Design Principles of the LH Systems ADS40 Airborne Digital Sensor

Digital imagery from satellites or multispectral and hyperspectral scanners is well accepted. Tremendous challenges are inherent in the development of a digital sensor to acquire imagery suitable for both high precision photogrammetric mapping and image processing for interpretative purposes. The performance of the film aerial camera is almost impossible to reach with current digital technology. Joint development work by LH Systems and Deutsches Zentrum fur Luftund Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Centre, DLR) has led to considerable success using forward-, nadirand backward-looking linear arrays on the focal plane to provide panchromatic imagery and geometric information, supplemented by further arrays for multispectral data. This has culminated in the ADS40 product. In the paper, all essential components of the ADS40 are addressed: optics, filters, CCD type and configuration, frontend electronics, computer, flight management and sensor control software, mass memory, and attitude and position measurement system. The imagery from the new sensor will fulfil many market requirements between the highest resolution film imagery (<0.15 m) and high-resolution space imagery (1-10 m). The sensor’s unique blend of multispectral information with high quality geometric information will give rise to numerous new applications.