Ortho Image Production within an Automatic Processing Chain for hyperspectral Airborne Scanner ARES

The airborne imaging spectrometer ARES (Airborne Reflective Emissive Spectrometer) is a new scanner available for the user community in 2006. The sensor will provide 160 channels in the solar reflective region (0.47 – 2.42 μm) and in the thermal region (8.1 – 12.1 μm) within the thematic focus of agriculture, vegetation, geology and soil science. An automatic processing system embedded in the Data Information and Management System DIMS of DLR is established, which includes system corrections, radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction and ortho image production. For the ortho image production a kinematic GPS positioning and inertial measurement unit IMU as well as a worldwide digital elevation database is used. Furthermore the stereo sensor ADS40, installed in the aircraft together with the imaging sensor, is foreseen to produce high accuracy digital elevation models in combination with the DEM database. The boresight misalignment angles are calibrated using a ground control point field located at the DLR airbase. The paper describes the automatic processing chain for the different product levels, especially the direct georeferencing of the airborne data. Results and experiences of the automatic processor for the HyMap line scanner are shown. The long term stability of the boresight misalignment angles are investigated, which is essential for an automatic processing.