In this paper, an algorithm based on local binary pattern (LBP) is proposed to obtain clear remote sensing images under the premise of unknown causes of blurring. We find that LBP can completely record the texture features of the images, which will not change widely due to the generation of blur. Therefore, LBP prior is proposed, which can filter out the pixels containing important textures in the blurry image through the mapping relationship. The corresponding processing methods are adopted for different types of pixels to cope with the challenges brought by the rich texture and details of remote sensing images and prevent over-sharpening. However, the existence of LBP prior increases the difficulty of solving the model. To solve the model, we construct the projected alternating minimization (PAM) algorithm that involves the construction of the mapping matrix, the fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (FISTA) and the half-quadratic splitting method. Experiments with the AID dataset show that the proposed method can achieve highly competitive processing results for remote sensing images.

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.

Various ships and submerged moving objects in the ocean are key targets of numerous remote sensors. Wake has developed into one of the key detection targets of ocean visible light remote sensing as the visible trail information left by moving objects on the ocean surface. In the situation of slow ship speed, deep draft, and the existence of air clouds and fog, the wake target signal is weak, and the signal-to-noise ratio is low due to the low reflectivity of the sea surface and the interference of the background waves on the sea surface. This paper analyzes the radiative sensitivity of visible light imaging systems for the most crucial wake detection indicator in order to address the aforementioned issues. The noise equivalent reflectance difference, which is widely used to describe radiative sensitivity in engineering, is derived and numerically simulated by establishing the imaging link model based on TDICCD. We calculated the noise equivalent reflectivity difference for eight bands commonly used in ocean remote sensing; results show that the index is generally on the order of ${10}^{-4}$, and with the increase in the central wavelength, the value of noise equivalent reflectance difference also shows a downward trend and is stable within a certain value range. This research provides theoretical guidance for the engineering design of a visible spectrum imaging system for wake detection, aids in improving the imaging system’s capacity to detect weak wake signals, and provides a basis for subsequent wake detection and enhancement processing, removal of false wakes, and retrieval of ship information.

Feature description is a necessary process for implementing feature-based remote sensing applications. Due to the limited resources in satellite platforms and the considerable amount of image data, feature description—which is a process before feature matching—has to be fast and reliable. Currently, the state-of-the-art feature description methods are time-consuming as they need to quantitatively describe the detected features according to the surrounding gradients or pixels. Here, we propose a novel feature descriptor called Inter-Feature Relative Azimuth and Distance (IFRAD), which will describe a feature according to its relation to other features in an image. The IFRAD will be utilized after detecting some FAST-alike features: it first selects some stable features according to criteria, then calculates their relationships, such as their relative distances and azimuths, followed by describing the relationships according to some regulations, making them distinguishable while keeping affine-invariance to some extent. Finally, a special feature-similarity evaluator is designed to match features in two images. Compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms, the proposed method has significant improvements in computational efficiency at the expense of reasonable reductions in scale invariance.

In this study, we propose a digital domain TDI-CMOS dynamic imaging method based on minimum search domain alignment, which consists of five steps: image-motion vector computation, image jitter estimation, feature pair matching, global displacement estimation, and TDI accumulation. To solve the challenge of matching feature point pairs in dark and low-contrast images, our method first optimizes the size and position of the search box using an image motion compensation mathematical model and a satellite platform jitter model. Then, the feature point pairs that best match the extracted feature points of the reference frame are identified within the search box of the target frame. After that, a kernel density estimation algorithm is proposed for calculating the displacement probability density of each feature point pair to fit the actual displacement between two frames. Finally, we align and superimpose all the frames in the digital domain to generate a delayed integral image. Experimental results show that this method greatly improves the alignment speed and accuracy of dark and low-contrast images during dynamic imaging. It effectively mitigates the effects of image motion and jitter from the spatial camera, and the fitted global image motion error is kept below 0.01 pixels, which is compensated to improve the MTF coefficient of the image motion and jitter link to 0.68, thus improving the imaging quality of TDI.