Abwi Airborne Binocular Whiskbroom Imager: Camera Principles and the Workflow

Abstract

Abstract. The common imaging methods of airborne cameras are linear array pushbroom and area-array interval exposure, and the sensors or lens of them cannot be rotated. With the development of oblique photogrammetry and UAV mapping, there are new advances in airborne whiskbroom sensors. Because of their unique imaging method, they can obtain the side texture information of features more efficiently. ABWI is a new generation of airborne sweeping sensors with the dual-view area-array whiskbroom imaging method. It has a maximum sweeping field of view of 120° and can also acquire spectral information in four bands (RGB and NIR) at the radiometric resolution of 12 bits. Additionally, the camera system is equipped with a laser ranger to assist with other measurement purposes. This paper introduces the camera structure, imaging principle and corresponding data processing workflow of ABWI, and summarizes its advantages and new application scenarios.