A geometric performance assessment of the EO-1 advanced land imager

The Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) Advanced Land Imager (ALI) demonstrates technology applicable to a successor system to the Landsat Thematic Mapper series. A study of the geometric performance characteristics of the ALI was conducted under the auspices of the EO-1 Science Validation Team. This study evaluated ALI performance with respect to absolute pointing knowledge, focal plane sensor chip assembly alignment, and hand-to-hand registration for purposes of comparing this new technology to the heritage Landsat systems. On-orbit geometric calibration procedures were developed that allowed the generation of ALI geometrically corrected products that compare favorably with their Landsat 7 counterparts with respect to absolute geodetic accuracy, internal image geometry, and band registration.