On-Orbit Optical Sensor Bias Estimation

As focal planes become larger and more pixels are added, understanding each individual sensing element becomes more difficult. This paper will focus on one fundamental characteristic of every electronic sensing element: bias and its estimation. Bias estimation and removal is a necessary process for connecting the electronic signal received from a remote sensing optical sensor to a useful scientific physical unit. Although a simple calculation in the end, the bias behavior for each individual sensor and each individual sensing element must be understood. Several different special calibration image collects can give an instantaneous measurement of bias, and the frequency of these collects can track the behavior over time. This paper will discuss the type and frequency of special calibration collects needed for input into the simple bias estimation calculation.

Index Terms— bias, offset, dark, estimation, calibration, radiometry, optical, Landsat