Calibration Capabilities

All remote sensing sensors receive electromagnetic radiation. The sensor then converts the radiation into an electronic signal. However, an electronic signal is meaningless unless it is related to a physical unit. Simply speaking, calibration of a remote sensing sensor is the procedure to establish the conversion parameter that translates output of the sensor to a measurable physical unit.

For example, the output reading of a spectroradiometer has the units of radiance at a specifically measured wavelength. The spectroradiometer must be properly calibrated in radiance, irradiance, and wavelength .

In the case of an airborne imaging spectrometer, the sensor measures not only the radiance but also the spatial aspects of the image. Calibration requires characterization of the spatial resolving and positioning capability of the instrument. Other calibrations may be required due to specific optical system used. (e.g. whisk broom scanning, push broom scanning, single-facet scanning, or multi-facet scanning optics, etc.)