Channel Center Wavelengths Research Articles

The impacts of temperature and emissivity estimations on radiance-based calibration for HJ-1B/IRS TIR band

The IRS radiometer on the HJ-1B satellite of HJ-1 constellation has just a wide band (IRS B08) in thermal infrared spectral region between 10 and 12μm. The onboard radiometric calibration of IRS B08 is implemented by periodically heating the blackbody of calibration system from normal temperature status (NTS) to high temperature status (HTS) for the lack of observation to deep space. Radiance-based vicarious calibration was taken as one point in two-point calibration method to substitute NTS for the instability of NTS. The estimation impacts of temperature and emissivity were analyzed by defining band matching factor k. The results indicate that their impacts were related to channel center wavelengths of reference and target bands. As to the reference band of CE312 B02, temperature impact of ±10K estimated error on IRS B08 TOA radiance can be ignored while six substituted emissivities demonstrated their impacts can also be ignored. However, if CE312 B03 or B04 was taken as reference bands, the impacts cannot be ignored even emissivity-specimens of fresh water, sea water and blackbody were used as actual surface. Linear combination of two reference bands surrounding target band, such as CE312 B03 and B04 to IRS B08, significantly reduced the calibration uncertainty of using single reference band from 1.8K and 2.5K to 0.4K. The vicarious calibration accuracy based on CE312 B02 is 0.25K and the vicarious calibration coefficients could be used from August 2009 to August 2010.

Quantitative Effects of the Spectral Calibration Accuracy of the Imaging Spectrometer on the Vegetation Red Edge

The red edge position (REP) has been widely used to estimate vegetation parameters and also as a sensitive indicator of vegetation stress. Detailed characterizations of REP can be easily achieved from hyperspectral data obtained from imaging spectrometers. After launch of imaging spectrometers, shift in the center wavelength of the spectral channel may occur due to the vibrations and aging of components. In this paper, we firstly proposed a method to quantify the effects of the spectral shift of imaging spectrometers on the REP. The fundamental basis of the method was the simulation of the vegetation reflectance spectra after spectral shift (SSR). The quantitative relationship between the spectral shift value and the REP derived from the SSR was analysed. The result showed a significant linear relationship between spectral shift value and REP error (R2=0.9932). For a 10nm resolution spectrometer, channel center wavelength errors of 10%, 30% and 50% would introduce 0.8nm, 2.5nm and 5.3nm error in REP, respectively. The study indicated that spectral calibration error was an important factor to generate REP shift.

Performance assessment of onboard and scene-based methods for Airborne Prism Experiment spectral characterization

Accurate spectral calibration of airborne and spaceborne imaging spectrometers is essential for proper preprocessing and scientific exploitation of high spectral resolution measurements of the land and atmosphere. A systematic performance assessment of onboard and scene-based methods for in-flight monitoring of instrument spectral calibration is presented for the first time in this paper. Onboard and ground imaging data were collected at several flight altitudes using the Airborne Prism Experiment (APEX) imaging spectrometer. APEX is equipped with an in-flight characterization (IFC) facility allowing the evaluation of radiometric, spectral, and geometric system properties, both in-flight and on-ground for the full field of view. Atmospheric and onboard filter spectral features present in at-sensor radiances are compared with the same features in reference transmittances convolved to varying instrument spectral configurations. A spectrum-matching algorithm, taking advantage of the high sensitivity of measurements around sharp spectral features toward spectrometer spectral performance, is used to retrieve channel center wavelength and bandwidth parameters. Results showed good agreement between spectral parameters estimated using onboard IFC and ground imaging data. The average difference between estimates obtained using the O(2) and H(2)O features and those obtained using the corresponding filter features amounted to about 0.3 nm (0.05 of a spectral pixel). A deviation from the nominal laboratory instrument spectral calibration and an altitude-dependent performance was additionally identified. The relatively good agreement between estimates obtained by the two approaches in similar spectral windows suggests they can be used in a complementary fashion: while the method relying on atmospheric features can be applied without the need for dedicated calibration acquisitions, the IFC allows assessment at user-selectable wavelength positions by custom filters as well as for the system on-ground.

LCOS-Based Wavelength Blocker Array With Channel-by-Channel Variable Center Wavelength and Bandwidth

We developed a new class of compact wavelength blocker (WB) array based on liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS), which enables per-channel control of not only the optical transmission power level but also channel center wavelength and channel bandwidth independently. We demonstrate an integrated device with WB array having 12 input/output ports for 50-GHz-spaced International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) channels over the entire C-band. The center wavelength and bandwidth can be adjusted independently with a minimum setting resolution of 3 and 6 GHz, respectively.

Refinement of wavelength calibrations of hyperspectral imaging data using a spectrum-matching technique

The concept of imaging spectrometry, or hyperspectral imaging, is becoming increasingly popular in scientific communities in recent years. Hyperspectral imaging data covering the spectral region between 0.4 and 2.5 μm and collected from aircraft and satellite platforms have been used in the study of the earth's atmosphere, land surface, and ocean color properties, as well as on planetary missions. In order to make such quantitative studies, accurate radiometric and spectral calibrations of hyperspectral imaging data are necessary. Calibration coefficients for all detectors in an imaging spectrometer obtained in a laboratory may need to be adjusted when applied to data obtained from an aircraft or a satellite platform. Shifts in channel center wavelengths and changes in spectral resolution may occur when an instrument is airborne or spaceborne due to vibrations, and to changes in instrument temperature and pressure. In this paper, we describe an algorithm for refining spectral calibrations of imaging spectrometer data using observed features in the data itself. The algorithm is based on spectrum-matching of atmospheric water vapor, oxygen, and carbon dioxide bands, and solar Fraunhofer lines. It has been applied to real data sets acquired with airborne and spaceborne imaging spectrometers.