Radiometric stability assessment of an airborne photogrammetric sensor in a test field

Radiometric stability is a desired property of digital photogrammetric large-format sensors. This article presents a methodology for determining the radiometric stability of airborne imaging sensors in operational conditions in a test field and the results of stability evaluation of a large-format photogrammetric frame sensor DMC, from Intergraph. The imagery was collected in two days using nine different exposure settings, and images collected with variable exposure time and aperture were compared. The results showed promising stability in many cases, up to a level of 2% of the radiance, but less favorable results also appeared. Possible reasons for the unfavorable results could be the limitations of the experimental set-up or the instability of the sensor. DMC showed high radiometric performance potential, but high sensitivity to the exposure settings. Based on the results, recommendations for the future test field calibration and validation procedures were given. One limitation of the analysis was the insufficient information about the sensor stability potential; proposals were given to sensor manufacturers concerning the necessary information.