Block adjustment of high-resolution satellite images described by rational polynomials

This paper describes how to block adjust high-resolution satellite imagery described by Rational Polynomial Coefficient (RPC) camera models and illustrates the method with an Ikonos example. By incorporating a priori constraints into the adjustment model, multiple independent images can be adjusted with or without ground control. The RPC block adjustment model presented in this paper is directly related to geometric properties of the physical camera model. Multiple physical camera model parameters having the same net effect on the object-image relationship are replaced by a single adjustment parameter. Consequently, the proposed method is numerically more stable than the traditional adjustment of exterior and interior orientation parameters. This method is generally applicable to any photogrammetric camera with a narrow field of view, calibrated, stable interior orientation and accurate a priori exterior orientation data. As demonstrated in the paper, for Ikonos satellite imagery, the RPC block adjustment achieves the same accuracy as the ground station block adjustment with the full physical camera model.