Measurements of the antenna patterns for the high frequency component of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-B), to fly on the NOAA-KLM polar orbiting satellites, are reported here. They were made on the Compact Antenna Test Range at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, at three frequencies within the AMSU-B receiver's channels, centered at 89, 150, and 183.31 GHz. The main reflecto...

This paper gives an overview of how certain meteorological data used in studies of the population dynamics of arthropod vectors of disease may be predicted using remotely sensed, satellite data. Details are given of the stages of processing necessary to convert digital data arising from satellite sensors into ecologically meaningful information. Potential sources of error in these processing st...

The process of receiving and analyzing visual information by digital computer is called Digital Image Processing and Scene Analysis. Digital Image Processing is a prevalently evolving field with growing applications in Science and Engineering. Image Processing holds the possibility of developing the ultimate machine that could perform the visual functions of all living beings. Many theoretical ...

Intersatellite calibration is carried out for the upper tropospheric water vapor (UTWV) data from clear-sky HIRS channel 12 measurement. As the intersatellite biases are scene brightness temperature dependent, an algorithm is developed to account for the varying biases with respect to brightness temperature. The bias correction data are derived from overlaps of monthly means of each 10-degree l...

Earth science satellite missions currently require orbit determination solutions with position accuracies to within a centimeter. The estimation of empirical accelerations has become commonplace in precise orbit determination (POD) for Earth-orbiting satellites. Dynamic model compensation (DMC) utilizes an exponentially time-correlated system noise process, known as a first-order GaussMarkov pr...

The impact of possible a-priori “imprinting” effects of general relativity itself on recent attempts to measure the general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect with the LAGEOS satellites orbiting the Earth and the terrestrial geopotential models from the dedicated mission GRACE is investigated. It is analytically shown that general relativity, not explicitly solved for in the GRACE-based models,...

An innovative orbit determination method which makes use of gravity gradients for Low-Earth-Orbiting satellites is proposed. The measurement principle of gravity gradiometry is briefly reviewed and the sources of measurement error are analyzed. An adaptive hybrid least squares batch filter based on linearization of the orbital equation and unscented transformation of the measurement equation is...

When working with space systems the keyword is resources. For a satellite in orbit all resources are sparse and the most critical resource of all is power. It is therefore crucial to have detailed knowledge on how much power is available for an energy harvesting satellite in orbit at every time – especially when in eclipse, where it draws its power from onboard batteries. This paper addresses t...

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has implemented a vessel detection system (VDS) based on the near real time use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from operational orbiting satellites. The modular system consists of a number of distinct processing steps that are combined in an automated work flow capable of providing detected target positions within 60 minutes after at-se...

Volcanic activity essentially consists of the transfer of heat from the Earth’ interior to the surface. The precise signature of this heat transfer relates directly to the processes underway at and within a particular volcano and this can be observed, at a safe distance, remotely, using infrared sensors that are present on Earth-orbiting satellites. For over 50 years, scientists have perfected ...