Developing unmanned airship onboard multispectral imagery system for quick-response to drinking water pollution

Satellite multispectral imageries are usually limited in low space resolution, long revisit cycle or high cost. This paper presents our ongoing research on developing cost-effective unmanned airship on board Multispectral imagery system to acquire high-resolution multispectral imagery for quick-response to drinking water pollution issues. First, the overall architecture of developed system is described. After that, system integration including CCD cameras coupling, GPS/INS synchronization, stabilize platform control and wireless communication are discussed in detail. Next, system calibration is implemented in radiance and geometry respectively. An adaptive calibration method is developed to obtain absolute radiance and classic homography principle is employed to relate CCD cameras with each other geometrically. Finally, flight experiments are implemented to acquire high-resolution multispectral imageries along river and imageries are deliberately calibrated for the estimation of water quality. Conclusions are also conducted as well.