Simulation of Thematic Mapper performance as a function of sensor scanning parameters

The investigation and results of the Thematic Mapper Instrument Performance Study are described. The Thematic Mapper is the advanced multispectral scanner initially planned for the Earth Observation Satellite and now planned for LANDSAT D. The use of existing digital airborne scanner data obtained with the Modular Multispectral Scanner (M2S) at Bendix provided an opportunity to simulate the effects of variation of design parameters of the Thematic Mapper. Analysis and processing of this data on the Bendix Multispectral Data Analysis System were used to empirically determine categorization performance on data generated with variations of the sampling period and scan overlap parameters of the Thematic Mapper. The Bendix M2S data, with a 2.5 milliradian instantaneous field of view and a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 10-m from 13,000 ft altitude, allowed a direct simulation of Thematic Mapper data with a 30-m resolution. The flight data chosen were obtained on 30 June 1973 over agricultural test sites in Indiana.