Types of Remote Sensing

In respect to the type of Energy Resources

 Passive Remote Sensing: Makes use of sensors that detect the

reflected or emitted electro-magnetic radiation from natural
sources.
 Active Remote Sensing: Makes use of sensors that detect
reflected responses from objects that are irradiated from
artificially-generated energy sources, such as radar.

In respect to Wavelength Regions

Remote Sensing is classified into three types in respect to the
wavelength regions

 Visible and Reflective Infrared Remote Sensing

  Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing
 Microwave Remote Sensing

Bands Used in Remote Sensing

Emission of EMR (Electro-Magnetic Radiation) from gases is due to
atoms and molecules in the gas. Atoms consist of a positively
charged nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons, which have
discrete energy states. Transition of electrons from one energy state
to the other leads to emission of radiation at discrete wavelengths.
The resulting spectrum is called line spectrum. Molecules possess
rotational and vibration energy states.Transition between which leads
to emission of radiation in a band spectrum. The wavelengths, which
are emitted by atoms/molecules, are also the ones, which are
absorbed by them. Emission from solids and liquids occurs when they
are heated and results in a continuous spectrum. This is called
thermal emission and it is an important source of EMR from the
viewpoint of remote sensing.

The Electro-Magnetic Radiation (EMR), which is reflected or emitted

from an object, is the usual source of Remote Sensing data.
However, any medium, such as gravity or magnetic fields, can be
used in remote sensing.

Remote Sensing Technology makes use of the wide range Electro-

Magnetic Spectrum (EMS) from a very short wave "Gamma Ray" to a
very long 'Radio Wave'.

Wavelength regions of electro-magnetic radiation have different

names ranging from Gamma ray, X-ray, Ultraviolet (UV), Visible light,
Infrared (IR) to Radio Wave, in order from the shorter wavelengths.

The optical wavelength region, an important region for remote

sensing applications, is further subdivided as follows:
 Name Wavelength (mm)
Optical wavelength 0.30-15.0
Reflective portion 0.38-3.00
(i) Visible 0.38-0.72
(ii) Near IR 0.72-1.30
(iii) Middle IR 1.30-3.00
Far IR (Thermal, Emissive) 7.00-15.0
Microwave region (1mm to 1m) is another portion of EM spectrum
that is frequently used to gather valuable remote sensing information.

Spectral Characteristics vis-à-vis different systems

The sunlight transmission through the atmosphere is effected by
absorption and scattering of atmospheric molecules and aerosols.
This reduction of the sunlight's intensity s called extinction.

One cannot select the sensors to be used in any given remote-

sensing task arbitrarily; one must instead consider
  the available spectral sensitivity of the sensors,
 the presence or absence of atmospheric windows in the
spectral range(s) in which one wishes to sense, and
 the source, magnitude, and spectral composition of the energy
availabe in these ranges.
 Ultimately, however, the choice of spectral range of the sensor
must be based on the manner in which the energy interacts
with the features under investigation.

Energy Interactions, Spectral Reflectance and Color Readability

in Satellite Imagery
All matter is composed of atoms and molecules with particular
compositions. Therefore, matter will emit or absorb electro-magnetic
radiation on a particular wavelength with respect to the inner state. All
matter reflects, absorbs, penetrates and emits Electro-magnetic
radiation in a unique way. Electro-magnetic radiation through the
atmosphere to and from matters on the earth's surface are reflected,
scattered, diffracted, refracted, absorbed, transmitted and dispersed.
For example, the reason why a leaf looks green is that the chlorophyll
absorbs blue and red spectra and reflects the green. The unique
characteristics of matter are called spectral characteristics.

Energy Interactions
When electro-magnetic energy is incident on any given earth surface
feature, three fundamental energy interactions with the feature are
possible. See Fig. 2

Fig 2: Basic interactions between electromagnetic energy and an

earth surface feature

Spectral Reflectance & Color Readability

Two points about the above given relationship (expressed in the form
of equation) should be noted.

