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Multiply | By | To obtain |
Length | ||
---|---|---|
nanometer (nm) | 3.9370×10−8 | inch (in.) |
micrometer (μm) | 3.9370×10−5 | inch (in.) |
meter (m) | 3.281 | foot (ft) |
meter (m) | 1.094 | yard (yd) |
kilometer (km) | 0.6214 | mile (mi) |
circular error at 90 percent
Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence
ground control point
Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation
Operational Land Imager
PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa
U.S. Geological Survey
This report addresses system characterization of the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence. These reports present and detail the methodology and procedures for characterization; present technical and operational information about the specific sensing system being evaluated; and provide a summary of test measurements, data retention practices, data analysis results, and conclusions.
The Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence system characterization team completed data analyses to characterize the geometric (band to band and image to image), radiometric, and spatial performances. Results of these analyses indicate that PRISMA has a band-to-band geometric performance in the range of −0.046 to 0.040 pixel; an image-to-image geometric performance (relative to the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager) in the range of −60.791 meters (m; −2.03 pixels) to 299.541 m (9.98 pixels); a radiometric performance in the range of −0.037 to −0.001 in offset and 1.026 to 1.274 in slope; and a spatial performance with a relative edge response in the range of 0.56 to 0.63, full width at half maximum in the range of 1.84 to 1.97 pixels, and a modulation transfer function at a Nyquist frequency in the range of 0.054 to 0.096. Regarding fairly large geometric accuracy, the following explanation is provided to help the reader. The geometric accuracy required for PRISMA is a 200-m circular error at 90 percent (CE90) without ground control points (GCPs), a 15-m CE90 using GCPs is documented in the PRISMA mission overview (
The Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) is a hyperspectral electro-optical sensor that analyzes the chemical-physical composition of the objects present in the scene. The PRISMA sensor offers the scientific community and users many applications in the fields of environmental monitoring, resource management, crop classification, pollution control, and other areas. The mission objective is to provide a global observation capability with the specific areas of interest over Europe and the Mediterranean region. Characterization of the PRISMA requires additional spectral resampling for the system characterization compared to the conventional multi spectral sensor because it is a hyperspectral imager.
The data analysis results provided in this report have been derived from approved Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) processes and procedures. JACIE was formed to leverage resources from several Federal agencies for the characterization of remote sensing data and to share those results across the remote sensing community. More information about JACIE is available at
The purpose of this report is to describe the specific sensor or sensing system, test its performance in three categories, complete related data analyses to quantify these performances, and report the results in a standardized document. In this chapter, the PRISMA sensor is described. The performance testing of the system is limited to geometric, radiometric, and spatial analyses. The scope of the geometric assessment is limited to testing band-to-band alignments and image-to-image relative georeferencing error is tested in reference to the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI).
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE) project, and the associated system characterization process used for this assessment, follows the USGS Fundamental Science Practices, which include maintaining data, information, and documentation needed to reproduce and validate the scientific analysis documented in this report. Additional information and guidance about Fundamental Science Practices and related resource information of interest to the public are available at
This section describes the satellite and operational details and provides information about the PRISMA sensor. The satellite and operational details for the PRISMA sensor are listed in
Table 1. Satellite and operational details for the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa sensor.
[PRISMA, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa; km, kilometer; °, degree; ±, plus or minus; m, meter]
Product information | PRISMA data |
Satellite and operational information | |
---|---|
Sensor name | PRISMA |
Sensor type | Hyperspectral |
Mission type | Global land-monitoring mission |
Launch date | March 22, 2019 |
Expected lifetime | 5 years |
Operational details | |
Operating orbit | Sun-synchronous orbit |
Orbital altitude range | 620 km |
Sensor angle altitude | 97.85° inclination |
Imaging time | 10:35 a.m. (local time of equator crossing on descending node) |
Geographic coverage | 30 km (field of view, 2.45°) |
Temporal resolution | 29 days |
Temporal coverage | 2019 to present (2021) |
Imaging angles | ±30° |
Ground sample distance | 30 m |
Product abstract |
Table 2. Imaging sensor details for the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa.
