A METHOD FOR SELF-CALIBRATION IN SATELLITE WITH HIGH PRECISION OF SPACE LINEAR ARRAY CAMERA

Abstract. At present, the on-orbit calibration of the geometric parameters of a space surveying camera is usually processed by data from a ground calibration field after capturing the images. The entire process is very complicated and lengthy and cannot monitor and calibrate the geometric parameters in real time. On the basis of a large number of on-orbit calibrations, we found that owing to the influence of many factors, e.g., weather, it is often difficult to capture images of the ground calibration field. Thus, regular calibration using field data cannot be ensured. This article proposes a real time self-calibration method for a space linear array camera on a satellite using the optical auto collimation principle. A collimating light source and small matrix array CCD devices are installed inside the load system of the satellite; these use the same light path as the linear array camera. We can extract the location changes of the cross marks in the matrix array CCD to determine the real-time variations in the focal length and angle parameters of the linear array camera. The on-orbit status of the camera is rapidly obtained using this method. On one hand, the camera’s change regulation can be mastered accurately and the camera’s attitude can be adjusted in a timely manner to ensure optimal photography; in contrast, self-calibration of the camera aboard the satellite can be realized quickly, which improves the efficiency and reliability of photogrammetric processing.