COWI have stationed two aircraft and flight crews in the UK for the 2007 flying season, using Vexcel UltraCam D and UltraCam X digital cameras.

The image processing for our UK client is being completed in Stroud and it is expected that over 60,000 images will be delivered this year.

The image processing work flow demands powerful workstations and large storage space.

The processing chain is to take raw level 0 imagery and geometrically "stitch" the sensor sub frame elements together.
At this level the imagery is 12 - 14 bit radiometry stored as 16 bit per pixel.

Processing from level 2 to level 3 involves the radiometric correction of the imagery.
A process of Pan sharpening is done from L2 to L3. This assigns the colour space from the multispectral imagery to the resolution of the panchromatic imagery.

Normally we are also mapping the 16 bit space down to 8 bit. At this point the client's radiometric specifications are targeted and a dodging algorithm can also be applied.

The 16 to 8 bit conversion is controlled by the software, using a lookup table (LUT). The processing operator can influence the conversion with a series of algorithm adjustments.