Low Light Panoramic Camera

During the last years the department Optical Information Systems (OS) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) developed a considerable number of imaging sensor systems for a wide field of applications. Systems with a high geometric and radiometric resolution in dedicated spectral ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum were provided by developing and applying cutting-edge technologies. Designed for photogrammetry and remote sensing, such systems play an important role for photogrammetric tasks. Complete system solutions were implemented considering theoretical framework, hardware design and deployment, overall system tests, calibration, sensor operation and data processing. Outstanding results were achieved with the airborne digital sensor ADS40 and the micro satellite BIRD and its infrared camera payload. In the last years OS invested a lot of work to solve the 2D and 3D 360° panoramic image processing for photogrammetric applications. The simple CCD-line technology in combination with a 360° rotation table is the basis of the full frame panoramic technology. The LLPC principle (Low Light Panoramic Camera) is based on the same 360° rotation table technology in combination with the TDI-line sensors. This kind of sensor technology allows us a programmable SNR of the system. The technology origin is the high resolution satellite imagery. The electronics components are parts of the film scan technology of the DLR. The paper will introduce the new generation of the panoramic camera.