How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Satellite Remote Sensing Systems?

Satellite remote sensing system

Satellite remote sensing system is composed of data acquisition system (including in-orbit remote sensing satellites and ground systems) and application system. Remote sensing satellites in orbit transmit modulation signals carrying data, and data products are output after demodulation and processing by ground systems. Application systems obtain remote sensing application information products through remote sensing information extraction models.

The effectiveness of the satellite remote sensing system currently has no unified standards and is generally defined as the degree to which a specific remote sensing task goal is achieved. It is usually comprehensively characterized by the output of the satellite remote sensing system, that is, the degree to which remote sensing application information products meet task goals.

The effectiveness of the remote sensing system is related to the performance of the remote sensing satellite itself and is also closely related to the performance of the ground systems and application systems. System performance is usually synthetically characterized by a set of performance indicators, while system effectiveness reflects the degree to which the satellite remote sensing system completes task goals under certain conditions. Different types of satellite remote sensing systems support missions in different fields, and the degree to which the same type of satellite remote sensing system meets different task goals varies. Depending on the focus of the task goals, certain performance indicators can be selectively used as the main factors affecting effectiveness assessment.

Evaluation of satellite remote sensing system effectiveness

Generally, many different indicators are used to characterize the performance of satellite remote sensing systems, and different types of satellite remote sensing systems have significant differences. Taking the A3C performance model proposed by the American DigitalGlobe as an example, the performance of high-resolution optical satellite remote sensing system is synthetically characterized by accuracy, currency, completeness, consistency and other factors.

The evaluation of the effectiveness of the satellite remote sensing system usually requires using the method of systems engineering analysis based on collecting different types of remote sensing tasks and determining the main analysis task goals to establish a comprehensive model and algorithm reflecting the ability of the satellite remote sensing system to achieve specific goals. Finally, qualitative or quantitative evaluation results can be obtained to measure the effectiveness of the satellite remote sensing system.

The value of system effectiveness indicators is usually obtained by an integrated indicator model, which mainly includes four models: weighted sum model, geometric mean synthesis model, cascaded indicator synthesis model, and parallel indicator synthesis model.