On-Orbit Calibration Approach Based on
Partial Calibration-Field Coverage
for the GF-1/WFV Camera
Mi Wang, Beibei Guo, Ying Zhu, Yufeng Cheng, and Chenhui Nie
Abstract
The Gaofen-1 (
GF1
) optical remote sensing satellite is the
first in China’s series of high-resolution civilian satellites
and is equipped with four wide-field-of-view cameras. The
cameras work together to obtain an image 800 km wide,
with a resolution of 16 m, allowing
GF1
to complete a global
scan in four days. To achieve high-accuracy calibration of
the wide-field-of-view cameras on
GF1
, the calibration field
should have high resolution and broad coverage based
on the traditional calibration method. In this study, a
GF1
self-calibration scheme was developed. It uses partial refer-
ence calibration data covering the selected primary charge-
coupled device to achieve high-accuracy calibration of the
whole image. Based on the absolute constraint of the ground
control points and the relative constraint of the tie points
of stereoscopic images, we present two geometric calibra-
tion models based on paired stereoscopic images and three
stereoscopic images for wide-field-of-view cameras on
GF1
,
along with corresponding stepwise internal-parameter
estimation methods. Our experimental results indicate that
the internal relative accuracy can be guaranteed after cali-
bration. This article provides a new approach that enables
large-field-of-view optical satellites to achieve high-accuracy
calibration based on partial calibration-field coverage.
Introduction
Launched in 2013, the Gaofen-1 (
GF1
) optical remote sensing
satellite was the first in China’s series of
ian satellites. The satellite is equipped
push-broom system. Four wide-field-of-
work together to obtain an image 800 km in width, with a
resolution of 16 m, allowing
GF1
to complete a global scan in
four days (Cheng
et al.
2017). In the multicamera push-broom
imaging system, the four
WFV
cameras on the principal optical
axis are installed in the same plane and image together in the
cross view. The installation angles between the direction of
the principal optical axis direction and the vertical direction
are −24.00°, −8.00°, 8.00°, and 24.00° (Figure 1). Therefore,
the four cameras share the same orbit and attitude data, and
each camera has its own installation angle and interior line-
of-sight (
LOS
) parameters. A number of pixels overlap between
the images obtained by adjacent cameras, for the purpose of
mosaicking. Each camera has an independent optical imaging
system and imaging model, and on-orbit geometric calibration
must be performed to improve the geometric quality of their
images. Specific details of the single
WFV
camera are provided
in Table 1.
Figure 1. Structural design of the wide-field-of-view multi-
cameras on the Gaofen-1 optical remote sensing satellite.
Table 1. Description of the single camera on the Gaofen-1
satellite.
Focal
ength
(mm)
Field
Angle
Number of
Charge-Coupled
Devices per
Band
Ground
Sample
Distance
B1: 450–520
B2: 520–590
B3: 630–690
B4: 770–890
6.5 269.767 16.44°
12 000
16 m
Many studies of on-orbit calibration of optical satellites
have been conducted. Traditional calibration methods are
generally dependent on the absolute geometric constraint of
ground control points (
GCPs
) that are generated by matching
the satellite images to the high-precision calibration field
(digital orthophoto maps [
DOMs
] and corresponding digital
elevation models [
DEMs
]; Mulawa 2004; Grodecki and Lutes
2005; Baltsavias, Li and Eisenbeiss 2006; Gruen, Kocaman
and Wolff 2007; Lee
et al.
2008; Radhadevi and Solanki 2008;
Tadono
et al.
2009; Takaku and Tadono 2009; Radhadevi et
Mi Wang, Beibei Guo, Ying Zhu, Yufeng Cheng are with
the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering
in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan
University,Wuhan 430079, China (
).
Chenhui Nie is with the ZheJiang Second Surveying and
Mapping Institute, Hangzhou, China
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 85, No. 11, November 2019, pp. 815–827.
0099-1112/19/815–827
© 2019 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.85.11.815
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
November 2019
815