 The proportions of energy reflected, absorbed, and transmitted

will vary for different earth features, depending upon their
material type and conditions. These differences permit us to
distinguish different features on an image.
 The wavelength dependency means that, even within a given
feature type, the proportion of reflected, absorbed, and
transmitted energy will vary at different wavelengths.

Thus, two features may be distinguishable in one spectral range and

be very different on another wavelength brand. Within the visible
portion of the spectrum, these spectral variations result in the visual
effect called COLOUR. For example we call blue objects 'blue' when
they reflect highly in the 'green' spectral region, and so on. Thus the
eye uses spectral variations in the magnitude of reflected energy to
discriminate between various objects.

A graph of the spectral reflectance of an object as a function of

wavelength is called a spectral reflectance curve.

The lines in this figure 3 represent average reflectance curves

compiled by measuring large sample features. It should be noted how
distinctive the curves are for each feature. In general, the
configuration of these curves is an indicator of the type and condition
of the features to which they apply. Although the reflectance of
individual features will vary considerably above and below the
average, these curves demonstrate some fundamental points
concerning spectral reflectance.
Fig 3: Special Reflectance Curve of common object

Band Wavelength Principal applications

(mm)
1 0.45-0.52 Sensitive to sedimentation, deciduous/
coniferous forest cover discrimination, soil
vegetation differentiation
2 0.52-0.59 Green reflectance by healthy vegetation,
vegetation vigor, rock-soil discrimination,
turbidity and bathymetry in shallow waters
3 0.62-0.68 Sensitive to chlorophyll absorption: plant
species discrimination, differentiation of soil and
geological boundary
4 0.77-0.86 Sensitive to green biomass and moisture in
vegetation, land and water contrast, landform/
geomorphic studies.

Color Discrimination based on Wavelengths of Spectral

Reflectance’s. ( IRS-IA/IB LISS I and LISSII*)

Platforms
The vehicles or carriers for remote sensors are called the platforms.
Typical platforms are satellites and aircraft, but they can also include
radio-controlled aero planes, balloons kits for low altitude remote
sensing, as well as ladder trucks or 'cherry pickers' for ground
investigations. The key factor for the selection of a platform is the
altitude that determines the ground resolution and which is also
dependent on the instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of the sensor on
board the platform.

Sensors

 Active Sensors: Detect the reflected or emitted electromagnetic

radiation from natural sources.
 Passive Sensors: Detect reflected responses from objects that
are irradiated from artificially-generated energy sources such as
radar.
 Resolution
In general resolution is defined as the ability of an entire
remote-sensing system to render a sharply defined image.

 Spectral Resolution: Spectral Resolution of a remote sensing

instrument (sensor) is determined by the band-widths of the
Electro-magnetic radiation.
 Radiometric Resolution: It is determined by the number of
discrete levels into which signals may be divided.
 Spatial Resolution: It is determined in terms of the geometric
properties of the imaging system.
 Temporal Resolution: Is related to the repetitive coverage of the
ground by the remote-sensing system.

Remote Sensing Satellites

A satellite with remote sensors to observe the earth is called a
remote-sensing satellite, or earth observation satellite. Remote-
Sensing Satellites are characterized by their altitude, orbit and
sensor.

IRS (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)

India has launched several satellite includes IRS 1A, IRS 1B, IRS 1C,
IRS 1D, IRS P 2,IRS P 3, IRS P 4 for different applications.

Landsat
It is established at an altitude of 700 kms is a polar orbit and is used
mainly for land area observation.
Other remote sensing satellite series in operations are: SPOT, MOS,
JERS, ESR, RADARSAT, IKONOS etc.

Basic Concept of LiDAR Mapping

The accuracy and functionality of many GIS projects rely to a large
extent on the accuracy of topographic data and the speed with which
it can be collected. The recently emerged technique of airborne
altimetric LiDAR has gained considerable acceptance in both
scientific and commercial communities as a tool for topographic
measurement.

