Kestrel's new FTVHSI instrument for hyperspectral remote sensing from light aircraft

During the past year, Kestrel Corporation has designed and built a low cost Fourier transform visible hyperspectral imager (FTVHSI) for deployment in a light aircraft (Cessna TU-206). The instrument is an imaging spectrometer employing a Sagnac (triangle) interferometer, that operates over a range of 450 - 1050 nm with 256 spectral channels, and a 13 degree FOV with an 0.8 mrad pixel IFOV (450 spatial channels). To aid in the calibration of the instrument, calibration and downwelling signals are recorded with every frame. Installed with the optical instrument are attitude sensors and a scene camera This auxiliary data allows us to place a hyperspectral slice to within < 5m of its true position (using selective availability ''ON'' and differential GPS). We have performed extensive testing and calibration studies, including data collection conducted synchronously with ground measurements at locations including a White Sands radiometric calibration site. This paper reports some of the calibration studies and their results.