[PRISMA, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa; µm, micrometer; GSD, ground sample distance; m, meter; FWHM, full width at half maximum; nm, nanometer; VNIR, visible near infrared; SW, shortwave infrared]
Spectral band details | PRISMA | |||||
Lower bound (µm) | Upper bound (µm) | Radiometric resolution (bits) | GSD (m) | FWHM (nm) | ||
VNIR (66 channels) | 0.400 | 1.010 | 12 | 30.0 | 12 | |
SW (171 channels) | 0.920 | 2.505 | 12 | 30.0 | 12 |
ECCOE has established standard processes to identify Earth observing systems of interest and to assess the geometric, radiometric, and spatial qualities of data products from these systems.
The assessment steps are as follows: system identification and investigation to learn the general specifications of the satellite and its sensor(s); data receipt and initial inspection to understand the characteristics and any overt flaws in the data product so that it may be further analyzed; geometry characterization, including band-to-band geometric error measuring the relative alignment of spectral bands and image-to-image relative georeferencing error measuring how well the georeferenced pixels of the comparison sensor image are aligned to the reference sensor image; radiometry characterization, including assessing how well the data product correlates with a known reference and, when possible, assessing the signal-to-noise ratio; and spatial characterization, assessing the two-dimensional fidelity of the image pixels to their projected ground sample distance. correction of the defective pixel that causes a dark striping, spectral resampling of hyperspectral data to match the spectral response function of the Landsat 8 OLI, and computation of solar irradiance by resampling high resolution extraterrestrial solar irradiance based on the spectral response function of the Landsat 8 OLI.
The specific procedures required to handle hyperspectral data are as follows:
Data analysis and test results are maintained at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center by the ECCOE project.
The observed USGS measurements are listed in
Table 3. U.S. Geological Survey measurement results.
[VNIR, visible near infrared; nm, nanometer; STDDEV, standard deviation; RMSE, root mean square error; SW, shortwave infrared; OLI, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager; m, meter;
Description of product | System characterization results |
Geometric performance (easting, northing) | |
---|---|
Band to band | VNIR (641.3-nm reference, band 31): |
Image to image (against OLI) | Easting mean: 75.339 to 299.541 m (2.51 to 9.98 pixels) |
Radiometric performance (offset, slope, |
|
Radiometric evaluation (linear regression—PRISMA versus OLI reflectance) | Band 1—coastal blue: −0.027 to −0.012, 1.047 to 1.159, 0.697 to 0.801, 2.46 to 5.91 |
Spatial performance | |
Spatial performance measurement | RER: 0.56 to 0.63 |
Known artifacts and quality issues | |
USGS noted artifacts/quality issues | Because of the large pixel, the calibration site is not large enough; thus, spatial analysis results are associated with higher uncertainty. |
This section of the report describes the geometric, radiometric, and spatial performance of the PRISMA sensor.
The geometric performance for PRISMA is characterized in terms of the band-to-band alignment and image-to-image relative geometric accuracy.
Band-to-band analysis reveals the geometric error between different bands using cross-correlation matrix. For this analysis, each band of the PRISMA imagery was registered against one reference band. For the visible near-infrared bands, a band centered at 641 nanometers (band 31) was used as a reference. For the shortwave infrared bands, a band centered at 1,793.7 nanometers was used. The relative differences are less than 5 percent of a pixel, which indicates a high quality of band-to-band performance. The scene identifier used as an example image to compute the band-to-band error is PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200412034634_20200412034638_0001, which is shown in
Band-to-band geometric error of band 30 using band 31 as a reference.
Figure 1. Map showing band-to-band geometric error of band 30 using band 31 as a reference.
The grid system and error vectors for band 30 are shown in
Visible near-infrared band-to-band easting geometric errors using band 31 as a reference.
Figure 2. Graph showing visible near-infrared band-to-band easting geometric errors using band 31 as a reference.
Visible near-infrared band-to-band northing geometric errors using band 31 as a reference.
Figure 3. Graph showing visible near-infrared band-to-band northing geometric errors using band 31 as a reference.
Band-to-band full shortwave infrared spectral geometric error estimation was completed using band 85 as a reference. The results are shown in
Shortwave-infrared band-to-band easting geometric error using band 85 as a reference.
Figure 4. Graph showing shortwave-infrared band-to-band easting geometric error using band 85 as a reference.
Shortwave-infrared band-to-band northing geometric error using band 85 as a reference.
Figure 5. Graph showing shortwave-infrared band-to-band northing geometric error using band 85 as a reference.