The LiDAR instrument transmits the laser pulses while scanning a

part of terrain, usually centered on and co-linear with, the flight path
of the aircraft in which the instrument is mounted. The round trip
travel times of the laser pulses from the aircraft to the ground are
measured with a precise interval timer. The time intervals are
converted into range measurements, i.e. the distance of LiDAR
instrument from the ground point struck by the laser pulse, employing
the velocity of light. The position of aircraft at the instance of firing the
pulse is determined by Differential Global Positioning System
(DGPS). During the movement of aircraft experience lot of distortions
in altitude, lateral movements so on but these warps are taken care
by the instrument to yield accurate coordinates of points on the
surface of the terrain. Laser mappers acquire digital elevation data
with accuracies equivalent to those of GPS, but thousands times
faster.

Basics of Digital Image Processing

Remote sensing images are recorded in digital form and then
processed by the computers to produce images for interpretation
purposes.

Images are available in two forms - photographic film form and digital
form. Variations in the scene characteristics are represented as
variations in brightness on photographic films. A particular part of
scene reflecting more energy will appear bright while a different part
of the same scene that reflecting less energy will appear black.
Digital image consists of discrete picture elements called pixels.
Associated with each pixel is a number represented as DN (Digital
Number), that depicts the average radiance of relatively small area
within a scene. The size of this area effects the reproduction of
details within the scene. As the pixel size is reduced more scene
detail is preserved in digital representation.

Digital image processing is a collection of techniques for the

manipulation of digital images by computers. Digital image
processing encompasses the operations such as noise removal,
geometric and radiometric corrections, enhancement of images,
information extraction and image data manipulation and
management.

Image Processing Methods

Image processing methods may be grouped into three functional
categories:

Geometric and Radiometric Corrections

The correction of errors, noise and geometric distortions introduced
during scanning, recording and playback operations. However, the
data supplied by NRSA-Hyderabad is corrected for these errors.
Hence, we are restricted to the enhancement techniques and
information extraction.

Image Enhancement

• Linear Contrast Enhancement: Very few scenes have a

brightness range that utilizes the full sensitivity range of the
detectors. To produce an image with the optimum contrast ratio,
the entire brightness range of the display medium, should be
utilized. In linear contrast we have to assign the low end as 0
(zero) and the high end as 1(One) and the other values in
between are linearly stretched. The linear stretch improves the
contrast for most of the original brightness values.
• Spatial Filtering: Spatial Filtering is a pixel by pixel
transformation of an image, which depends on the grey-level of
 the pixels concerned as well as the greylevel of the
neighborhood pixels. It is a procedure in which greylevel of a
pixel is altered according to its relationship with respect to the
greylevel of the neighboring pixels.

Information Extraction
In the case of information extraction processes the computer makes
decisions to identify and extract specific pieces of information.

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Cartosat-1: Technical features

and data products

India has a lead in the civilian remote sensing field in the world not
only in terms of realization and launching of complex satellites with
high, medium and coarse resolution cameras, but also in the
application areas as well. In order to maintain this lead and also
provide continuity of data to global users, Cartosat-1 with two
improved fore and aft PAN cameras with better than 2.5 m. spatial
resolution is planned to be realized for launch by middle of 2003. This
paper briefly presents the technical elements and the planned data
products of the Cartosat-1 spacecraft.

Cartosat-1 Spacecraft Technical Elements:

The spacecraft is configured with the Panchromatic cameras which
are mounted such that one camera is looking at +26 deg. w.r.t. nadir
and the other at -5 deg. w.r.t. nadir along the track. These two
cameras combinedly provide stereoscopic image pairs in the same
pass. Also the whole spacecraft is steerable across track to provide
wider coverage in a shorter period. A brief description of the payload
and the other mainframe elements are given in the subsequent
sections.
 Remote Sensing Payloads:
The payload performs the function of imaging an area along the track
and transmits the data for ground processing. Each Panchromatic
camera consists of three 3 mirror off-axis all reflective telescope with
primary, secondary and tertiary mirrors. These mirrors are made from
special zerodur glass blanks and are light weighted to about 60%.
These mirrors are polished to an accuracy of l/80 and are coated with
enhanced AlO2 coating. The mirrors are mounted to the Electro-
optical module using iso-static mounts, so that the distortion on the
light weighted mirrors are very minimum. In order to meet the high
resolution and the swath requirement 12K, 7 micron linear array CCD
is planned to be used as a detector. The CCD processing electronics
will be using high speed devices to meet the high data rate
requirements. Some of the important specifications of the payload are
given in Table 2.1
 T
able 2.1: Payload Specifications

