Advantages of hexagonal sampling grids and hexagonal shape detector elements in remote sensing imagers

Recent improvements in CCD technology make hexagonal sampling attractive for such applications as remote sensing where the acquisition process is crucial to preserve image quality without introducing data transmission overheads. In the following hexagonal sampling is analyzed under general assumptions and compared with conventional rectangular sampling. The analysis takes into account both the lattice form (square, rectangular, hexagonal, regular hexagonal), and the shape of the single detector element. The hexagonal grid is not based a-priori on a regular hexagon tessellation, i.e., no constraint is made on the ratio between the sampling frequencies in the two spatial directions.