Synthetic Spectral Scene Simulator

Increasing application of hyperspectral imaging (HSI) sensors requires end-to-endsensor simulations to test sensor designs for varying environments and target scenes.One component of an HSI simulation is a synthetic scene simulator that generatessimulated radiance images in the sensor's hyperspectral bands. This proposaloutlines a design for a HSI scene simulator based on fundamental physics models forreflected and emitted radiance, and using commercial-off-the-shelf image formationtools to generate a radiance image. The simulator accepts synthetic or geospecificterrain data in several standard formats; data is assumed to consist of digitalelevation maps and material maps. The latter are usually derived from RGBor multispectral imaging data. Outgoing radiance is computed for each scene element,where an element is typically a terrain material map pixel, or a target facet.The directional dependence of the radiance is given by a wavelength-dependentbidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). The simulated radianceimage cube at the sensor is formed using one of several advancedcommercial-off-the-shelf imaging libraries with programmable BRDF. In additionalto model and algorithm development, Phase I includes tasks to survey userrequirements, validate the models and algorithms, specify the external interfacesto the simulator, and perform the preliminary design for the Phase II prototype.The HSI scene simulator will facilitate the development and application ofhyperspectral remote sensing. It will predict the performance of a sensor undera spectrum of environmental conditions, terrain cover types, and targets.The HSI scene simulator will be particularly useful in the development of sensorsand algorithms for concealed target detection. It maximizes the use of standardterrain data formats and COTS graphics technology, thus providing an efficient andportable tool for hyperspectral and multispectral simulation.