Extraction of Ground Control Points from TerraSAR-X Data

It is possible to extract qualified ground control points (GCPs) solely from SAR data without published maps. TerraSAR-X is now in orbit and provides valuable data that have one of the highest spatial resolutions among civilian SAR systems. In this study, a sophisticated method for GCP coordinate extraction from TerraSAR-X stripmap mode data with a 3 m resolution was tested and the quality of the extracted GCPs was evaluated. An inverse-geolocation algorithm was applied to obtain GCPs from TerraSAR-X data. SRTM 90m DEM was used as an auxiliary data set for azimuth time correction of the SAR data. Mean values of the distance errors were 0.11 m and -3.96 m with standard deviations of 6.52 m and 5.11 m in easting and northing, respectively. The result is one of the best among GCPs possibly extracted from current civilian remote sensing systems. The extracted GCPs were used for geo-rectification of an IKONOS image, which demonstrated the applicability of the GCPs to geo-rectification of high resolution optic image. The method used in this study can be applied to KOMPSAT-5 for geo-rectification of high-resolution optic images acquired by KOMPSAT-2 or follow-up missions.