QWIP-based thermal infrared sensor for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

Jhabvala, M.; Reuter, Dennis C.; Choi, K. K.; Jhabvala, Christine A.; Sundaram, M.

doi:10.1016/j.infrared.2009.05.027

Cited by 33 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…All three entities worked on modelling and defining the superlattice growth recipe. The thickness of the gallium arsenide (GaAs) quantum wells and the aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) barrier layers and the concentration of aluminum in the AlGaAs primarily determine the band structure in the wells and, hence, the spectral response of the detector material [13,14]. This design was provided to a fabrication house, which deposited 20 alternating layers of GaAs quantum wells and AlGaAs barriers using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).…”

Section: Focal Planementioning

confidence: 99%

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8: Design Overview and Pre-Launch Characterization

Reuter

Richardson²,

Pellerano³

et al. 2015

Remote Sensing

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The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8 is the latest thermal sensor in that series of missions. Unlike the previous single-channel sensors, TIRS uses two channels to cover the 10–12.5 micron band. It is also a pushbroom imager; a departure from the previous whiskbroom approach. Nevertheless, the instrument requirements are defined such that data continuity is maintained. This paper describes the design of the TIRS instrument, the results of pre-launch calibration measurements and shows an example of initial on-orbit science performance compared to Landsat 7.

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Section: Focal Planementioning

confidence: 99%

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8: Design Overview and Pre-Launch Characterization

Reuter

Richardson²,

Pellerano³

et al. 2015

Remote Sensing

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“…The focal plane consists of three Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays each containing 512 by 640 detector elements [3]. Spectral interference filters are placed over two regions on each array to produce two spectral channels when combined with the QWIP spectral response.…”

Section: Instrument Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

On-Orbit Radiometric Performance of the Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor

2014

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The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) requirements for noise, stability, and uniformity were designed to ensure the radiometric integrity of the data products. Since the launch of Landsat 8 in February 2013, many of these evaluations have been based on routine measurements of the onboard calibration sources, which include a variable-temperature blackbody and a deep space view port. The noise equivalent change in temperature (NEdT) of TIRS data is approximately 0.05 K @ 300 K in both bands, exceeding requirements by about a factor of 8 and Landsat 7 ETM+ performance by a factor of 3. Coherent noise is not readily apparent in TIRS data. No apparent change in the detector linearization has been observed. The radiometric stability of the TIRS instrument over the period between radiometric calibrations (about 40 min) is less than one count of dark current and the variation in terms of radiance is less than 0.015 W/m 2 /sr/µm (or 0.13 K) at 300 K, easily meeting the short term stability requirements. Long term stability analysis has indicated a degradation of about 0.2% or less per year. The operational calibration is only updated using the biases taken every orbit, due to the fundamental stability of the instrument. By combining the data from two active detector rows per band, 100% detector operability is maintained for the instrument. No trends in the noise, operability, or short term radiometric stability are apparent over the mission life. The uniformity performance is more difficult to Remote Sens. 2014, 6 11754 evaluate as scene-varying banding artifacts have been observed in Earth imagery. Analyses have shown that stray light is affecting the recorded signal from the Earth and inducing the banding depending on the content of the surrounding Earth surface. As the stray light effects are stronger in the longer wavelength TIRS band11 (12.0 µm), the uniformity is better in the shorter wavelength band10 (10.9 µm). Both bands have exceptional noise and stability performance and band10 has generally adequate uniformity performance and should currently be used in preference to band11. The product uniformity will improve with the stray light corrections being developed.

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“…The focal plane is comprised of three Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays, each having 512 by 640 detectors [5]. The imaging arrays are sometimes referred to as sensor chip assemblies (SCAs).…”

Section: Instrument Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiometric Calibration Methodology of the Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor

et al. 2014

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The science-focused mission of the Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) requires that it have an accurate radiometric calibration. A calibration methodology was developed to convert the raw output from the instrument into an accurate at-aperture radiance. The methodology is based on measurements obtained during component-level and instrument-level characterization testing. The radiometric accuracy from the pre-flight measurements was estimated to be approximately 0.7%. The calibration parameters determined pre-flight were updated during the post-launch checkout period by utilizing the on-board calibration sources and Earth scene data. These relative corrections were made to adjust for differences between the pre-flight and the on-orbit performance of the instrument, thereby correcting large striping artifacts observed in Earth imagery. Despite this calibration correction, banding artifacts (low frequency variation in the across-track direction) have been observed in certain uniform Earth scenes, but not in other uniform scenes. In addition, the absolute calibration performance determined from vicarious measurements have revealed a time-varying error to the absolute radiance reported by TIRS. These issues were determined to not be caused by the calibration process developed for the instrument. Instead, an investigation has revealed that stray light is affecting the recorded signal from the Earth. The varying optical stray light effect is an ongoing subject of evaluation and investigation, and a correction strategy is being devised that will be added to the calibration process.Remote Sens. 2014, 6 8804

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QWIP-based thermal infrared sensor for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

Cited by 33 publications

References 4 publications

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8: Design Overview and Pre-Launch Characterization

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8: Design Overview and Pre-Launch Characterization

On-Orbit Radiometric Performance of the Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor

Radiometric Calibration Methodology of the Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor

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