Radiometric Ground Truthing for Airborne and Satellite Sensor Tests

This paper presents processes and performance for ground-based measurements used by The Boeing Company and RESOURCE21 for vicarious calibration tests of airborne and satellite multispectral and hyperspectral sensors. We highlight our methodology for measuring downwelling irradiance and scene radiance and reflectance from 400 to 2500 nm, and describe in-house enhancements made to commercial spectroradiometry hardware and software, developed over a period of four years, that facilitate data management and interpretation. Results from tests of the measurement protocols are presented. We present our web-based approach to file management and access, data processing, and quality assessment. Finally, "lessons learned" and issues associated with ground truthing for vicarious sensor tests are discussed.