Radiometric Correction of Aerial or UAV Imagery

The researchers at Stellenbosch University have developed a technology for the radiometric correction of high spatial resolution imagery (aerial or UAV).  The imagery is calibrated to approximate surface reflectance by fusing with concurrent and collocated satellite imagery.  The technique allows the production of seamless mosaics corrected for coarse-scale atmospheric and bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) effects and does not, like many existing methods, require the manual acquisition (or provision) of ground reflectance references. 

The use of high spatial resolution aerial/UAV imagery is limited by radiometric variations caused by atmospheric and BRDF effects.  These variations create unsightly discontinuities and gradients between and within images, and inhibit their use for quantitative analysis.  This method compensates for these unwanted variations, creating a visually appealing mosaic that is calibrated to approximate surface reflectance