Image restoration for resolution improvement of digital aerial images : A comparison of large format digital cameras

Within the paper a comparative quantification of the spatial image resolution for large-format digital airborne cameras will be presented. For this purpose, imagery of the Leica ADS40, the Intergraph Z/I-imaging DMC and the Vexcel UltraCamD were examined. The respective spatial resolutions are represented by means of the point spread function, which can be measured easily and reliably at image edges. Thus, images of test patterns like a Siemens star were used. In addition to the evaluation of the original images as they are provided by the camera systems, the potential benefit of a resolution improvement by image restoration is demonstrated. Therefore, a linear restoring finite impulse response filter is applied. Usually, colour image acquisition by digital aerial camera systems is realised by combining data from the multi-spectral module with higher resolution panchromatic imagery. The quality of this pan-sharpening process is presented in the final part of the paper. For this purpose, the potential degradation of colour information by this process was quantified for the three tested camera systems in addition to the resolution measurements.

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