Centre National Detudes Spatiales

Bernard Rouge

Jean-Michel Morel

Christophe Latry

Hélène Vadon

Alain Giros

Gilbert Pauc

Jean-Claude Favard

François Cabot

Philippe Richaume

Yann Kerr

The invention relates to a method and system for the acquisition and correlation matching of points belonging to a stereoscopic pair of images, whereby the pair is formed by a first image and a second image representing a scene. According to the invention, the two images of the pair are acquired with a single acquisition instrument () comprising two sensors CCD () in the optical focal plane. The matching of the acquired stereoscopic pair consists in determining, by means of correlation, the point in the second image that is homologous to a point in the first image. Said correlation is performed for a point from the first image using an optimally-sized correlation window. When the homologous point of a point from the first image has been determined, the position deviation between the point from the first image and the homologous point thereof is entered in a table. Once all of the homologous points of the points from the first image have been found, the results table is reset barycentrically. The points that do not meet a criterion are rejected, i.e. points suspected of having erroneous matching. The processing is performed at a dyadic resolution level.

Fine stereoscopic image matching and dedicated instrument having a low stereoscopic coefficient

An improvement to a method of acquiring and processing a satellite observation image of the earth through the use of one strip or a matrix of charge coupled device type detectors. As the detectors travel over an observed zone, a plurality of pixels are acquired in a sampling method. The sampling method includes &ldquo;e&rdquo; subarrays corresponding to sampling thereby satisfying Shannon's condition. The &ldquo;e&rdquo; is an integer or rational number greater that 1. Processing is implemented that enables a noise-reduced image to be interpolated at a resolution corresponding to that of a sampling subarray on the basis of initially acquired image pixels.

Image acquisition by push-broom scanning

A method of acquiring and processing a satellite observation image of the earth by means of at least one strip or a matrix of detectors of the charge transfer type travelling over an observed zone, in which a plurality of pixels are acquired, which pixels are sampled in a staggered configuration, the method being characterized in that the line pitch and the column pitch of said staggered sampling are such that the image spectrum is situated mainly in a zone of the Fourier plane where the modulation transfer function is meaningful and where spectrum aliasing is limited.

Method of acquiring an image by push-broom scanning

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Toulouse, France

Bernard Rouge