Application of the geometric accuracy estimation model of the terrain corrected data to TerraSAR-X data

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to acquire the knowledge about the application of the constructed model for the evaluation of the geometric accuracy of the terrain corrected data to high-resolution TerraSAR-X data. Firstly, we focused on the simple model of geometric errors of range direction caused by the elevation errors of utilized DEM, then developed the model to estimate the geometric accuracy using the parameter of the incidence angle. In the next stage, we examined the method to validate the developed model, and reviewed the previous studies, which we conducted the geometric accuracy evaluation of TerraSAR-X data for both flat and mountain areas. We applied the model to these data with different incidence angles. The results showed that the accuracy of the model was about 1m both in the flat and mountain area. We also found that the direction for the major axis of the ellipse for the geometric errors tallied with the range direction. The analysis showed that the elevation accuracy of ASTER DEM with the grid of 30m was about half of SRTM DEMs with 90m. This study implies that for the developed model we can estimate the geometric accuracy of the terrain corrected data with the certain accuracy.