Stereo evaluation of ALOS PRISM and IKONOS in Yemen

DLR's Remote Sensing Technology Institute has a long lasting experience in developing spaceborne stereo scanners (MEOSS, MOMS) and the corresponding photogrammetric software systems for stereo evaluation and orthorectification. It takes part in the ESA/JAXA-AO Program to evaluate the performance and potential of the three-line stereo scanner PRISM and the multispectral imaging sensor AVNIR-2 on-board the Japanese satellite ALOS as a principal investigator. The high geometric resolution of PRISM (2.5 m ground sampling distance at nadir) combined with the medium swath width of 35 km has the potential to achieve high quality Digital Elevation Models up to 1:25.000 scale topographic maps for various applications. One of the proposed test sites is located near Sana'a, Yemen, where additionally to the PRISM stereo data also an IKONOS stereo image pair exists, which is used for DEM comparison and performance analysis. The results of this test site are evaluated in cooperation with the Advanced Data processing Research INstitute (ADRIN), India and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover.