An Innovative Spacecube Application for Atmospheric Science

Carr, James L.; Wilson, Christopher; Wu, Dong L.; French, Matthew; Kelly, Michael A.

doi:10.1109/igarss39084.2020.9324477

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The high data rates for these imagers would drive the need for on-board processing to process the datasets into disparities, which are an intermediate-level stereo product. The stereo-bit FPGA has already demonstrated the capability to do this [11].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A better approach might be to use onboard processing to calculate the disparities between the three 3.75-µm stripes on each satellite, which would significantly reduce the volume of data to be downlinked. Thus, onboard processing applied judiciously could be used to enable the system to collect data 24/7 [11]. Data Availability Statement: Data from the case studies can be made available upon request to corresponding author.…”

Section: Accommodationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compact Midwave Imaging System: Results from an Airborne Demonstration

Kelly

Carr

et al. 2022

Remote Sensing

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The Compact Midwave Imaging System (CMIS) is a wide field of view, multi-angle, multi-spectral pushframe imager that relies on the forward motion of the satellite to create a two-dimensional (2D) image swath. An airborne demonstration of CMIS was successfully completed in January–February 2021 on the NASA Langley Research Center Gulfstream III. The primary objective of the four-flight campaign was to demonstrate the capability of this unique instrument to perform stereo observations of clouds and other particulates (e.g., smoke) in the atmosphere. It is shown that the midwave infrared (MWIR) spectral bands of CMIS provide a unique 24/7 capability with high resolution for accurate stereo sensing. The instrument relies on new focal plane array (FPA) technology, which provides excellent sensitivity at much warmer detector temperatures than traditional technologies. This capability enabled a compact, low-cost design that can provide atmospheric motion vectors and cloud heights to support requirements for atmospheric winds in the 2017–2027 Earth Science Decadal Survey. Applications include day/night observations of the planetary boundary layer, severe weather, and wildfires. A comparison with current space-based earth science instruments demonstrates that the SWIR/MWIR multi-spectral capability of CMIS is competitive with larger, more expensive instrumentation. Imagery obtained over a controlled burn and operating nuclear power plant demonstrated the sensitivity of the instrument to temperature variations. The system relies on a mature stereoscopic imaging technique applied to the same scene from two independent platforms to unambiguously retrieve atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) with accurate height assignment. This capability has been successfully applied to geostationary and low-earth orbit satellites to achieve excellent accuracy. When applied to a ground-point validation case, the accuracy for the CMIS aircraft observations was 20 m and 0.3 m/s for cloud heights and motion vectors, respectively. This result was confirmed by a detailed error analysis with analytical and covariance models. The results for CMIS cases with underflights of Aeolus, CALIPSO, and Aqua provided a good validation of expected accuracies. The paper also showed the feasibility of accommodating CMIS on CubeSats to enable multiple instruments to be flown in a leader–follower mode.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accommodationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compact Midwave Imaging System: Results from an Airborne Demonstration

Kelly

Carr

et al. 2022

Remote Sensing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Accuracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Compact Midwave Imaging System: Results from an Airborne Demonstration

Kelly¹,

Carr²,

Wu³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The Compact Midwave Imaging System (CMIS) is a wide field of view, multi-angle, multi-spectral pushframe imager that relies on the forward motion of the satellite to create a two-dimensional (2D) image swath. An airborne demonstration of CMIS was successfully completed in January-February 2021 on the NASA Langley Research Center Gulfstream III. The primary objective of the four-flight campaign was to demonstrate the capability of this unique instrument to perform stereo observations of clouds and other particulates (e.g. smoke) in the atmosphere. It is shown that the midwave infrared (MWIR) spectral bands of CMIS provide a unique 24/7 capability with high resolution for accurate stereo sensing. The instrument relies on new focal plane array (FPA) technology, which provides excellent sensitivity at much warmer detector temperatures than traditional technologies. This capability enabled a compact, low-cost design that can provide atmospheric motion vectors and cloud heights to support requirements for atmospheric winds in the 2017-2027 Earth Science Decadal Survey. Applications include day/night observations of the planetary boundary layer, severe weather, and wildfires. A comparison with current space-based earth science instruments demonstrates that the SWIR/MWIR multi-spectral capability of CMIS is competitive with larger, more expensive instrumentation. Imagery obtained over a controlled burn and operating nuclear power plant demonstrated the sensitivity of the instrument to temperature variations. The system relies on a mature stereoscopic imaging technique applied to the same scene from two independent platforms to unambiguously retrieve atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) with accurate height assignment. This capability has been successfully applied to geostationary and low-earth orbit satellites to achieve excellent accuracy. When applied to a ground-point validation case, the accuracy for the CMIS aircraft observations was 20 m and 0.3 m/s for cloud heights and motion vectors, respectively. This result was confirmed by a detailed error analysis with analytical and covariance models. The results for CMIS cases with underflights of Aeolus, CALIPSO and Aqua provided a good validation of expected accuracies. The paper also showed the feasibility of accommodating CMIS on CubeSats to enable multiple instruments to be flown in a leader-follower mode.

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An Innovative Spacecube Application for Atmospheric Science

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

Compact Midwave Imaging System: Results from an Airborne Demonstration

Compact Midwave Imaging System: Results from an Airborne Demonstration

Compact Midwave Imaging System: Results from an Airborne Demonstration

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