SpecificationFore (+26
S.No . Parameter Name
deg.) Aft (-5 deg)
Spatial
Resolution:GIFOV (m)
1. 2.5 x 2.78 2.22 x 2.23
(Across-track x along-
track)
Spectral Resolution
1 Panchromatic
2. a) No. of Bands
500 nm to 850 nm
b) Bandwidth
Radiometric
Resolution 55mw/cm*cm/str/micron
a) Saturation 10 bits
3.
Radiance 345 at Saturation
b) Quantisation Radiance
c) SNR
Swath (km) (Stereo)
30
4. Fore + Aft Combined
26.855
(Mono) Km.
CCD Parameters:
a) No. of Detectors \
12000 per camera
elements
5. 7 x 7 microns
b) Detector Element
35 microns staggered
Size
c) Odd-Even Spacing
Optics
a) No. of Mirrors
3
b) Effective Focal
1980
6. Length (mm)
F/4.5
c) F-Number
+/- 1.08
d) Field of View
(degrees)
 7. Integration Time (ms) 0.336
MTF
20
8. a) Across track
23
b) Along track
9. Onboard Calibration Relative, using LEDs
10 . Data Rate 105 Mb/s
Data Compression:
JPEG
11. a) Algorithm
Max.3.2
b) Compression Ratio
Nominal B/H Ratio for
12 0.62
Stereo
P/L Operating Temp.
13. 20 +/- 1 degree C.
Range

2. Orbit Considerations:
A polar sun synchronous orbit of altitude 618 Kms. with an
inclination of 97.87 deg. and an equatorial cross-over
local time of 10:30 hours and the descending node has been selected
based on various considerations. The sun-synchronous orbit provides
the imagery collection under near-constant illumination conditions
throughout the life and repetitive coverage of the same area in a
specified interval. In order to revisit the same place at a more
frequent interval than the repetitive cycle, an off-nadir viewing
capability is provided. Using this facility any area which could not be
imaged on a given day due to cloud cover, etc. may be imaged on
another day. The typical revisit cycle is 5 days with the off-nadir
cross-track steering facility. Important orbital specifications are given
in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 Orbit Specifications

S.No. Orbit Characteristic Specification

1. Nominal Altitude (km) 617.99
 2. Number of orbits per day 15
Orbital Repetivity Cycle
3. 116
(No. of days)
Nominal Wait Time to
4. 11 days
Acquire Adj.Path
Max. Wait Time for
5. 5
Revisit
Descending
6. Node for P/L Operations
Node.
Local Time for Equatorial
7. 10:30 AM
Crossing
Orbital parameters
6996.128 km.
a) Semi-major axis
8. 0.001
b) Eccentricity
97.87 deg.
c) Inclination

2.Spacecraft main frame systems:

The spacecraft bus has to support the payload systems in terms of
structure, thermal control, power supply, data compression, data
formatting and encryption and transmissions, data storage, TTC,
etc. The spacecraft will be equipped with precision Attitude and
Orbit Control system along with attitude sensors and propulsion
systems. A brief description of various main frame systems is
given below.

a. Cartosat-1 Platform Configuration:

The spacecraft will be 3-axis body stabilized by using 4 high
torque Reaction Wheels mounted in a tetrahedral
arrangement. The power generation capacity will be about
1100 watts at the end of life, to meet the global operation of
the payloads. The overall spacecraft size will be about 2.4 m.
x 2.7 m. and will weigh about 1450 Kg. The orbit
configuration of the CARTOSAT-1 spacecraft is given in
Fig.2.2.

