Intra-scan intersection method for the determination of pointing biases of an airborne altimeter
An altimeter’s mounting and pointing biases must be computed so that the altimeter footprints can be geolocated precisely. Whereas normal methods for computing biases require a comparison of the altimeter footprints’ elevations over a previously surveyed site with the elevations
from that survey, the intra-scan method can be computed with any subset of data from an altimeter with a scan pattern that intersects itself several times within a few seconds. This study assumes an altimeter whose footprints are in a self-intersecting ellipsoidal pattern, such as those from
the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM). Differences in the derived elevations at the intersections are used to estimate the mounting and pointing angle biases; since differences are used, the range bias cannot be computed with this method. As data over any surface can theoretically be used
to estimate biases, the intra-scan method has significantly greater temporal resolution than the ground survey method; this allows the detection of changes in the biases. The biases estimated from the intra-scan method during the Operation IceBridge Greenland 2013 campaign were typically within
less than 0.1° of those estimated from the ground survey method.
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Formerly Sigma Space Corporation, Lanham, MD, USA 2: AECOM, Hyattsville, MD, USA 3: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Publication date: 01 February 2016
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