Initial Testing of a Method to Geographically Register Airborne Scanner Imagery through Parametric Modeling with Image-to-image Matching

This paper presents the results from initial testing of a new method for georeferencing airborne multispectral scanner imagery. The method is called "parametric modeling with image-to-image matching" (PMIIM). The method takes an error prone estimate of the aerial platform’s trajectory as input, and outputs a corrected trajectory. The corrected trajectory can then be used to georeference the airborne imagery through another ray-tracing code. The method was tested by synthesizing an airborne scanner image through the use of mathematically generated trajectory functions. A discussion of how spatial autocorrelation affects the method is discussed. Pre-processing steps and justification for the choice of input parameters is explained. The method was able to decrease the planimetric error from 34 meters to 21 meters. Avoiding the coupling between some of the exterior orientation parameters enabled the run time to be reduced dramatically, but incurred a decrease in planimetric accuracy.