Fig 2.2 On-orbit configuration of cartosat-1 spacecraft

b. Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS):

In order to meet the stringent requirements of the high
resolution payloads, it is necessary to have a precision
Attitude Control System to provide a stable platform. Also in
order to provide the required swath, overlap and to provide
time invariant data and revisit requirements, the orbit control
will be carried out periodically. Some of the important
specifications of the AOCS are given below

Attitude Pointing Accuracy (deg.) of all axes: 0.05

Attitude drift (deg/sec) : 5 x 10 - 5
Attitude determination accuracy (deg) : 0.01
Ground location accuracy (m) : < 220

The drift rate determines the image internal distortion

figures, whereas the jitter affects the resolution parameters.
The AOCS will meet the stringent attitude pointing accuracy
and the stability using a wide area star sensor in Attitude
Control loop and better control algorithms and using dynamic
friction compensation technique for the ball bearing Reaction
Wheels. AOCS will be configured with MIL-STD 31750
processor and with ASIC and HMCs. various sensors like,
earth sensors, star sensors, precision yaw sensors and
precision digital sun-sensors will be used to control and
determine the attitude of the spacecraft precisely. Hydrazine
mono-propellant Reaction Control System with 4 Nos. of 11
Newton Thrusters and 8 Nos.of 1 Newton Thrusters will be
used for backup control and for momentum dumping
purposes. About 131 Kg. of RCS fuels will be planned to
provide a minimum mission life of 5 years.

c. Earth Rotation Compensation:

In the case of along track stereo data acquisition, same
scene on the surface of earth is imaged with a time
difference. The time difference is a function of the difference
in forward and backward look angles chosen from other
criteria and can be anywhere between 50 and 100 seconds.
Major change in imaging conditions during this time period is
due to rotation of earth. At the equator the effect of earth
rotation is to shift the imaged point to the East by a distance
of approximately 463.3 m for every one second. Thus during
50 seconds the shift is of the order of 23.2 Km. At 25
degrees latitude, the shift is 20.09 Km. If the separation in
time between forward and backward imaging is more than
65 seconds then no overlap between them is present in case
of zero yaw angle. In order to ensure stereo imaging it is
necessary that the aft camera views the earth's surface in
such a way as to image the shifted point. This condition can
be achieved by a continuous yaw manoevring . For any
given latitude, it can also be achieved by mounting the
payloads at appropriate yaw angle with respect to each
other. A combination of fixed mounting, catering to stereo
acquisition requirements for Indian latitudes and a yaw
manoeuvring for other regions with minimum power
consumption shall be adopted. Alternatively the spacecraft is
manoeuvred such that the image strips will fall side by side
 so that wider swath images are obtained by the two
cameras.

d. Data Handling System:

The realisation of high precision cameras calls for the
development of very high speed precision electronic
systems, and requires gain bandwidth of low noise analog
system in the range of a few GHz. Due to small IFOV, the
signal amplitudes are also expected to be very low. The
detectors also require ultra low noise, biases and high
frequency read out clocks. The data rate requirement for 2.5
m. resolution system is about 340 MBPS for a typical 10 bit
quanitisation. This high bit rate Data is compressed by 3.2 :
1 by JPEG Compression technique to bring down the data
rate to 105 m compatible for X-Band Data transmission
system. The payload data is transmitted in two X-band
carriers one for each PAN camera, after QPSK modulation to
the Data Reception Station (DRS). A spherical Phased Array
Antenna with steerable beam to the required DRS is used to
transmit the payload data. A solid state recorder with 120 GB
capacity to store about 9.5 min. of payload data and
playback to the required ground station is also planned for
the global operation of the payloads

Cartographic Data Products:

