TY - JOUR

T1 - Comprehensive evaluation of Pléiades-1A bundle images for geospatial applications

AU - Topan, Hüseyin

AU - Jacobsen, Karsten

AU - Cam, Ali

AU - Ozendi, Mustafa

AU - Oruç, Murat

AU - Bakioğlu, Oya Burcu

AU - Bayık, Çağlar

AU - Taşkanat, Talha

N1 - Funding information: Astrium Geo Services (now Airbus Defence and Space) announced the Pléiades Users Group (renamed as My GEO Innovation Community, MyGIC) in XXIIth International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Congress was held in Melbourne (Australia) in 2012. The objective was to offer opportunities to assess the utility of Pléiades images for various user expectations. The project proposal submitted by the authors has been accepted as one of 120 selected among a total of 180 and is the only project accepted from among three from Turkey. In addition, one project is supported by Bülent Ecevit University, and one research project is completed within the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜB?TAK) 3001 programme. The main motivation of these projects was to evaluate Pléiades bundle images (panchromatic, visible and near infrared (VNIR)) for the most common geospatial applications, such as georeferencing accuracy assessment, digital surface model (DSM) and digital terrain model (DTM) generation and validation, pan-sharpened image generation and quality assessment, and the generation of the vector map. Moreover, the radiometric quality was evaluated because it has significant effect on geospatial applications. The geometric resolution of panchromatic and VNIR images of both Pléiades satellites are 70 cm and 2.8 m in original and 50 cm and 2.0 m in distribution, respectively (deLussy et al. 2005; Kubik et al. 2005). Its tri-stereo imaging capability between 0.15 and 0.80 values of base to height ratio (B/H) proves decrease on occlusions, especially in urban areas (de Franchis et al. 2014; Flamanc and Maillet 2005). The satellite can also acquire stereo images in reverse acquisition mode (Greslou et al. 2012). The panchromatic sensor has five time delay and integration (TDI) components, each consists of 20 lines of 6000 detectors, having a focal plane along a curved shape instead of a straight line (Blanchet et al. 2012). This geometrical design reduces the significant optical distortion effects on the TDI synchronisation (Greslou and de Lussy 2006). Thus, the distributed panchromatic image is based on these five components. The VNIR detector is composed of 5 × 1500 classical CCD detectors (Baudoin 2004). Although the original radiometric resolution is 12 bits, the images are distributed in 16 bits in TIFF format without image compression, or users can choose them in JPEG2000 formats with regular or optimised compression (Airbus 2012; Fourest et al. 2012).

PY - 2019/4/1

Y1 - 2019/4/1

N2 - This paper presents the results of comprehensive evaluation of Pléiades 1A which is the first civilian satellite of Europe with sub-meter resolution. The analyses consist of radiometric evaluation, georeferencing accuracy assessment, pan-sharpening performance, digital surface/terrain model quality and vector map production. The effective resolution is estimated with a factor slightly below 1.0 for triplet panchromatic images, and signal to noise ratio is in the range of other comparable space borne images. The georeferencing accuracy was estimated with a standard deviation in X and Y directions in the range of 0.45 m by bias-corrected and sensor-dependent rational functional model. 3D standard deviation of ± 0.44 m in X direction, ± 0.51 m in Y direction and ± 1.82 m in the Z direction were reached in spite of the very narrow angle of convergence by the same mathematical model. The generated digital surface/terrain models were achieved with ± 1.6 m standard deviation in Z direction in relation to a reference digital terrain model. The pan-sharpened images were generated by various methods, and were validated by quantitative and qualitative analyses. Moreover, a vector map was generated in the level of detail 0 to analyse information content.

AB - This paper presents the results of comprehensive evaluation of Pléiades 1A which is the first civilian satellite of Europe with sub-meter resolution. The analyses consist of radiometric evaluation, georeferencing accuracy assessment, pan-sharpening performance, digital surface/terrain model quality and vector map production. The effective resolution is estimated with a factor slightly below 1.0 for triplet panchromatic images, and signal to noise ratio is in the range of other comparable space borne images. The georeferencing accuracy was estimated with a standard deviation in X and Y directions in the range of 0.45 m by bias-corrected and sensor-dependent rational functional model. 3D standard deviation of ± 0.44 m in X direction, ± 0.51 m in Y direction and ± 1.82 m in the Z direction were reached in spite of the very narrow angle of convergence by the same mathematical model. The generated digital surface/terrain models were achieved with ± 1.6 m standard deviation in Z direction in relation to a reference digital terrain model. The pan-sharpened images were generated by various methods, and were validated by quantitative and qualitative analyses. Moreover, a vector map was generated in the level of detail 0 to analyse information content.

KW - Accuracy

KW - Digital elevation models

KW - Geospatial analysis

KW - Image fusion

KW - Image quality

KW - Optical imaging

KW - Pléiades 1A

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063163345&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s12517-019-4353-9

DO - 10.1007/s12517-019-4353-9

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85063163345

VL - 12

JO - Arabian Journal of Geosciences

JF - Arabian Journal of Geosciences

SN - 1866-7511

IS - 7

M1 - 223

ER -