Session
Pre-Conference Workshop Session IV: Advanced Concepts II
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The availability of earth observation (EO) data has rapidly increased from small satellite missions, however, there are often important deficiencies in its accuracy due to lack of calibration. If calibration is rigorously used with emerging sensors, there can be important improvements in reducing uncertainty with profound implications in use of remote sensing data for climate modeling, disaster recovery, and other applications. Here, a novel methodology for modeling the value of multi-spacecraft earth observation missions with globally dispersed calibration systems for frequent radiometric calibration of earth imaging sensors is presented. The mission value is quantified with a proxy metric, Effective Data Acquired (EDA), which is the total data returned by the system for regions of interest to data users over the operational life of the EO system. The EDA is adjusted with calibration-related discounting factors determined by the rate at which data accuracy declines and the frequency of recalibration for each sensor. The method is demonstrated for small spacecraft constellations for earth imaging. The simulated results, for the specific case, show that the adjusted-EDA is reduced by ~18% (from ~2900 TB to~2400TB) for a degradation rate of 0.05% over a 60-day time period. Overall, the adjusted-EDA can be used for relative comparisons in trade studies with varying mission design and calibration site and frequency parameters.
Integrating Globally Dispersed Calibration in Small Satellites Mission Value
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The availability of earth observation (EO) data has rapidly increased from small satellite missions, however, there are often important deficiencies in its accuracy due to lack of calibration. If calibration is rigorously used with emerging sensors, there can be important improvements in reducing uncertainty with profound implications in use of remote sensing data for climate modeling, disaster recovery, and other applications. Here, a novel methodology for modeling the value of multi-spacecraft earth observation missions with globally dispersed calibration systems for frequent radiometric calibration of earth imaging sensors is presented. The mission value is quantified with a proxy metric, Effective Data Acquired (EDA), which is the total data returned by the system for regions of interest to data users over the operational life of the EO system. The EDA is adjusted with calibration-related discounting factors determined by the rate at which data accuracy declines and the frequency of recalibration for each sensor. The method is demonstrated for small spacecraft constellations for earth imaging. The simulated results, for the specific case, show that the adjusted-EDA is reduced by ~18% (from ~2900 TB to~2400TB) for a degradation rate of 0.05% over a 60-day time period. Overall, the adjusted-EDA can be used for relative comparisons in trade studies with varying mission design and calibration site and frequency parameters.
