Evaluation of Geometric Performances of the Gaofen-6 PMS Camera

Abstract

The Gaofen-6 (GF-6) is an optical satellite consisting of a 2/8 m spatial resolution panchromatic/multispectral (PMS) camera and a 16 m spatial resolution wide angle camera. It was launched in June 2018. The geometric performances are an important basis for many applications, and it was evaluated using multiple revisited data of GF-6 PMS in Northeast China in the paper. According to the GF-6 PMS camera parameters and imaging geometric model, the instantaneous field of view at different side angles was analyzed, and the influence of control data error on image adjustment accuracy was simulated. Based on the high-precision digital ortho-image map and digital surface model data, the direct georeferencing performance and the adjustment accuracy were analyzed, and the root mean square errors (RMSE) of panchromatic and multispectral images with ground control points (GCPs) were approximately 0.5–1.0 pixels. Band registration accuracy between the multispectral bands was also evaluated, and the results showed the average accuracy was approximately 0.3 pixels RMSE. In addition, no significant effects of satellite vibration were detected by GCP residual analysis and band registration residual analysis. In general, this paper quantitatively analyzed the geometric performances of GF-6 PMS camera from the aspects of the direct georeferencing accuracy, adjustment accuracy and band registration accuracy. The results show that the attitude of the GF-6 satellite platform is stable, and the geometric accuracy of the PMS camera is good, meeting the geometric performance requirements of satellite design.