The overview of the Cartosat-1 Data Products generation facility is
given in fig.3.1.
The main constituents of this facility are, 1) Data Archival and Quick-
look Browser (DAQLB) Systems, 2) Data Processing System (DPS)
and 3) Cartosat Data Centre (CDC). The CDC interfaces with the
Cartosat user community in getting the user requirements and
processes the archived or acquired data, making use of the sub-
modules like Stereo Strip Triangulation (SST), the Ground Control
Point Library (GCPL) and the Data Products and Services modules.
The stereo strip triangulation subsystem takes the primary GCPs and
the DLI as input and generates (1) Triangulated Control Points (TCP),
(2) Coarse DEM and (3) Updated orientation parameters. The TCPs
and coarse DEMs and the IMS work order are the inputs for data
products generation subsystem along with DLTs for generation of
Data Products operationally. Various types of Data products planned
using Cartosat images are (1) Image Data Products, (2) Image Map
Data Products and (3) DEM Data products. Various aspects of the
Data products (and various resource generation like coarse DEM
generation and Triangulated Control Point (TCP) generations are
briefly given below.

1. Image Data Products:

The levels of Image Data Products defined on the basis of their
indented end use with attended impact on accuracy and turn-
around time.Different types of image data products meeting the
targeted user needs are generated based on the spacecraft
operational modes like stereo mode or mono mode and the
 orbit and attitude determination modes. Different types of
products meeting the station specific user needs over the entire
globe coverage is also planned for different earth stations and
onboard SSR modes of data acquisition.

2.Image Map Data Products (IMDP):

IMDP containing co-registered ortho corrected Cartosat-PAN
raster images with one or more layers of cartographic vector
information (available apriori or derived from Cartosat image)
including a layer containing ASCII text strings as labels of vector
elements, with necessary additional ancillary information shall be
generated and supplied to the users. The following types of
products are planned.

a. 2-D Satellite Image Map Products in conventional map

projection or with user-defined projection parameters.

b. 2.5-D Satellite Image Map Products, representing the

terrain elevation for one or more fixed, standard
perspective view angles possibly with artificially
exaggerated scaling effects incorporated to show the
terrain relief.

c. 3-D Satellite Image Map Products, optionally including the

3-D viewing software as a part of the product.

All the types of image map products are corrected Cartosat-

PAN images, either on stand alone basis or desirably fused with
available multi-spectral images with comparable spatial
resolution as the base raster image.

2.DEM Data Products:

The following types of DEM Data Products are planned to be
generated.

Type I: As computed originally:

 1. As randomly distributed point heights as computed
originally.
2. As triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) retaining all the
originally computed points, as they are.
3. As progressively sampled rectangular grids, retaining all
the originally computed points, as they are

Type II: As completed originally and incorporating break-lines:

1. As a set of irregular point heights and break lines showing

the surface discontinuities
2. As a TIN model retaining all the originally computed
points as they are; and in addition incorporating break
lines, either as part of the TIN edges (referred as soft
break lines) or as add-on specification (referred as hard
break lines) indicating abrupt surface changes.
3. As progressively sampled rectangular grids, retaining all
the originally computed points, as they are plus the break
lines manually identified.

Type III: As interpolated, mostly regular

1. As a rectangular grid, generated by a suitable

interpolation algorithm from the initial set of irregular
points and break lines.
2. As contours, connecting points of equal height at varying
intervals.
3. As a set of parallel vertical profiles, in any user desired
direction.

2.Coarse DEM Generation (CDG):

It is necessary to carryout scene based processing for mono mode
data acquisition for either fore or aft camera towards generating
level 1 or level 2 products with minimum internal distortion as per
the quality requirements. However, since the Cartosat cameras are
mounted onboard the spacecraft in non-nadir viewing
configuration, this can be achieved by carrying out terrain
corrections apart from the system level corrections. Hence it is
necessary to have DEM for all coverage for this purpose. Cartosat-
1 being a stereo mission, allows for building such database on a
pass or a pass segment basis.

5.Triangulated Control Points Library Generation (TCG):

To enable scene based precision processing for mono or stereo
mode data acquisition, a second generation control points call
TCP of approximately about 10 points in each standard scene
(~30 x 30 KM) covering the entire region are generated and
maintained as a data base and are used during products
generation.

