland where the surface slope is large. The large elevation difference at the edge is most likely due to the slope-induced error in radar altimeter measurement. Accurate surface slope data from ICESat will help to correct the slope-induced error of radar altimeter missions such as Geosat, ERS-1 and ERS-2.