Abstract
The geometric accuracy of the Phased-Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) on board of ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) was evaluated by using a digital elevation model (DEM). The PALSAR amplitude images and those simulated with a DEM were produced. Tie points between them were then automatically calculated by pattern matching. The automated co-registration procedure efficiently collected the favorable tie points, especially for rugged terrain. The coefficients of affine transformation calculated from the tie points indicated no significant range- or azimuth-dependent errors over the standard image size. Absolute geometric accuracy was then defined as offsets between the amplitude and DEM-simulated images and was estimated to be better than the specification requirement.
