Inner FoV Stitching of Spaceborne TDI CCD Images Based on Sensor Geometry and Projection Plane in Object Space

High-quality inner FoV (Field of View) stitching is currently a prerequisite step for photogrammetric processing and application of image data acquired by spaceborne TDI CCD cameras. After reviewing the technical development in the issue, we present an inner FoV stitching method based on sensor geometry and projection plane in object space, in which the geometric sensor model of spaceborne TDI CCD images is used to establish image point correspondence between the stitched image and the TDI CCD images, using an object-space projection plane as the intermediary. In this study, first, the rigorous geometric sensor model of the TDI CCD images is constructed. Second, principle and implementation of the stitching method are described. Third, panchromatic high-resolution (HR) images of ZY-1 02C satellite and triple linear-array images of ZY-3 satellite are utilized to validate the correctness and feasibility of the method. Fourth, the stitching precision and geometric quality of the generated stitched images are evaluated. All the stitched images reached the sub-pixel level in precision. In addition, the geometric models of the stitched images can be constructed with zero loss in geometric precision. Experimental results demonstrate the advantages of the method for having small image distortion when on-orbit geometric calibration of satellite sensors is available. Overall, the new method provide a novel solution OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2014, 6 6387 for inner FoV stitching of spaceborne TDI CCD images, in which all the sub-images are projected to the object space based on the sensor geometry, performing indirect image geometric rectification along and across the target trajectory. At present, this method has been successfully applied in the daily processing system for ZY-1 02C and ZY-3 satellites.