The Design of Cone and Pendulum Scanning Mode Using Dual-Camera with Multi-Dimensional Motion Imaging Micro-Nanosatellite

Abstract

This paper focuses on the design of a new optical cone and pendulum scanning imaging mode for micro-nanosatellites. This kind of satellite uses a high-resolution camera with a small imaging plane to achieve high-resolution and ultra-wide coverage imaging through the three-dimensional motion of the camera’s wobble, satellite spin, and satellite orbital motion. First, this paper designs a single-camera constant speed OCPSI (optical cone and pendulum scanning imaging) mode. On the premise of ensuring coverage, the motion parameters and imaging parameters are derived. Then, in order to improve the performance and imaging quality of the system, a dual-camera variable speed OCPSI mode is designed. In this method, in order to reduce the overlap ratio, the camera is oscillated at a variable speed. Turn on the cameras in turn at the same time to minimize the overlap. This paper details these working modes. The simulation experiment is carried out using the satellite orbit of 500 km, the focal length of 360 mm, the pixel size of 2.5 μm, the resolution of [5120 × 5120], the number of imaging frames in the pendulum scanning hoop of 10, and the initial camera inclination angle of 30°. The single-camera constant speed OCPSI mode has an effective swath of 1060 km at a ground sampling distance of 5.3 m. The dual-camera variable speed OCPSI mode has an effective width of 966 km under the same conditions. Finally, the ground experiment prototype of OCPSI imaging theory is designed. We choose a camera with a pixel size of 3.45 μm, a resolution of [1440 × 1080], and a focal length of 25 mm. The ground experiment was carried out at the initial camera inclination angle of 10°, the number of imaging frames in the pendulum scanning hoop of 3, and the orbit height of 11 m. The experimental result is that the effective width of OCPSI imaging mode reaches 10.8 m. Compared with the traditional push-broom mode using the same camera, the effective width of 1.64 m is increased by seven times, and the effective width of 3.83 m is increased by three times compared to the traditional whisk-broom imaging mode. This study innovatively integrates three-dimensional motion imaging into aerospace remote sensing and provides a reference for the research on the realization of high-resolution and ultra-wide coverage of micro-nano remote sensing satellites.