Algorithms for the simulation of geometric distortion in a satellite imaging system

Algorithms and their implementation are described which are used to model the signal produced by a linear array type of imaging sensor in earth orbit. The process utilizes actual image data from existing earth-orbiting sensors which has been geometrically corrected and registered to a known map projection, and resamples it using coordinates generated by a simulation of the spacecrafts´s position and attitude vectors at each scan line sample time. Error models are incorporated for studying the effects of imperfect knowledge of spacecraft state on the geometric correction process.