Satellite laser altimeter pointing and ranging calibration algorithm based on simulated annealing

The satellite laser altimeter requires high-precision on-orbit geometric calibration to ensure the accuracy of the laser altimeter data. However, the calibration method based on undulating terrain may have multiple solutions under complex terrain, which means that the calibration parameters may converge to the local optimal solution. In order to solve the problem, a satellite laser altimeter pointing and ranging calibration algorithm based on simulated annealing is proposed, which can reduce the possibility of the calibration parameters to converge to the local optimal solution. In 10 sets of comparative experiments, there are 2 sets of result converging to the local optimal solution using algorithm based on Monte-Carlo simulation, while all sets of result converge to the global optimal solution using algorithm based on simulated annealing. After calibration with the proposed algorithm, the average of elevation error decreased from about 9.1m to within 3m, and standard error decreased from about 1m to about 0.5m. The results show that the calibration algorithm based on simulated annealing can effectively prevent the calibration parameters from converging to the local optimal solution, and can effectively improve the accuracy of laser altimeter data.