Image-to-image analysis measures relative georeferencing error between the comparison sensor image and reference sensor image using cross-correlation matrix. For this analysis, a spectrally resampled PRISMA image was used. The resampling was based on the spectral response of the Landsat 8 OLI. Three scene pairs between PRISMA and the Landsat 8 OLI were used for image-to-image analysis. A normalized cross-correlation matrix was computed, and its local maxima were determined to estimate the mean error and root mean square error. The results, which are represented in pixels at a 30-meter ground sample distance, are listed in
Table 4. Geometric error of the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa relative to Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager imagery.
[ID, identifier; RMSE, root mean square error; m, meter]
Scene ID | Mean error (easting) | Mean error (northing) | RMSE (easting) | RMSE (northing) |
PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200426091752_20200426091756_0001 versus LC08_L1TP_182031_20200426_20200822_02_T1 (Kyprinos, Greece) | 75.339 m |
115.181 m |
79.564 m |
116.715 m |
PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200509094105_20200509094109_0001 versus LC08_L1TP_186031_20200508_20200820_02_T1 (Shkodër, Albania) | 299.541 m |
240.069 m |
315.585 m |
241.866 m |
PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200729111312_20200729111317_0001 versus LC08_L1TP_200028_20200729_20200908_02_T1 (La Roche-sur-Yon, France) | 115.094 m |
−60.791 m |
116.164 m |
61.693 m |
Image-to-image geometric error map using image pair (Kyprinos, Greece).
Figure 6. Image-to-image geometric error map using image pair.
Histogram of image-to-image geometric error using image pair (Kyprinos, Greece).
Figure 7. Histogram of image-to-image geometric error using image pair.
Image-to-image geometric error map using image pair (Shkodër, Albania).
Figure 8. Image-to-image geometric error map using image pair.
Histogram of image-to-image geometric error using image pair (Shkodër, Albania).
Figure 9. Histogram of image-to-image geometric error using image pair.
Image-to-image geometric error map using image pair (La Roche-sur-Yon, France).
Figure 10. Image-to-image geometric error map using image pair.
Histogram of image-to-image geometric error using image pair (La Roche-sur-Yon, France).
Figure 11. Histogram of image-to-image geometric error using image pair.
For this analysis, cloud-free regions of interest were selected within three near-coincident PRISMA and Landsat 8 OLI scene pairs. Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison results are listed in
Table 5. Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison for the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa with Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager.
[ID, identifier; B, band; CB, coastal blue; NIR, near infrared; SW, shortwave infrared; %, percent;
Scene ID | Statistics | B1 (CB) | B2 (blue) | B3 (green) | B4 (red) | B5 (NIR) | B6 (SW1) | B7 (SW2) |
PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200426091752_20200426091756_0001 versus LC08_L1TP_182031_20200426_20200822_02_T1 (Kyprinos, Greece) | Uncertainty (%) | 2.46 | 3.70 | 5.28 | 11.54 | 9.18 | 10.39 | 17.43 |
0.733 | 0.767 | 0.756 | 0.781 | 0.798 | 0.787 | 0.790 | ||
Regression offset | −0.027 | −0.015 | −0.016 | −0.011 | −0.024 | −0.024 | −0.016 | |
Regression slope | 1.159 | 1.098 | 1.125 | 1.129 | 1.085 | 1.147 | 1.274 | |
PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200509094105_20200509094109_0001 versus LC08_L1TP_186031_20200508_20200820_02_T1 (Shkodër, Albania) | Uncertainty (%) | 5.91 | 8.23 | 9.88 | 18.18 | 11.44 | 13.92 | 20.43 |
0.697 | 0.710 | 0.713 | 0.725 | 0.754 | 0.744 | 0.738 | ||
Regression offset | −0.012 | −0.006 | −0.003 | −0.003 | −0.002 | −0.001 | −0.005 | |
Regression slope | 1.112 | 1.075 | 1.064 | 1.096 | 1.057 | 1.063 | 1.214 | |
PRS_L1_STD_OFFL_20200729111312_20200729111317_0001 versus LC08_L1TP_200028_20200729_20200908_02_T1 (La Roche-sur-Yon, France) | Uncertainty (%) | 4.44 | 6.61 | 9.56 | 16.3 | 8.08 | 13.11 | 19.35 |
0.801 | 0.817 | 0.822 | 0.837 | 0.785 | 0.813 | 0.826 | ||
Regression offset | −0.019 | −0.014 | −0.013 | −0.010 | −0.037 | −0.037 | −0.018 | |
Regression slope | 1.047 | 1.026 | 1.047 | 1.042 | 1.064 | 1.125 | 1.200 |
Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison using image pair (Kyprinos, Greece). [PRISMA OLI, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa mimicking Operational Land Imager bands]
Figure 12. Graphs showing Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison using image pair.
Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison using image pair (Shkodër, Albania). [PRISMA OLI, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa mimicking Operational Land Imager bands]
Figure 13. Graphs showing Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison using image pair.
Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison using image pair (La Roche-sur-Yon, France). [PRISMA OLI, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa mimicking Operational Land Imager bands]
Figure 14. Graphs showing Top of Atmosphere reflectance comparison using image pair.
For this analysis, edge spread and line spread functions were calculated with resulting relative edge response, full width at half maximum, and modulation transfer function at Nyquist frequency analysis outputs, as listed in
Table 6. Spatial performance of the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa.
[RER, relative edge response; FWHM, full width at half maximum; MTF, modulation transfer function; SW, shortwave infrared]
Spatial analysis | RER | FWHM | MTF at Nyquist |
Band 3—green | 0.56 | 1.97 pixels | 0.066 |
Band 4—red | 0.60 | 1.95 pixels | 0.054 |
Band 6—SW1 | 0.63 | 1.84 pixels | 0.096 |
The Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa region of interest for spatial analysis.
Figure 15. Image showing the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa region of interest for spatial analysis.
The results for band 3 (green) are shown in
Band 3 (green) raw edge transects (upper) and aligned transects (lower).
Figure 16. Graphs showing band 3 raw edge transects and aligned transects.
Band 3 (green) edge spread function and line spread function (upper) and modulation transfer function (lower).
Figure 17. Graphs showing band 3 edge spread function and line spread function and modulation transfer function.
Band 4 (red) raw edge transects (upper) and aligned transects (lower).
Figure 18. Graphs showing band 4 raw edge transects and aligned transects.
Band 4 (red) edge spread function and line spread function (upper) and modulation transfer function (lower).
Figure 19. Graphs showing band 4 edge spread function and line spread function and modulation transfer function.
Band 6 (first shortwave infrared) raw edge transects (upper) and aligned transects (lower).
Figure 20. Graphs showing band 6 raw edge transects and aligned transects.
Band 6 (first shortwave infrared) edge spread function and line spread function (upper) and modulation transfer function (lower).
Figure 21. Graphs showing band 6 edge spread function and line spread function and modulation transfer function.
This report summarizes the sensor performance of the Italian Space Agency’s PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) based on the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE) system characterization process. In summary, we have determined that the PRISMA sensor has a band-to-band geometric performance in the range of −0.046 to 0.040 pixel; an image-to-image geometric performance (relative to the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager) in the range of −60.791 meters (m; −2.03 pixels) to 299.541 m (9.98 pixels); a radiometric performance in the range of −0.037 to −0.001 in offset and 1.026 to 1.274 in slope; and a spatial performance with a relative edge response in the range of 0.56 to 0.63, full width at half maximum in the range of 1.84 to 1.97 pixels, and a modulation transfer function at a Nyquist frequency in the range of 0.054 to 0.096.
Regarding fairly large geometric accuracy, the following explanation is provided to help the reader. The geometric accuracy required for PRISMA is a 200-m circular error at 90 percent (CE90) without ground control points (GCPs), a 15-m CE90 using GCPs is documented in the PRISMA mission overview (
In conclusion, the team has completed an ECCOE standardized system characterization of the PRISMA sensing system. Although the team followed characterization procedures that are standardized across the many sensors and sensing systems under evaluation, these procedures are customized to fit the individual sensor as was done with PRISMA. The team has acquired the data, defined proper testing methodologies, carried out comparative tests against specific references, recorded measurements, completed data analyses, and quantified sensor performance accordingly. The team also endeavored to retain all data, measurements, and methods. This is key to ensure that all data and measurements are archived and accessible and that the performance results are reproducible.
The ECCOE project and associated Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation partners are always interested in reviewing sensor and remote sensing application assessments and would like to see and discuss information on similar data and product assessments and reviews. If you would like to discuss system characterization with the U.S. Geological Survey ECCOE and (or) the Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation team, please email us at
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