5.Data Product Accuracy:

The accuracy of various products planned to be generated
depends upon the accuracies of the SST parameters, TCDS,
Coarse DEM, Precision DEMs etc. It is planned to have SST
parameters within an accuracy of 3.3 M (1σ) based on GCP
coordinate of 3M in planimetry and height accuracies. The
accuracy of TCP derived from the SST processing is about 4M (1σ
) and based on conjugate point identification accuracy of about 2.5
m (3σ). The Coarse DEM will have planimetric error of about 3.1 (1
σ ) equivalent to the SST parameter error and the height is
depending on the planimetric error and N/H ratio. The final DEM is
generated after incorporating break lines / break points through
manual / semi automatic methods with an RSS error of 2.5 m (1σ)
in planimetry and 3.1 m in height.

The error budget calculated for scene level processing is for a

scene size of about 30 KM x 30 KM and less and is of the order of
0.25 m (3σ).

The location accuracy of various data products are given below:

 a. For system level correction (level 1) (3σ) : 220 m
b. With GCP (level 2) (3σ ) : 18.7 m
c. With terrain (Coarse DEM) corrected (level 3A) (3σ): 21
m
d. With final DEM (LEVEL 3B) (3σ) : 18.7 m
e. With precision GCP & precision DEM (level 3C) : 6.4 m*
(3σ)

*This product uses precise GCPS and precision DEM with

incorporation of break lines and break points. Hence the
internal distortion will be better than 1 pixel (<2.5 m). The level
2, 3A and 3B products are standard products whereas the level
3C products are always value added products whose turn-
around time depends on the availability of the images and
ancillary information (GCPs) etc.

5.Data Product Size, Scale and Datum:

Various Products size is (1) based on modes of operation vise
mono, stereo or wide swath mode as defined by path/row or
Lat./Long. referencing schemes, (2) User defined rectangular
areas aligned to true North of minimum size 2.5 KM x 2.5 KM and
area equivalent to the maximum scene size 30 KM x 30 KM, (3)
User defined polygonal areas of minimum size 2.5 KM x 2.5 KM
and (4) Standard Map sheet extents for 1:25,000 and 1:50,000
scales. All levels of products are oriented towards true North and
standard map projection as applicable for different user needs
across the globe. Also the horizontal and vertical datum of the geo
corrected products is referenced to appropriate datum as
applicable for different needs across the globe.

5.Data Products Format:

The digital products are generated and supplied in any
conventional format like CEOS super structure and IRS fast
formats with Cartosat specific changes, along with all necessary
ancillary parameters addressing all possible data utilization needs
of Cartosat-1 PAN data, for various levels of products for different
 application along with GIS and CAD and 3D software packages.
The formats currently used in different GIS and CAD software
packages such as Multi-Resolution Seamless Image Database
(MRSID) universal data formats and Geotiff are suitably modified
for Cartosat-I specific features.

Conclusion:
Several countries, apart from India have embarked on space based
remote sensing. A number of remote sensing satellites launched in
the last decade such as Landsat, SPOT, ERS, and IRS series have
shown very encouraging results for variety of Land and Marine
applications. They also have aggressive plans for advancing the
remote sensing technologies for different applications in future. In
India ISRO has taken a lead in Land Resource application Satellites
and has evolved plans to sustain and advance in all areas of earth
resource applications. Basically, Indian Space Programme in the
Remote Sensing area plans for improved mission in the area of (a)
Cartographic and Mapping Applications (b) Land and Agricultural
applications (3) Oceanographic applications, (4) Atmospheric
Applications and (5) Climatic applications. Although globally there
have been many satellite system being operational and planned with
higher resolutions to meet the ultimate information requirements of
the user community for geo-engineering applications and cadastral
requirements, the launch of Cartosat-1 is expected to meet the
immediate demands for terrain visualisation, updation of topographic
maps, generation of National topographic data base and other utilities
planning.