International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vol. 32, Part 3W14, La Jolla, CA, 9-11 Nov. 1999
5. CONCLUSIONS
SLA has served as a pathfinder experiment motivating the
development of geolocation methodologies and waveform
processing algorithms for spaceborne laser altimetry. In
particular, the SLA flights motivated the use of the ocean
reference surface for determination of laser altimeter timing,
range, and pointing biases. The first collection of globally
distributed laser altimeter waveforms has also contributed
significantly to the development of signal processing techniques
for derivation of surface elevations. The capabilities developed
for SLA form the basis of expanded techniques that will be
used operationally as part of the upcoming VCL and ICESat
laser altimeter missions. The comprehensive data set produced
for the SLA-02 mission also provides the science community
interested in characterization of Earth topography and land
cover properties an opportunity to gain experience with laser
altimeter waveform data in preparation for the upcoming
missions. Data and in-depth documentation is accessible
though the SLA-02 Data Products Webpage, at
http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov:8001/.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The SLA team consisted of a large number of individuals who
made this pathfinder experiment possible, lead by Jim Garvin
and Jack Bufton. Bryan Blair and David Rabine provided
invaluable expertise on the flight acquisition data system and
structures. Flight of the SLA instrument was made possible by
the infrastructure and personnel of the Shuttle Small Payloads
Hitchhiker Program. Funding and hardware for SLA was
provided by the NASA Earth Science Enterprise, the Goddard
Director’s Discretionary Fund, and the ICESat and Mars
Observer Laser Altimeter projects.
7. REFERENCES
Bevington, P.R. and D.K. Robinson, 1992. Data Reduction and
Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences. Mc Graw Hill, Inc.,
2" Edition, pp. 141-167.
Bufton, J.L., J.B. Blair, J. Cavanaugh, J.B. Garvin, D. J.
Harding, D. Hopf, K. Kirks, S. Rabine, and N. Walsh, 1995.
Shuttle Laser Altimeter (SLA): a pathfinder for space-based
laser altimetry and lidar, Proc. Shuttle Small Payloads
Symposium, NASA CR-3310, pp. 83-91.
Bufton, J.L., D.H. Harding, and J.B. Garvin, 1999. Shuttle
Laser Altimeter: Mission Results and Pathfinder
Accomplishments, Proc. Shuttle Small Payloads Symposium,
in press.
Garvin, J., J. Blair, J. Bufton, and D. Harding, 1996. The
Shuttle Laser Altimeter (SLA-0O1) Experiment: Topographic
Remote Sensing of Planet Earth. EOS Trans., AGU, Vol. 77
(7), p. 239.
Garvin, J., J. Bufton, J. Blair, D. Harding, S. Luthcke, J.
Frawley, and D. Rowlands, 1998. Observation of the Earth's
Topography from Shuttle Laser Altimeter (SLA): Laser-pulse
Echo-recovery Measurements of Terrestrial Surfaces, Phys.
Chem. Earth, 23(9-10), pp. 1053-1068.
Lemoine, F.G., S.C. Kenyon, J.K. Factor, R.G. Trimmer, N.K.
Pavlis, D.S. Chin, C.M. Cox, S.M. Klosko, S.B. Luthcke, M.H.
Torrence, Y.M. Wang, R.G. Williamson, E.C. Pavlis, R.H.
Rapp, and T.R. Olson, 1998. The Development of the Joint
NASA GSFC and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency
(NIMA) Geopotential Model EGM96, NASA/TP-1998-
206861.
Luthcke, S.B., J.A. Marshall, S.C. Rowton, K.E. Rachlin, C.M.
Cox, and R.G. Williamson, 1997. Enhanced Radiative Force
Modeling of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, The
Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, 45(3): 349-370.
Luthcke, S.B., D.D. Rowlands, J.J. McCarthy, E.Stoneking, and
D.E. Pavlis, 1999. Spaceborn laser altimeter pointing bias
calibration from range residual analysis, submitted to The
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets.
Schrama, E.J.O. and R.D. Ray, 1994. A Preliminary Tidal
Analysis of TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimetry, Journal of
Geophysical Research, 99(C-12), pp.24, 799-24,808.
Rowlands, D.D., J.A. Marshall, J.J. McCarthy, S.C.Rowton, D.
Moore, D.E.Pavlis, S.B. Luthcke, and L.S. Tsaoussi, 1993.
GEODYN-II System Description, Hughes STX Contractor
Report, Greenbelt, MD-USA.
Rowlands, D.D., S.B. Luthcke, J.A. Marshall, C.M. Cox, R.G.
Williamson, and S.C.Rowton, 1997. Space Shuttle Precision
Orbit Determination in Support of SLA-1 Using TDRSS and
GPS Tracking Data, The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences,
45(1), pp. 113-129.
Yi, Yuchan, 1995. Determination of Gridded Mean Sea
Surface from TOPEX, ERS-1 and GEOSAT Altimeter Data,
Ohio State University, Department of Geodetic Science and
Surveying, Report No. 434, OH-USA.
Internatior
KEY WORDS: Seg
ABSTRACT
Laser scanning syst
description of the «
laser surface should
surface matching.
more likely a thick-
steep surfaces. The
since the laser ener
function approxima
the Robust Sequent
characterization tec
laser points, the alg
chooses the best ap
from its seed over tl
the isolated points
models, planar and
be followed by the
Synthetic and real |
Range information |
toward the underst
which is required fc
image understandin
surface properties e
description of disco
uous surface patch:
surface roughness,
vides input for dat
detection.
Surface segmentati
in computer vision
nizes the surface pc
itives by using low-
tion. In this fashior
representation of tl
ing high-level, obje
mentation approacl
exploited in the pr
data. Here, usuall
prietary data thinn
followed immediate
First we provide so
followed by specific
sidered in ALR. Th
tion approach [Boy