SATELLITE IMAGING DIRECTION ANGLES ESTIMATION METHOD BASED ON RATIONAL POLYNOMIAL COEFFICIENTS

Abstract. Satellite imaging direction angles, including the azimuth angle and the incidence angle, are the basic information used for satellite camera network structure analysis. They play an important role in 3D reconstruction using satellite images. In this paper, a satellite imaging direction angle estimation method based on rational polynomial coefficients is proposed for use when the satellite imaging direction angles are not available. Using rational polynomial coefficients, a vertical line on the ground is projected into the image plane, and the satellite imaging direction angles are estimated by analyzing the projection. Satellite images acquired by SPOT6, SOPT7 and Pleiades with different satellite imaging direction angles were used to test the feasibility of the proposed method. The experimental results were analyzed in detail combined with the method and the data. The experimental results show that the azimuth angle estimation error is less than 1.30 degrees, and the incidence angle estimation error is less than 0.83 degrees. This level of accuracy is sufficient for satellite camera network structure analysis.