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The Landsat Data Continuity Mission Operational Land Imager: Radiometric PerformanceThe Operational Land Imager (OLI) is one of two instruments to fly on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), which is scheduled to launch in December 2012 to become the 8th in the series of Landsat satellites. The OLI images in the solar reflective part of the spectrum, with bands similar to bands 1-5, 7 and the panchromatic band on the Landsat-7 ETM+ instrument. In addition, it has a 20 nm bandpass spectral band at 443 nm for coastal and aerosol studies and a 30 nm band at 1375 nm to aid in cirrus cloud detection. Like ETM+, spatial resolution is 30 m in the all but the panchromatic band, which is 15 meters. OLI is a pushbroom radiometer with approximately 6000 detectors per 30 meter band as opposed to the 16 detectors per band on the whiskbroom ETM+. Data are quantized to 12 bits on OLI as opposed to 8 bits on ETM+ to take advantage of the improved signal to noise ratio provided by the pushbroom design. The saturation radiances are higher on OLI than ETM+ to effectively eliminate saturation issues over bright Earth targets. OLI includes dual solar diffusers for on-orbit absolute and relative (detector to detector) radiometric calibration. Additionally, OLI has 3 sets of on-board lamps that illuminate the OLI focal plane through the full optical system, providing additional checks on the OLI's response[l]. OLI has been designed and built by Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. (BATC) and is currently undergoing testing and calibration in preparation for delivery in Spring 2011. Final pre-launch performance results should be available in time for presentation at the conference. Preliminary results will be presented below. These results are based on the performance of the Engineering Development Unit (EDU) that was radiometrically tested at the integrated instrument level in 2010 and assembly level measurements made on the flight unit. Signal-to-Noise (SNR) performance: One of the advantages of a pushbroom system is the increased dwell time of the detectors allowing for significantly higher SNR than equivalent aperture whiskbroom systems. OLI performance based on the EDU at the "typical" radiance level as specified in the OLI requirements document are about 10 times better than ETM+ performance and 2-3 times better than the requirements for OLI (Table 1).
Document ID
20120002315
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Markham, Brian
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Dabney, Philip
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Pedelty, Jeffrey
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
July 24, 2011
Subject Category
Instrumentation And Photography
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.CPR.5659.2011
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2011 IEEE International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
Location: Vancouver
Country: Canada
Start Date: July 24, 2011
End Date: July 29, 2011
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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