A Survey and Trade-off-Study for Optical Remote Sensing Satellite Camera Design

One of the main goals that are concerned to space remote sensor designers is the quality of the produced image. Precisely the image quality is the result of a complex relationship among the configuration and design parameters of the telescope and detector units, imaging mode, atmospheric conditions and platform status. All these parameters have direct influence on images quality specifications in terms of spatial resolution, radiometric resolution, spectral resolution, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and modulation transfer function (MTF). In addition, the configuration and design parameters of the telescope and detector modules/units have direct influence on the camera weight and volume. Since the launch of the high-resolution satellite IKONOS-2, there has been an increasing demand for high spatial resolution data for various applications. This paper focuses on a comparison study among passive electro-optical remote sensors for earth observation launched in the last twenty years. The comparison study covers the configuration and design parameters of the camera including optical telescope schemes, detector types, and weight. Finally, to best fulfil the modern space camera requirements, a trade-off study is conducted for a range of space cameras with different specifications and performance parameters.